I don't know why, but I'm always very careless, when I go on a trip, about the address or telephone number or anything of the people who invited me. I figure I'll be met, or somebody else will know where we'er going; it'll get straightened out somehow. One time, in 1957, I went to a gravity conference at the University of North Carolina. I was supposed to be an expert in a different field who looks at gravity. I landed at the airport a day late for the conference (I couldn't make it the first day), and I went out to where the taxis were. I said to the dispatcher, "I'd like to go to the University of North Carolina." "Which do you mean," he said."the State University of North Carolina at Raleigh, or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill?" Needless to say, I hadn't the slightest idea. "Where are they?" I asked, figuring that one must be near the other. "One's north of here, and the other is south of here, about the same distance." I had nothing with me that showed which one it was, and there was nobody else going to the conference a day late like I was. That gave me an idea. "Listen,"I said to the dispatcher. "The main meeting began yesterday, so there ware a whole lot of guys going to the meeting who must have come through here yesterday. Let me dsecribe them to you : They would have their heads kind of in the air, and they would be talking to each other, not paying attention to where they were going, saying things to each other, like 'G-mu-mu. G-mu-mu.'" His face lit up. "ah, yes," he said. "You mean Chapel Hill !" He called the next taxi waiting in line. "Take this man to the university at Chapel Hill." "Thank you," I said, and I went to the conference.
Richard P.Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr.Feynman !"
1) It turned out I was the only guy who had learned some Japanese- even Wheeler, who had told everybody they ought to learn Japanese, hadn't learned any-and I couldn't stand it any more.I had read about the Japanese-style hotels,which were supposed to be very different from the hotel we were staying in.
The next morning I called the Japanese guy who was organizing ev- erything up to my room."I would like to stay at a Japanese-style hotel." "I am afraid that it is impossible,Professor Feynman."
2) I had read that the Japanese are very polite,but very obstinate: You have to keep working on them.So I decided to be as obstinate as ther,and equally polite.It was a battle of minds:It took thirty minutes,back and forth.
"Surely You're Joking,Mr. Feynman" Richard P.Feynman
> ところで、中3の娘の英語の教科書に、 > We can contact each other either by e-mail or the Internet. > という文があるんですが、これ、わたし絶句してしまいまして(^^;) > 訳せなかったんですよ。このthe Internetは果たしてなにを指しているのでしょう。