问路
A tourist had been driving around the countryside for hours, and he was completely lost. The roads all looked the same, his phone had no signal, and he was starting to panic.
At last he saw a farmer leaning on a gate beside the road. He pulled over and wound down his window.
"Excuse me," he said. "Can you tell me how to get to the city?"
The farmer took off his hat and scratched his head. He looked up the road, then down the road. He thought for a long time.
"Well," he said slowly, "you go left at the big oak tree, then right at the old church… no, wait. That's no good. That road's closed." He thought some more. "You could go back past the river, then turn at the pub… no, that's no good either. That'll take you to the coast."
He frowned, looked up the road again and sighed.
"To be honest with you," he said at last, "if I were going to the city, I wouldn't start from here."
一个游客在乡下开着车转了好几个小时，彻底迷了路。条条路看起来都一模一样，手机也没有信号，他开始慌了。
终于，他看见路边有个农夫靠在一扇栅栏门上。他把车停到路边，摇下车窗。
“打扰一下，”他说，“请问去城里怎么走？”
农夫摘下帽子，挠了挠头。他朝路的这头看看，又朝路的那头看看，想了好长时间。
“嗯，”他慢吞吞地说，“你在那棵大橡树那儿左转，然后在老教堂那儿右转……不对，等等，不行，那条路封了。”他又想了想，“你可以往回开，过了河，再在酒馆那儿拐弯……不对，这也不行，那会把你带到海边去。”
他皱起眉头，又往路上看了看，叹了口气。
“跟你说实话吧，”他终于开口说，“我要是去城里的话，我可不会从这儿出发。”