Courteous Retort
A learned scientist was attending a dinner, and as cigars were being indulged in one of the guests began to deride philosophy. He went on rudely to express the opinion that philosopher was but another way of spelling fool.
“What is your opinion, professor?” he asked smilingly. “Is there much distance between them?”
The professor surveyed his boorish vis-a-vis keenly for a moment, then with a polite bow, responded:
“Sometimes only the width of a table.”
禮貌的反擊
一位學識淵博的科學家出席了一個晚宴。當大家在飯後吸煙閒聊時，一位客人就開始嘲笑哲學。他無禮地表示，他認為哲學家僅僅是傻瓜的代名詞。
“你的看法呢，教授？”他笑著問道。“兩者之間有很大距離嗎？”
教授目光犀利地把那個坐在飯桌他對面的粗鄙漢子上下打量了一番，禮貌的欠了欠身，答道：
“有時兩者之間的距離僅是一飯桌之隔。” |