The manager of a small building company was very surprised to get a bill for two white mice which one of his workmen had bought. He sent for the workman and asked him why he had bought the two mice.

\"Well，\" the workman answered， \"You remember the house we were repairing in Newcastle last week，don't you? One of the things we had to do there at that time was to put in some new electric wiring. Well， in one place we had to pass some wires through a pipe thirty feet long and about an inch across， which was built into solid stone and had four big bends in it. None of us could think how to do this until I had a good idea. I went to a shop and bought two white mice， one of them male and the other female. Then I tied a thread to the body of the mate mouse and put him into the pipe at one end， while Bill held the female mouse at the other end and pressed her gently to make her squeak. When the male mouse heard the female mouse's squeaks， he rushed along the pipe to help her.I suppose he was a gentleman even though he was only a mouse.Anyway， as he ran through the pipe， he pulled the thread behind him. It was then quite easy for us to tie one end of the thread totheelectric wires andpullthemthroughthe pipe.\"

After listening to this story， the manager felt the workman was really very smart and happily paid the bill.

一個小建筑公司的經(jīng)理收到一份要求為兩只白鼠付賬的賬單。他感到很吃驚。白鼠是他的一個工人買的。他派人叫來那個工人，問他為什么買了兩只老鼠。

工人回答：“您還記得上周我們在紐卡斯爾修的那所房子吧?當時我們給房子裝一些新電線，其中有幾根要穿入一根三十英尺一英寸寬的管子。管子嵌在堅硬的石頭里，里面還拐了四個彎兒。沒人知道該怎么把電線穿過去，后來我想了一個好辦法。我到商店買了兩只小白鼠，一只公的，一只母的。然后我在公鼠身上綁上一根線，把公的放在管子的一端，比爾在另一端抓著母鼠。輕輕按壓讓母鼠吱吱地叫。公鼠聽到了母鼠的叫聲，就快速穿過管子前去營救。盡管是老鼠，我仍認為它是個紳士。不管怎么說，它穿過管子，把身后的線也拉了過去。這樣我們就可以把線的一端系在電線上，輕易地把電線拉過管子了。”

聽了這個故事，經(jīng)理覺得這個工人真是聰明，就欣然付了帳。