A young man once asked Albert Einstein what the secret of success was. The great scientist told him that the secret of success was hard work.

　　A few days later the young man asked him the same question again. Einstein was very annoyed1.

　　He did not say anything but wrote a few words on a piece of paper and handed it to the young man. The young man looked at the piece of paper. On it was written:

　　X=Y+X+Z

　　"What does this mean?" asked the young man.

　　"A means2 success," explained the old scientist. "X stands for hard work, Y stands for good methods, and Y means that you should stop talking and get down to work."

　　譯文：

　　有個年輕人曾經問阿伯特.愛因斯坦成功的秘訣是什么，這位偉大的科學家告訴他成功的秘訣是勤奮。

　　幾天后這個年輕人又問他同樣的問題，愛因斯坦很惱火。

　　他一句話也沒說，只是在一張紙上寫下幾個字，遞給那年輕人。年輕人看了紙條，只見上面寫著：

　　X=Y+X+Z

　　“這是什么意思?”年輕人問道。

　　“A表示成功，”這位老科學家解釋說，“X代表勤奮，Y代表好的方法，Z的意思是別空談，認真的工作。”