作者：Heinrich Boll

在一個偏遠漁港的碼頭，一個衣著寒傖的漁夫躺在漁船上閉目養神。一個遊客走近漁夫，舉起相機照相。這照相聲把正在閉目養神的漁夫吵醒了，於是雙方開始攀談。

「聽說今天的天氣很有利捕魚？」

漁夫輕輕點頭。遊客稍微激動起來。他對於漁夫錯失良機感到惋惜。「為甚麼你不出海捕漁呢？」

漁夫回答倒是很乾脆：「早上我已經出過海，所打的魚也夠我明天和後天吃了。」

「我並不是多管閒事，但你試想想，要是你今天出海多次那你就能捕到更多的魚；要是你以後每好天也出海捕魚的話，頂多一年你就能買到一台發動機，兩年就能夠買多一條船。有朝一日，你將會擁有自己的熏魚廠，自己的餐館，然後……」

「然後又怎樣呢？」漁夫輕聲問道。

「然後你就可以優哉悠哉地在碼頭上休息，在陽光下閉目養神。」

「可是我已經這樣做了，」漁夫說，「只是你走過來打擾我罷了。」

顯然，這位遊客受到了啟發，若有所思地離開了。他心裡已經沒有了對漁夫的同情，有的只是一點兒妒忌。

English:
A tourist focuses in on a most idyllic picture: a man in simple clothes dozing in a fishing boat that has been pulled out of the waves which come rolling up the sandy beach. The camera clicks, the fisherman awakens. The tourist offers him a cigarette and launches into a conversation: “The weather is great, there are plenty of fish, why are you lying around instead of going out and catching more?”

The fisherman replies: “Because I caught enough this morning.”

“But just imagine,” the tourist says, “you would go out there three of four times a day, bringing home three or four times as much fish! You know what could happen?”

The fisherman shakes his head.

“After about a year you could buy yourself a motor-boat,” says the tourist. “After two years you could buy a second one, and after three years you could have a cutter or two. And just think! One day you may be able to build a freezing plant or a smoke house, you might eventually even get your own helicopter for tracing shoals of fish and guiding your fleet of cutters, or you could acquire your own trucks to ship fish to the capital, and then?.”

“And then?” asks the fisherman.

“And then”, the tourist continues triumphantly, “you could be calmly sitting at the beachside, dozing in the sun and looking at the beautiful ocean!”

The fisherman looks at the tourist: “But that is exactly what I was doing before you came along!”