What was the consequence of the editor's insistence on facts and statistics?
编辑坚持事实和统计数据的后果是什么？
Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes
报纸和杂志的编辑经常走极端
to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics.
为读者提供不重要的事实和统计数据。
Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine
去年，一位记者接受了一家知名杂志的指导
to write an article on the president's palace in a new African republic.
写一篇关于新非洲共和国总统府的文章。
When the article arrived,
当文章到达时，
the editor read the first sentence and then refused to publish it.
编辑读了第一句话，然后拒绝发表。
Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president's palace.'
数百级台阶通向环绕总统府的高墙。
The editor at once sent the journalist a fax
编辑立即给记者发了传真
instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall
指示他找出确切的台阶数和墙的高度
The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts,
记者立即着手获取这些重要事实，
but he took a long time to send them.
但他花了很长时间才把它们寄出去。
Meanwhile,the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press.
与此同时，编辑越来越不耐烦了，因为杂志很快就要出版了。
He sent the journalist two more faxes,but received no reply.
他又给记者发了两份传真，但没有收到回复。
He sent yet another fax informing the journalist
他又发了一封传真通知记者
that if he did not reply soon he would be fired.
如果他不尽快回复，他将被解雇。
When the journalist again failed to reply,
当记者再次没有回复时，
the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written.
编辑不情愿地按原文发表文章。
A week later,the editor at last received a fax from the journalist.
一周后，小编终于收到了记者的发传真。
Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well.
这个可怜的人不仅被捕了，而且还被送进了监狱。
However,he had at last been allowed to send a fax in which he informed the editor
然而，他终于被允许发送一份传真，通知编辑
that he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps
他在数1,084步时被捕
leading to the 15 foot wall which surrounded the president's palace.
通向围绕总统府的 15 英尺高的墙。
