One afternoon I was in our living room reading the sports pages. “This pitcher earns $2.2 million a year just for throwing a ball straight,” I ranted to my wife. “Anyone can do that.” I picked up a rubber ball that was lying next to my chair and threw it at a couch cushion. “Look at that,” I bragged. “Bull's-eye!” My wife tossed the ball back and I threw again, hitting dead center. “Two in a row,” I cheered. My third toss went wild and ricocheted into one of my wife's favorite pictures, knocking it off the end table. She didn't even look up. “And that,” she said, “is why you make $22,000 a year.”
一天下午,我在客廳里看報(bào)紙的體育版。我憤憤不平地對(duì)太太說(shuō):“這個(gè)投手一年賺220萬(wàn)美金,就因?yàn)榍蛲兜弥?。這活誰(shuí)都能干?!蔽覔炱鹨巫舆吷系囊粋€(gè)橡皮球,朝沙發(fā)墊子扔過(guò)去?!澳闱?,正中目標(biāo)?!碧亚蛉舆€給我,我又扔了一次,打在正中。我歡呼起來(lái):“連中兩次!”我第三次扔偏了。反彈到我太太喜歡的一張畫(huà)上,把它從沙發(fā)桌上打下去。她連眼睛都沒(méi)抬一下,說(shuō):“這就是為什么你一年掙兩萬(wàn)二。”