The humorous story may be told to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic (滑稽的) story and the witty (诙谐的) story must be brief and end with a point．The humorous story continues gently along, the other two burst.
The humorous story is strictly a work of art--high and delicate (精美的) art--and only an artist can tell it; But no art is necessary in telling the comic and witty stories; anybody can do it．The art of telling a humorous story--I mean by word of mouth, not print--was created in America, and has remained at home.
The humorous story is told seriously; the teller does his best to hide the fact that he himself even suspects that there is anything funny about it; but the teller of the comic story tells you beforehand that it is one of the funniest things he has ever heard, then tells it with eager delight, and is the first person to laugh.
When he gets through, and sometimes, if he has had good success, he is so glad and happy that he will repeat the point of it and glance around from face to face, collecting applause (喝彩), and then repeat it again.
Which story takes the longest to tell? ( )