The Stevenson family was having dinner. The family ate without

talking for several minutes, then Tom said, “Daddy, do you know

how wars begin?”
  Mr. Stevenson thought for a moment, and then he said, “Yes, I think so. I’

ll give you an example. We’ll take two countries, Britain and the United

States for an example. If Britain fought with the U.S. ...”
  Mrs. Stevenson laughed. “That’s crazy,” she said to her husband.

“Britain and the U.S. have been friends for over two hundred years. They’ll never fight.”
  “Yes, I know that,” Mr. Stevenson said. “I was only using them as an example.”
  “But they’re not a good example,” Mrs. Stevenson said.

“France and Germany are a better example.”
  “Britain and the U.S. are the best example,” Mr. Stevenson replied.

“They are friends now but they were enemies in the past. They fought a war!”
  “But that was a long time ago,” Mrs. Stevenson said. “You should use

more modern examples.”
  “And you should let me answer my son’s question,” Mr. Stevenson said angrily.
  “Not when you give him wrong answers,” Mrs. Stevenson said.
  “I am not giving him wrong answers!” Mr. Stevenson shouted.

“I am giving him perfectly good answers.”
  “Don’t shout at me!” Mrs. Stevenson cried. “I’m not one of
your stupid friends.”
  “My friends aren’t stupid!” Mr. Stevenson stood up and
walked angrily out the room.
  “Now I’ll answer your question,” Mrs. Stevenson said to her
son.
  “It’s all right, Mom,” he said. “You and Dad already have.”

        战争是怎样开始的
  史蒂文森家人正在吃晚餐。沉默了好几分钟后，汤姆突然问：“爸爸，
你知道战争是怎样开始的吗？”
  史蒂文森先生想了想，说:“我知道。给你举个例子，英国和美国。如果
英国和美国打仗……”
  史蒂文森夫人笑了。“那太傻了，”她对丈夫说，“英国和美国已经友
好两百多年了，它们不可能打仗啊。”
  “是，我知道，”史蒂文森先生说，“我只是举个例子而已。”
  “可这并不是个好例子啊，” 史蒂文森夫人说，“法国和德国的例子就
比这个例子好。”
  “英国和美国是最好的例子，” 史蒂文森先生回答说，“它们现在是朋
友，可过去是敌人。他们发动了战争！”
  “但那是很久以前的事了，” 史蒂文森夫人说，“你应该举些更现代一
点儿的例子。”
  “你应该让我回答儿子的问题。”史蒂文森先生生气地说。
  “但并不是要你给他错误的答案啊。”史蒂文森夫人说。
  “我没给他错误的答案！”史蒂文森喊道，“我给他的答案非常恰
当。”
  “别冲我大喊大叫的！” 史蒂文森夫人喊道，“我可不是你那些愚蠢的
朋友。”
  “我的朋友才不愚蠢呢！”史蒂文森先生站起来，非常生气地走出了房
间。
  “现在我可以回答你的问题了。” 史蒂文森夫人对她儿子说。
  “不用了，妈妈，”他说，“你和爸爸已经有过一场战争了。”