2 THE 39TH LEVEL

CHAPTER 2 THE 39TH LEVEL If you're like most of our readers, you're probably wondering how long it takes Terry and me to write a book. Well, I guess the answer to that really depends on

第39层如果你和我们的大多数读者一样，你可能想知道我和特里写一本书需要多长时间。 我想这个问题的答案取决于

whether it's a long book or a short book. Long books take longer to write than short books, which don't take as long to write as long books, which, as I said, take longer to write than short books, which—oh, excuse me. Here's Terry. 'Hi, Andy,' he says. 'What are you doing?' 'I'm just telling the readers about how long it takes us to write a book.' 'Did you tell them that it depends on whether it's a long book or a short book?' he says.

不管是长书还是短书。 长书比短书要花更长的时间，短书不像长书那样花很长时间，我说过，长书比短书要花更长的时间，哦，不好意思。 这是特里。“嗨，安迪，”他说。 “你在干什么？”“我只是在告诉读者我们写一本书要花多长时间。”“你有没有告诉他们这要看是长书还是短书？”他说。

'Yes!' I say. 'And that a long book takes longer to write than a short book?' 'Yes!' I say.

“是的!”我说。“一本长书比一本短书花的时间长？”“是的!”我说。

'And did you tell them how a short book doesn't take as long to write as a long book?' 'YES!' I say. 'I explained all that.'

“你有没有告诉他们写一本短篇小说不像写一本长篇小说花那么长时间？”“是的!”我说。 “我都解释过了。”

'Okay, okay, there's no need to shout,' says Terry. 'I bet there's one thing you didn't tell them, though.' 'What's that?' 'That this book is hardly going to take us any time at all, no matter how long or short it ends up being.'

“好了，好了，没必要大喊大叫，”特里说。 “不过，我敢说有一件事你没有告诉他们。“那是什么？”“这本书几乎不会占用我们任何时间，不管它最后是长是短。”

'How do you figure that?' 'Well…' says Terry, 'I—'

“你怎么知道的？”“嗯……”特里说，“我——”