a teacher said to her class：“who was the first man?”
有個老師問班上的學生：“誰是第一個男人？
”

“george washington，”a little boy shouted promptly．"
喬治·華盛頓，”一個小男孩當即叫道。

“how do you make out that george washington was the first man？”asked the teacher，smiling indulgently．
“你怎么知道喬治·華盛頓是第一個男人呢？”老師問道，寬容地微笑著。

“because，”said the little boy，“he was first in war，first in peace，and first in the hearts of his countrymen．”
小男孩說：“因為他是戰(zhàn)時第一，和時第一，國人心中第一。”

but at this point a larger boy held up his hand．
這時一個大點兒的男孩舉起手來。

“well，”said the teacher to him，“who do you think was the first man？”
“那么，”老師對他說，“你認為誰是第一個男人呢？”

“i don't know what his name was，”said the larger boy，“but i know it wasn't george washington，ma’am，because the history book says george washington married a widow，so，of course，there must have been a man ahead of him．”
“我不知道他的名字，”大點兒的男孩說，“但我知道不是喬治·華盛頓，老師。因為歷史書上說，喬治·華盛頓娶了一個寡婦，所以在他前面肯定還有一個男人。
”