Twain and two friends once were sitting in a restaurant．有一次，马克.吐温和两个朋友坐在一家餐馆。
One friend said that the air in the mountains of his hometown was very clear．其中一个朋友说他家乡山上的空气很清洁。
In many places the echo of a voice came back five times stronger than the original voice． 在许多地方，声音的回声以高于原来声音的五倍返回。
The second friend said that was nothing． In his hometown the echo of a voice spoken in the morning came back in the afternoon． 第二个朋友说这不算什么。在他的家乡，早晨发出的声音，其回声要在下午才能听到。
Mark Twain laughed． Then he said：“Listen! The echoes which you have told about are very unusual． But in a small church in my hometown there is an echo more unusual even than those．” 马克.吐温大笑起来，然后他说： “听着！你们说的回声是很不一般。但是在我家乡的一个教堂，甚至有比那更稀奇的回声。”
“What is so strange about the echo there?” asked one of the men．“那儿的回声有什么奇特之处？”
“Well， I'll tell you，” said Mark Twain． “The echo in that church is so unusual that if one asks in a loud voice， “好，我这就告诉你，”马克.吐温说，“那个教堂里的回声非常不寻常，如果有人大声问：
‘Good morning! How are you?' the echo replies after a moment very clearly， ‘very well， thank you． And how are you?'” ‘早上好！你好吗？'过一会儿，回声会很清楚的回答，‘我很好，谢谢。你怎么样？
