While a Division Superintendent of a railway was attending closely to his business of placing obstructions on the track and tampering withthe switches he received word that the President of the road was about todischarge him for incompetency.
当一条铁路的地区督办正在十分认真的琢磨该如何正确高效地在车轨上放置障碍物以及怎么胡乱扳岔道的时候，他接到了来自道路主席的口信，说要撤他的职，因其督办不力。

"Good Heavens!" he cried; "there are more accidents on my division than on all the rest of the line."
“老天啊！”他仰天长叹；“这条线上可不就是属我这一段事故最多了吗？！”

"The President is very particular," said the Man who brought him thenews; "he thinks the same loss of life might be effected with less damage to the company's property."
“主席的要求很高，”带口信来的这人说；“他认为死掉多少人，公司的财产就能少减少多少。”

"Does he expect me to shoot passengers through the car windows?"exclaimed the indignant official, spiking a loose tie across the rails."Does he take me for an assassin?"
“难道他还想让我开枪射击车窗里的乘客吗？”这位愤慨的官员一边义正言辞，一边松松的把两段铁轨给钉到一块。“难道他把我当成了杀手不成？”