拿破仑的三个问题

A story is told about a Swede who wanted to join Napoleon ’s Grand Army. One evening some of Napoleon’s soldiers wer e drinking together when a young Frenchman brought friend to their table. He explained that his friend was a Swede and knew no French, but this Swede admired Napoleon so much t hat he wanted to join the French army and fight for him. The soldiers looked up and saw a tall young man with blue eyes, a friendly face, strong arms and broad shoulders. Th ey liked him at once.
The officers saw that he was just the right sort of man, so they accepted him and he became one of Napoleons soldier s. His new friends smoothed away the difficulties. He fought bravely in many battles and gained their respect. However, his knowledge of French remained very weak, because he was not good at learning languages, but this did not prevent him from fighting hard.
Several years later, word came that Napoleon himself was com ing to inspect them, and the Swede was warned that the gre at man would probably ask him some question. There was some difficulty in explaining this to the Swede, but when at l ast he understood he became very anxious.
“The Swede won’t understand the questions.”One of the Fr enchmen said, “What can he do?”
It was well known that Napoleon always asked the same three questions, and usually in the same order. The first questi on was, “How old are you?”The second was, “how long ha ve you been in my army?”And the third was, “Did you se rve in either of my last two campaigns?”
The Swede could not possibly remember all these words and s
o his friends decided to teach him only the answers in the ir proper order. They gave him a lot of practice. Whenever possible, one of them would stop him, make him stand at attention, and ask him the three questions. “How old are y ou?”he would demand, and the Swede would answer, “Twenty-three, sir.”Then his friend would ask, “How long have yo u been in my army?”and the Swede would answer, “Three y ears, sir.”To the third question, “Did you serve in eith er of my last two campaigns?”the Swede would answer with pride, “Both,sir!”
For many days this practice continued. The Swede would walk about, saying to himself, “Twenty-three, sir. Three years, sir. Both, sir!”Before the day of the inspection, his f riends were satisfied. He knew his answer. There ought to b e no trouble.
Napoléon arrived. Standing in front of the straight lines of soldiers, he looked at them with great satisfaction. Then he began to walk along the lines, smiling sometimes, and sa ying a few words here and there. The Swede stood quite sti ll, except that his lips moved slightly. He was still pract icing.
Napoleon suddenly caught sight of the tall soldier and reali zed at once that he had never seen him before. He stopped in front of the Swede. For some reason, this time the gr eat man began with the second question.
“How many years have you been in my army?”he demanded. “Twenty-Three, sir,”said the Swede clearly and well. Napoleon was surprised. He look at the tall man and asked,“How old are you then?”
“Three years, sir,”replied the Swede quickly.
Napoleon was astonished. “Either you are mad, or I am,”h e declared.
“Both,sir!”cried the Swede proudly.
一个瑞典人非常钦佩拿破仑。

后来，他终于成为拿破仑军队里的一名士兵。

一次，拿破仑要来检阅队伍。

战友们提醒瑞典人：那伟大的人也许会问你几个问题。

这个典人十分焦急。

他听不懂法语啊！一个年纪大的士兵说：'拿破仑总是按同样的顺序问三个同样的问题。

第一个问题是：'你多大了？'，第二个问题是：'你在我的部队多久了？'，第三个问题是：'你是否参加过我两次大战的一个？'。

瑞典人按顺序背下了这三个问题的答案：'23岁，先生。

'，'3年了，先生'。

，'都是的，先生。

'。

检阅那天，拿破仑站在队伍前面，用满意的目光望着士兵们。

然后，他开始检阅了，一会儿微笑着看这个士兵，一会儿对那个军官说句话。

那瑞典一动不动地站着，只有嘴唇在轻轻地动着。

拿破仑一眼看见了他，走到他面前，开始问他问题。

遗憾的是，这次拿破仑问的第一个问题是：'你在我部队里多久了？'，' 23岁，先生。

'，'你今年多大了？'，'3个月了，先生。

'瑞典人的回答使拿破仑既吃惊又生气，于是吼道：'是你疯了，还是我疯了？''都是的，先生。

'瑞典人自豪地回答。

On the day of the inspection, Napoleon stood before the army, walking up and down and looking at his soldiers with satisfaction. Then He bega n to inspect the army.He smiled to the soldiers or had a word with some of the officers. The Swede stood still,hislips moving slightly.Unfortunate ly,the great man saw him and went over to him and asked him the ques tions.However, this time Napoleon did not ask the questions in the sam e order as usual.'How long have you been in my army?' asked the great
man.'23, sir.' 'How old are you?''3 months, sir.' answered the Swede. Hearing this, Napoleon was not only surprised but angry as well.
'Either you are mad, or I am.' shouted Napoleon.
'Both, sir.' the Swede answered proudly.。