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When I returned, there was another urgent call from my wife.
我餐后回来，妻子又打来一只紧急电话。
"Did you have a nice lunch?" she asked sweetly. I had had a marvelous steak, but knew better by now than to say so.
"你午餐吃得不错吧？"她用悦耳的声音问道。我吃的牛排好极了，但这次我学乖了，还是不说为妙。
"Awful," I reported. "Some sort of sour fish. Eel, I think."
"糟透了，"我报告说。"一种什么酸溜溜的鱼，我想大概是鳗鲡吧。"
Your college sons have hired their younger brothers and sisters and a couple of neighborhood children to help for five dollars each. Assembly lines have been set up. In the language of diplomacy, there is 'movement.'"
"不错嘛。你的大学生儿子已经雇了他们的小弟妹和两三个邻居的小孩帮忙，工钱一人五块，建起了流水作业线。用外交术语来说，事情'有进展'。"
"That's encouraging."
"这确实令人鼓舞。"
"No, it's not," she corrected. "It's very discouraging. They're been as it for hours. Plastic bags have been filled and piled to the ceiling, but all this hasn't made a dent, not adent, in the situation! It's almost as if the inserts keep reproducing themselves!"
"不，并非如此，"她纠正说。"相反，非常叫人泄气。他们干了好几个小时了。装好的塑料袋，一直堆到天花板，但一切努力收效很小。这些广告宣传品简直就像是不停地自行生产出来一样！"
"Another thing," she continued. "Your college sons must learn that one does not get the best out of employees by threatening them with bodily harm."
"还有一件事，"她接着说，"你那上大学的儿子必须明白，威胁雇员，说要揍他们，是不可能使他们卖力的。"
Obtaining an audience with son NO. 1, I snarled, "I'll kill you if threaten one of those kids again! Idiot! You should be offering a bonus of a dollar every hour to the worker who fills the most bags."
我跟大儿子一通上话，便咆哮道，"你如果再威胁那些孩子，我就对你不客气了！白痴！你应该给奖金，对装袋最多的工人每小时奖励一块。"
"But that would cut into our profit," he suggested.
"可那要减少我们的利润啦，"他提醒道。
"There won't be any profit unless those kids enable you to make all the deliveries on time.If they don't, you two will have to remove all that paper by yourselves. And there will be no eating or sleeping until it is removed."
"那些孩子不帮你按时将所有的广告投送出去，你就什么利润也得不到。如果他们不干，你们俩就得亲手搬走所有的广告。而在把它们搬掉之前，你们吃不成，也睡不成。"
There was a short, thoughtful silence. Then he said, "Dad, you have just worked a profound change in my personality."
电话里出现了短暂的沉默，他在思考。接着，他说，"爸爸，你刚才使我深受启迪，令我恍然大悟。"
"Do it!"
"那就干吧！"
"Yes, sir!"
"是，阁下！"
