English Original
Two brothers, Herbert and James, lived with their mother and a cat named Edgar.
James was particularly attached to the cat. When he had to leave town for several days, he left Herbert meticulous instructions about the pet's care. At the end of his first day away, James telephoned his brother.
"How is Edgar?" he asked.
"Edgar is dead," Herbert answered.
There was a pause. Then James said: "Herbert, you are insensitive. You know how close I was to Edgar—you should have broken the news to me slowly. When I asked about Edgar tonight, you should have said, 'Edgar's on the roof, but you've called the fire department to get him down.' And tomorrow when I called, you could have said the firemen were having trouble getting Edgar down, but you were hopeful they would succeed. Then when I called the third time, you could have told me that the firemen had done their best, but unfortunately Edgar had fallen off the roof and was at the veterinarian's. Then when I called the last time, you could have said that although everything possible had been done for Edgar, he had died. That's the way a sensitive man would have told me about Edgar. And, oh, before I forget," James added, "How is mother?"
"Uh," Herbert said, pausing for a moment, "She is on the roof."
中文翻译
赫伯特和詹姆斯兄弟俩与母亲同住，还养了一只名叫埃德加的猫。
詹姆斯特别喜欢这只猫。有一次他要外出几天，临行前不厌其烦地嘱咐赫伯特要悉心照料这只宠物。出门后的头一天晚上，他打来电话询问。
“埃德加好吗？”他问。
“它死了，”赫伯特回答。
一阵沉默之后，詹姆斯说：“赫伯特，你太不体谅人了。你知道我和埃德加感情有多深——你应该慢慢告诉我这个坏消息。今晚我问起埃德加时，你应该说，‘埃德加爬上了屋顶，不过你已经叫了消防队来救它下来。’明天我再打电话时，你可以说消防队营救埃德加遇到了麻烦，但你相信他们会成功。我第三天打电话时，你可以告诉我消防员已尽了最大努力，但很不幸，埃德加从屋顶上掉了下来，现在在兽医那里。等我最后一次打电话询问时，你再说尽管对埃德加做了一切可能的努力，它还是死了。这才是一个体贴的人告诉我埃德加消息的方式。哦，对了，差点忘了，”詹姆斯补充道，“妈妈怎么样了？”
“呃……”赫伯特停顿了片刻，说道，“她在屋顶上。”