41、Mr. Richards worked in a shop which sold, cleaned and repaired hearing-aids（助听器）. One day an old gentleman entered and put one down in front of him without saying a word.
"What's the matter with it?" Mr. Richards said. The man did not answer. Of course Mr. Richards thought that the man must be deaf and that his hearing-aid must be faulty, so he said again, more loudly, 'What's wrong with your hearing-aid, sir?' again the man said nothing, so Mr. Richards shouted his question again as loudly as he could.
The man then took a pen and a piece of paper and wrote: "It isn't necessary to shout when you're speaking to me. My ears are as good as yours. This hearing-aid is my wife's, not mine. I've just had a throat operation, and my problem is not that I can't hear, but that I can't speak."