5分钟偷闲时间别浪费 来读微小说吧

Chinese author Lao Ma has a simple approach to his short stories: In the face of life, everything is funny.
对于中国作家劳马来说，写短篇小故事有一个很简单的窍门：在生活面前，一切事情都很有趣。

Mr. Lao, the pen name of Renmin University of China professor Ma Junjie, says there are plenty of laughable things in daily life that fuel his satirical stories, which often span only a page or two.
“劳马”是中国人民大学(Renmin University of China)教授马俊杰的笔名。他说，日常生活中有许许多多令人捧腹大笑的事情，为他的讽刺小故事（通常只有一两页）提供了丰富的创作素材。

His work is part of a rising literary genre called flash fiction, in which stories are told in 300 to 1,000 words. In an era of Sina Weibo and WeChat, flash fiction is becoming fertile ground for China, with its brevity and humor.
他的作品隶属一个崛起中的文学流派──微小说，微小说的篇幅在300至1,000字之间。在新浪微博(Sina Weibo)和微信(WeChat)称雄的时代，微小说以其简洁和幽默而成为一块沃土。

'A lot of people are drawn to it because the era we're in is an age of short stories rather than the novels of Tolstoy,' said Chinese contemporary author Yan Lianke, who joined Mr. Lao in discussing flash fiction at the Bookworm Literary Festival in Beijing on Saturday.
在上周六的北京书虫文学节上，中国当代作家阎连科就“微小说”与劳马进行了讨论。他说，我们正处于一个短篇小说的时代，而不是托尔斯泰(Tolstoy)小说时代，这也是微小说吸引读者的原因所在。

Mr. Lao's tales take a humorous look at a variety of societal issues, with characters ranging from farmers to academics to civil servants.
劳马写故事擅用戏谑的眼光看各种社会问题，故事中的人物角色从农民到学者再到公务员，范围广泛。

In 'Silver Tongue,' one of Mr. Lao's stories from 'Individuals,' a collection of 55 stories that was translated into English last year, he writes about a man who visits an old classmate who is now an admired professor. The professor says he can't talk much because something is wrong with his throat. The man later finds out his old classmate can talk, but only when he's paid large sums of money. In 'A View of the Hills,' a young boy writes a letter to a mayor, describing his desire to view the hills from his balcony, which he can no longer see because of pollution. The mayor is moved by the boy's letter and writes, ' What this child says is very important...Be sure to make every effort to restore this child's eyesight!'
劳马的作品《个别人》中包含55个小故事，去年被译成英文版。其中一篇题为《金嘴》的故事中，主人公去拜访一位如今已是教授、受人尊崇的老同学。两人见面后，教授称因喉疾无法多讲话。但随后主人公发现，老同学并非不能多说话，而是唯有付以重金才能开其金口。在《看山》中，一个小男孩给市长写信，信中说因为污染严重，他无法再从家中的阳台眺望到远山。市长被这封信深深地打动，回信写道，这个孩子说的事情非常重要……一定要竭尽全力恢复他的视力！