One night a hotel caught fire, and the people who were staying in it ran out in their night clothes.

Two men stood outside and looked at the fire.

Before I came out, said one, I ran into some of the rooms and found a lot of money. People don't think of money when they're afraid. When anyone leaves paper money in a fire, the fire burns it. So I took all the bills that I could find. No one will be poorer because I took them.

You don't know my work, said the other.

What is your work?

I'm a policeman.

Oh! cried the first man. He thought quickly and said, and do you know my work? No, said the policeman.

I'm a writer. I'm always telling stories about things that never happened.

一天晚上,一家旅館失火,住在這家旅館里的人穿著睡衣就跑了出來。

兩個人站在外面,看著大火。

在我出來之前,其中一個說,我跑進(jìn)一些房間,找到了一大筆錢。人在恐懼中是不會想到錢的。如果有人把紙幣留在火里,火就會把它燒成灰燼,所以我把我所能找到的鈔票都拿走了,沒有人會因為我拿走它們而變得更窮。

你不知道我是干什么的,另一個說。

你是干什么的?

我是警察。

噢!第一個人喊了一聲,他靈機(jī)一動,說:那你知道我是干什么的?不知道。警察說。

我是個作家,我總是愛編一些從未發(fā)生過的故事。