波莉问路

波莉一直觉得地图是给游客用的，这个想法只坚持了二十分钟。小区的街道弯弯曲曲，像是随手画出来的，每个街角都飘着同一家面包店的香味，而图书馆怎么也不肯出现。街角站着一只猫头鹰，报纸折成小小的一块，站着看，只有猫头鹰才那样看报。「不好意思，请问一下。我好像迷路了。」

Polly had a theory that maps were for tourists, and the theory lasted exactly twenty minutes. The streets of the neighborhood curved like they were drawn freehand, every corner had the same bakery smell, and the library refused to appear. On a corner stood an owl with a folded newspaper, reading standing up the way only owls can. "Excuse me, one question. I think I am lost."

猫头鹰非常有耐心地放下报纸。「图书馆在哪里？我在这里绕了半天。」不远，猫头鹰解释说，问题出在喷泉。所有人都在喷泉那里拐错了方向。「到了喷泉那里，往右还是往左？」往左，永远往左，然后一直沿着街走，走到广场为止。「一直走到广场，好的！听起来很简单。」

The owl lowered the newspaper with enormous patience. "Where is the library? I have been going in circles." It was not far, the owl explained; the problem was the fountain. Everyone turned the wrong way at the fountain. "To the right or to the left at the fountain?" Left, always left, and then nothing but street until the square. "Straight ahead until the square, okay! That sounds easy."

有人说出来之后，果然很简单。图书馆就在广场后面，宽宽的台阶，门开着，一直都在那儿。「太谢谢你了！你救了我这个下午。」猫头鹰挥了挥报纸，眼睛没有离开下一页。波莉走上台阶，心里有了一个新的想法：两点之间最短的距离，是一个好问题。

It was easy, once someone said it out loud. The library appeared behind the square with its wide steps and its doors open, exactly where it had been all along. "Thank you very much! You have saved my afternoon." The owl waved the newspaper without looking up from the next page. Polly climbed the steps with a new theory: the shortest distance between two points is a good question.