Notes

A few days later, Zhang Xi was to invite a friend to come over for dinner. The guest’s surname was “万(, which as a number stands for 10,000).” That morning, he asked his son to help him write a letter to this friend to invite him over.

张喜的儿子很高兴地说︰“爸，没有问题，我帮你写这封信。”

Zhang Xi's son said happily, "Dad, no problem. I can help you write this letter."

到了下午，张喜的儿子还没有写完这封信，于是他去问儿子：“儿子啊！你说要帮我写一封信，你到底写了没有？怎么到现在还没拿给我呢？”

In the afternoon, Zhang Xi's son hadn’t finished this letter, so he ask his son: "My son! You said you wanted to help me write a letter. Have you written yet? Why haven’t you bring it to me?”

张喜的儿子却生气地说：“爸，别再说这信了。光您朋友的姓，就让我写了好几个小时。世界上的姓这么多，您朋友为什么要姓‘万’呢？”张喜问︰“你为什么这么说呢？”

To Zhang Xi's surprise, his son said angrily, "Dad, stop talking about the letter. It took me hours just to write your friend’s surname. With all those surnames out in the world, why does he have to be 10,000?” Zhang Xi asked. “Why is that?”

张喜的儿子回答：“我一大早就开始写，到现在才写了一千多个笔画啊！光写他的姓，我可能就要花一个星期的时间！”

Zhang Xi's son replied: "I began to write early in the morning, but up to now I have only finished more than one thousand strokes. It might take me a week just to write his surname!”