Richer Allan was so forgetful that sometimes he forgot what he was talking about in the middle of a sentence. His wife has to constantly remind him about his appointments，his classes一even his meals.Since Allan was a professor at a well一known university，his forgetfulness was often an embarrassment¹. It was not that he was not intelligent，as some critical people，tended to say. He was just very，very absent-minded².

理查德·艾伦非常健忘，以至于有时候他会忘记自己在说什么，因此他的妻子不得不经常提醒他去赴约，去上课—甚至去吃饭。可是作为一名知名大学的教授，艾伦的健忘症却经常让他很难堪。但这并不像一些吹毛求疵的人说的那样是因为他并不聪明，他只不过非常、非常健忘。

One hot summer day，Professor Allan decided³ to take his children to the beach. The seaside town he planed to visit was about a three一hour train ride away. To make the trip more interesting for his children，he kept the name of the town a secret. Unfortunately，by the time Allan had arrived the train station，the poor forgetful man had forgotten the name of the destination himself. Luckily，a friend of his happened to be in the station. He offered to take care of his children，while Allan went back home to find out where he was going.

在一个炎热的夏日，艾伦教授打算带上他的孩子们到海滩去。去海边小镇大约得坐三个小时的火车。为了让这次旅行更有趣，他一直没告诉孩子小镇的名字。不幸得很，当艾伦到达火车站的时候，这个可怜的健忘的人把目的地忘得一干二净了。不过幸亏他的一个朋友恰好在火车站，于是他帮助艾伦照顾孩子们，而艾伦则回家问问他到底要去哪儿。

The professor's wife was surprised to see him again so soon，but she was amused when she heard what the matter was. She distributed his memory，so she wrote the name of the town on a piece of paper. Satisfied that she had solved the problem，she sent her husband off again. Ten minutes later she was astonished to see him outside the house again. What was the matter now? The professor had forgotten where he had left his children.

教授的妻子见他这么快就回来了，感到非常吃惊，但当她知道事情始末的时候却被逗乐了。她信不过丈夫的记忆力，于是就把小镇的名字写在一张纸上。当解决完问题之后，她满意地目送丈夫又一次离去。但是十分钟之后他又回到了门外，她大吃一惊。现在又怎么了?原来是教授忘了他把孩引门留在哪儿了。