English Original
A famous writer visiting Japan was invited to give a lecture at a university to a large group of students. As most of them could not understand spoken English, he required an interpreter.
During the lecture, he told a long amusing story. Finally, he paused to let the interpreter translate it into Japanese. The writer was very surprised when the interpreter finished in just a few seconds, after which all the students laughed loudly.
After the lecture, the writer thanked the interpreter and asked, "Please tell me how you translated my long story into such a short Japanese version."
"I didn't tell the story at all," the interpreter answered with a smile. "I just said, 'The honorable lecturer has just told a funny story. You will all laugh, please.'"
中文翻译
一位访问日本的著名作家受邀在一所大学为一大群学生做讲座。由于大多数学生听不懂英语，他需要一位口译员。
讲座中，他讲了一个很长的有趣故事。最后，他停下来让口译员将其翻译成日语。口译员仅用几秒钟就完成了翻译，随后所有学生都大声笑了起来，这让作家非常惊讶。
讲座结束后，作家感谢了这位口译员，并问道：“请告诉我，你是如何把我那个长长的故事翻译成如此简短的日语的？”
“我根本没有翻译那个故事，”口译员微笑着回答。“我只是说：‘尊敬的演讲者刚刚讲了一个有趣的故事。请大家笑一笑。’”