Mark Twain, the famous American author, was well known as a lecturer, and literary clubs often invited him to speak. Before one of his lectures a club member came to him and said: “Mr. Twain, people say that you can tell very funny stories. 1. He hasn't laughed for ten years.”
“I'll do my best,” Mark Twain said.
2. He was sitting in front of him with an old man who had a very sad face.
Mark Twain began to tell jokes one after another. “I told long jokes and short jokes, new jokes and old jokes,” Mark Twain told his friends. “I told every joke in my memory, and soon everybody was laughing. Everybody – but not the old man. 3. I was ashamed to think that I couldn't make him laugh, and I tried again and again. 4.”
After the lecture, the club member came to Mark Twain and said “Thank you, Mr. Twain. I have never heard so many funny stories.” “5.” Mark Twain answered, “He didn't even smile!”
“I know,” the man said. “I told you that he hasn't laughed for ten years. But didn't tell you that he hasn't heard anything for ten years. He is deaf.”