一仕官将之官，其厚友送之，嘱曰：“公居官无他难，只要耐烦。”仕者唯唯。 已而再嘱，三嘱，犹唯唯，及于四五，其人忿然怒曰：“君以我为呆子乎？只此二字，奈何言之数四？” 厚友曰：“我才多说两次，尔遂发恼，辄为能耐烦可乎？”
——《雪涛小说》
Patience
A
man was going to take up an official post. A close friend came to see him off. “One
thing you must remember when you become an official,” he said, “is that you
must always be patient.” The
man replied that he would. His friend then repeated his advice three times, and
three times the man nodded in assent. When for the fourth time his friend
repeated his counsel, the man became angry and said, “Do you take me for an
idiot? Why do you repeat such a simple thing over and over again?” His
friend sighed. “It is not easy to be patient, see!” he said. “I have only said
that a few times, and here you are already impatient.”
Stories by Xue Tao （杨宪益、戴乃迭 译） |
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