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一位国王给邻近国家的君主写了封信。信上说：“送我一块鸽子蛋那样大的蓝宝石或其他的……” 邻近国王收到信后回复道：“我们没有这样的宝石，如果我们有的话……” 第一个国王很生气，于是对邻国宣战。战争持续了几个月，直到第三个国王为双方安排了一次会晤。见面后，第二个国王问第一个：“你说‘送我一块鸽子蛋那样大的蓝宝石，否则的话……’是什么意思？” “什么，”他答道，“我是说一块像鸽子蛋那样大的蓝宝石或者是其他的宝石。我爱宝石。但你说‘我们没有这样的宝石，如果我们有的话……’是什么意思？” “我的意思很好猜，”第二个国王说，“我想说的是，如果我们有这样的宝石的话就会高兴地送给你。" 三个国王约定以后写信要更清楚明了，彼此睦邻友好，和平共处。 War of Words A king sent a message to the ruler of a neighboring country. The message read， “Send me a blue diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg or else... ” The king on getting the message wrote back, “We don’t have such a diamond and if we had...” The first king got very angry and declared war on his neighbor. The fighting went on for several months till a third king arranged a meet¬ing between the two warring rulers. So they met and the first king said to the other, “What did /ou mean when you said, ‘send me a blue dia- nond as large as a pigeon’s egg or else... ’ “Why,” he replied, “I meant a blue diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg or else...some other diamond. I love diamonds. But what did you mean when you said, ‘We don't have such a diamond and if we had... ’？” “It is easy to guess my meaning,” said the other man. “What I wanted to say was, f we had such a diamond we would have gladly sent it to you. ’， The Kings pledged to write more clearly in future communications and embraced and made peace. |
