One day, the driver of a car said to him,“You must make a lot of money pulling cars out of this hole night and day. ”
“Oh，no，”the farmer said,“I don’t pull cars out of the hole at night but fill the hole with water.”
大水坑
有個農夫住在路邊上。
盡管這不是交通擁堵路段，但有時也有汽車從農場路過。
農場大門旁邊的路上有個大坑，坑裏常常滿是水，汽車司機看不出坑有多深，他們以為可能很淺。而司機們一旦把車開進坑裏，就別想再開出來，因為坑太深了。
農夫也不怎麼在農場裏幹活，大部分時間都在看著這個坑。當汽車開進坑裏時，他就用拖拉機把它拉上來，然後向司機收很多錢。
一天，一位汽車司機對他說：“你夜以繼日把汽車往外拉，肯定賺了很多錢。”
“噢，不，”農夫說，“我夜裏不拉車，而是往這坑裏灌水。”
23 A Shoebox
A man asks a woman to marry him, but before she agrees, she tells him that she keeps a shoebox under the bed and she never wants him to look in it. He understands. He figures he doesn’t like people looking in his wallet, and agrees that he will never look in the shoebox.
Well, five years go by and they are happily married. The husband is home alone one day and curiosity gets the best of him. He opens the box and looks inside three eggs and $5000 in cash. He is clueless.
When his wife comes home he confesses to looking in the box. “Now you have to tell me what it means. ”he says.
“OK. ”she answers,“Every time I’ve had an affair on you, I put an egg in the box. ”
The man is flabbergasted. But then he thinks about it, and figures three affairs in five years isn’t too bad. He takes a deep breath and realizes he can deal with it.“So then what is the $5000?”he asks.
“Every time the box is full, I’ll sell them.”she answers.
鞋盒
有個男子向女友求婚，在答應他的求婚之前，女子告訴他，她在床底下藏了一隻鞋盒，並要他答應絕對不能去看盒子裏的東西。男子表示他能夠理解，他也不喜歡人去翻他的皮夾。
五年過去了，他們一直過著幸福的婚姻生活。有一天，先生獨自在家，他的好奇心戰勝了理智，於是他把鞋盒打開，看到裏麵放著三個蛋和五千元的現金。
他覺得莫明奇妙。當妻子回家之後，他坦承自己偷看鞋盒的事。“現在你可以告訴我這些東西代表什麼嗎？”他問。
“可以。”他的妻子回答。“我每有一次外遇，就會在鞋盒裏放粒蛋。”
男子聽了愣住，但後來他想了一想，五年中有三次外遇還不算太壞。他深吸了一口氣接受了這個事實。“那五千元又代表什麼呢？”男子又問。“每次累積到一打蛋，我就會拿去賣錢。”妻子回答道。
24 NASA Mars Mission
NASA was interviewing professionals they were planning on sending to Mars. The touchy part was that only one guy could go and it would be a one way trip, that is to say the guy would never return to the Earth.
The interviewer asked the first applicant, an engineer, how much he wanted to be paid for going.
“One million dollars, ”the engineer answered,“and I want to donate it all to my almamater—Rice University. ”
The next applicant was a doctor, and the interviewer asked him the same question.
“Two millions dollars, ”the doctor said,“and I want to give a million to my family and leave the other million for the advancement of medical research. ”
The last applicant was a lawyer. When asked how much money he wanted, he whispered in the interviewer’s ear,“Three million dollars. ”
“Why so much more than the others? ”the interviewer asked.
The lawyer replied,“You give me three million, I’ll give you one million, I’ll keep a million, and we’ll send the engineer. ”
國航局火星計劃
美國國航局正在麵試幾位他們準備派往火星的專家。問題是隻有一個人能去，而且這是一次單程旅行，也就是說那人不可能再回到地球上。
第一個申請人是一名工程師，麵試官問他這次行動他想要多少錢。
“一百萬美元，”工程師回答，“我想把它全部捐給我的母校——賴斯大學。”
第二個申請人是一名醫生，麵試官問了他相同的問題。
“兩百萬美元，”醫生說，“我想留一百萬給我的家人，然後把剩下的一百萬捐贈出去以促進醫學研究的發展。”
最後一位申請人是一名律師。當問到他想要多少報酬時，他湊近麵試官的耳朵小聲說：“三百萬美元。”
“為什麼比別人多這麼多？”麵試官問道。
律師回答：“你給我三百萬美元，我會給你一百萬，自己留一百萬，然後我們把工程師派出去。”
25 Two plus Two
An engineer, a physicist, and a lawyer were being interviewed for a position as chief executive officer of a large corporation.
The engineer was interviewed first, and was asked a long list of questions, ending with“How much is two plus two?”
The engineer excused himself, and made a series of measurements and calculations before returning to the board room and announced, “Four.”
The physicist was next interviewed, and was asked the same questions. Before answering the last question, he excused himself, made for the library, and did a great deal of research.After a consultation with the United States Bureau of Standards and many calculations, he also announced,“Four.”
The lawyer was interviewed last, and was asked the same questions. At the end of his interview, before answering the last question, he drew all the shades in the room, looked outside the door to see if anyone was there, checked the telephone for listening devices, and asked,“How much do you want it to be?”
二加二
一名工程師、一名物理學家和一名律師為爭取一家大公司的首席執行官這一職位參加了麵試。
工程師最先進去麵試，他被問了一長串問題，最後一個問題是：“二加二等於多少？”
這位工程師請求離開一會兒，他做了一係列的測量和計算之後，回到董事會議室宣布答案：“等於四。”
接下來是物理學家，他也被問了同樣的問題。在回答最後一題之前，他也請求離開，前往圖書館，做了一係列的調查研究。同美國標準局有關人士進行磋商，做了許多估算。最後他同樣宣布：“等於四。”
律師最後一位參加，他也被問了同樣的問題。在麵試結束的時候，回答最後一題之前，他檢查了整個房間的角落，看看門外是否有人，檢查電話是否有竊聽器，然後問：“你希望答案是多少？”
26 Drunk Superman
Two men are sitting at a bar, slowly sipping their drinks.
After a while, the first man approaches the other man, and sits next to him,“This place is great, isn’t it? ”He asks.
The second man, somewhat surprised at the stranger’s remark, replies,“Why do you say that? ”
The first man, in a low tone of voice, responds,“Follow me. ”The two of them walk over to a large window at the end of the room. The window faces out onto the street, twelve floors below.
“Here’s why. ”The first man throws open the window, and boldly steps out into thin air. But he remains aloft!
“The air is great here! ”he says,“It’s relaxing. ”
He floats back into the room. As his feet return to the bar‐room floor, he invites the second man to try it.
The second man, skeptical, peers out through the window‐down to the pavement twelve stories below. He looks to the other side, and finally up above, to see if there was anything holding the first man up.
Convinced that it was no trickery, the second man swallows, closes his eyes, and steps out into thin air. He promptly falls twelve stories to the pavement below.
The first man grins and returns to the bar. Looking rather irritated, the barkeeper comes over to the place where the man sits.
“You know, ”he says, disgusted,“you’re a real jerk when you’re drunk, Superman. ”
喝醉的超人
兩個男人坐在酒吧裏，慢慢地喝著自己的酒。
不久，第一個男人走到第二個男人的旁邊，說：“這個地方很棒，是吧？”
第二個男人對他的話有些吃驚，問道：“為什麼這麼說呢？”
第一個人壓低聲音回應道：“跟我來。”這兩人走到房間盡頭的一扇大窗前。
窗戶對著大街，在十二層。
“這就是原因。”第一個男人推開窗，勇敢地跨出去踩在稀薄的空氣上，但是他卻停在半空沒有掉下去！
“這兒的空氣真好啊！”他叫道，“真讓人覺得放鬆。”
他飄回房內，雙腳落回地麵後，便邀請第二個人試一下。
那人有些懷疑地往窗外瞟了瞟——這兒離地麵可有十二層樓高啊。他看看另一邊，最後再看看上麵，看是不是有什麼東西支撐著這個人。
最後確定這不是個玩笑，那人便吞了口口水，閉上眼，邁入稀薄的空氣裏。然後他飛速地從十二樓掉下去摔在人行道上。
第一個人咧嘴笑著，回到酒吧。酒吧侍者惱火地走到他坐的地方。
“你知道嗎，”他憤怒地說，“你喝醉時真是一個混蛋，超人。”