A Soldier's Brilliant Idea
士兵的妙计
Mr. Robinson had to travel somewhere on business, and as he was in a hurry, he decided to go by air. He liked sitting beside a window when he was flying, so when he got on to the plane, he looked for a window seat. He found all of them had already had been taken except for one. There was a soldier sitting in the seat beside this one, and Mr. Robinson was surprised that he had not taken the one by the window. So he at once went towards it.
罗宾逊先生要去出趟差。因为有些急，他决定乘飞机。乘飞机时，他喜欢坐靠窗的位置，因此刚登上飞机，他就找靠窗的座位。他发现只有一个靠窗的座位还空着。在那个空座位边上坐着一名士兵。罗宾逊先生感到很意外，这个士兵并没有坐靠窗的位置。于是罗宾逊先生马上朝那个空座位走了过去。
When he reached it, however, he saw that there was a notice on it. It was written in ink and said, "This seat is preserved for proper load balance, thank you." Mr. Robinson had never seen such an unusual notice in a plane before, but he thought that the plane must be carrying something particularly heavy in it, so he walked on and found another empty seat, not beside a window, to sit in.
然而，等到了那儿，他看见座位上贴着一张告示，用钢笔写着：“为保持装载平衡，特意预留出该座位。谢谢。”罗宾逊先生还从来没有在飞机上见过如此不同寻常的告示。不过，他想飞机上一定装了特别重的物品，于是他接着找了个不靠窗的空位，坐了下来。
Two or three people tried to sit in the window seat beside the soldier, but they too read the notice and went on, when the plane was nearly full, a very beautiful girl hurried into the plane. The soldier, who was watching the passengers coming in, quickly took the notice off the seat beside himself and in this way succeeded in having the company of the girl during the whole trip.
又有两三个乘客想坐在士兵旁边那个靠窗的座位，但是他们看到那则告示就走开了。当飞机快坐满时，一位非常漂亮的姑娘急匆匆地走进机舱。那个士兵一直在留意进舱的乘客，赶紧拿掉旁边空位上的告示。用这种办法，那个士兵成功地找到了一位姑娘和他一路同行。