In ancient times there was a race of people called the Spartans living in the southern part of Greece． They were noted for their simple habits and their bravery．在古代，有一个生活在希腊南部的种族叫做斯巴达。他们以简朴的习惯和勇敢著称。
The name of their land was Laconia， and so they were sometimes called Lacons． One of the strange rules which the Spartans had was that they should speak briefly， and never use more words than were needed．他们的地方叫做拉哥尼亚。斯巴达人有一个奇怪的规矩就是他们说话必须简洁，从不多用一个不该用的词。
So a short answer is often spoken of as being Laconic， that is， as being such an answer as a Lacon would be likely to give． 所以简单的回答被称作为Laconic（简洁的），也就是拉哥尼亚人可能会给出的答案。
In the northern part of Greece there was a land called Macedon， and this land was at a time ruled over by a warlike king named Philip．在希腊北部，有一个叫作马其顿的地方，这地方曾一度被一个好战的国王菲利浦所统治。
Philip of Macedon wanted to become the master of all Greece． So he raised a great army， and made war upon the other states， until nearly all of them were forced to call him their king．马其顿王国的菲利浦希望成为整个希腊的统治者。所以他招募军队，向其他国家开战，直到几乎所有的国家都被迫尊他为王。
Then he sent a letter to the Spartans in Laconia， and said， “If I go down into your country，I will level your great city to the ground．” 然后他写了封信给拉哥尼亚的斯巴达人说：“如果我打进你们的国家，我会把你们伟大的城邦夷为平地。”
In a few days， an answer was brought back to him． When he opened the letter， he found only one word written there． That word was “IF”．几天后，菲利浦收到了回信。当他打开信，他发现里面只写着一个词“如果”。
It was as much as to say， “We are not afraid of you so long as the little word ‘if' stands in your way．” 这就是说，“只要‘如果'那个小词还在那里，我们就不会被你吓倒。”
