Hamid has three days to write his best-man speech, and he has no ideas. His oldest friend is getting married on Saturday, and the whole family expects something funny. On Wednesday night, he opens an AI assistant. He types: "Write a speech for my friend and his bride. Make it warm and funny."
哈米德只有三天时间来写伴郎致辞，可他一点主意也没有。他最老的朋友周六就要结婚了，全家人都期待一段好笑的发言。周三夜里，他打开了一个人工智能助手。他输入：“为我的朋友和他的新娘写一篇致辞。要温暖，要好笑。”
Four seconds later, the speech is ready. It is smooth and polished. It is full of phrases like "a journey of love" and "two hearts, one destiny". Hamid is impressed. He reads it aloud to his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Nothing sounds wrong until the second paragraph.
四秒钟后，致辞就写好了。它流畅又圆润，满是“爱的旅程”和“两颗心，一个命运”这样的字眼。哈米德印象深刻。他对着浴室镜子里的自己大声朗读。直到第二段，才有些地方听着不对劲。
"I will never forget the day they met in Valmora," the speech says.
“我永远不会忘记他们在瓦尔莫拉相遇的那一天。”致辞里这样说。
Hamid stops. His friend and Simona did not meet in Valmora. They met at a bus stop in Harbor Town, in the rain, when she lent him her umbrella. The speech also says that his friend is a lifelong lover of hiking. His friend has never owned a pair of boots. He complains when the walk to the car is longer than a minute.
哈米德停住了。他的朋友和西莫娜并不是在瓦尔莫拉认识的。他们是在港城的一个公交站，下着雨，她把伞借给了他。致辞里还说，他的朋友一辈子都热爱徒步。他的朋友从来没有拥有过一双登山靴。走到车边的路超过一分钟，他就要抱怨。
The more Hamid reads, the less it sounds like anyone he knows. "I could give this speech at any wedding in the world," he mutters. If he reads it on Saturday, nobody will laugh. The groom's grandmother will notice the wrong city immediately.
哈米德越读，越觉得它不像他认识的任何人。“这篇致辞我可以拿到世界上任何一场婚礼上去讲，”他嘀咕道。要是周六他照着念，没有人会笑。新郎的奶奶一下子就会发现城市不对。
He closes the laptop and tells himself he will fix it tomorrow. Tomorrow turns into Friday, and by Friday night he is still staring at the screen. Finally, he pushes the computer away and takes a pen and a piece of paper from the drawer.
他合上笔记本电脑，对自己说明天再改。明天变成了周五，到周五晚上，他还在盯着屏幕。最后，他把电脑推开，从抽屉里拿出一支笔和一张纸。
This time, he does not ask for anything smooth. He writes down what really happened. He writes about the evening his friend fell asleep at his own birthday party. A paper hat was still on his head. He writes about the umbrella, which his friend still carries everywhere, even in summer. He crosses out three lines and writes them again. At one in the morning, he finally has a speech that sounds like his own voice.
这一次，他不再要求什么流畅的东西。他把真正发生过的事写下来。他写了他的朋友在自己生日派对上睡着的那个晚上，头上还戴着一顶纸帽子。他写了那把伞，他的朋友至今走到哪儿都带着，连夏天也不例外。他划掉三行，又重新写了一遍。凌晨一点，他终于有了一篇听起来是他自己声音的致辞。
At the wedding, Hamid stands up with the paper shaking a little in his hand. "Eight years ago, it was raining at a bus stop in Harbor Town," he begins. Simona covers her mouth. The groom laughs so hard that he knocks over his glass. By the end, even the grandmother is wiping her eyes.
婚礼上，哈米德站起身，手里的纸微微发抖。“八年前，在港城的一个公交站，下着雨。”他开口说道。西莫娜捂住了嘴。新郎笑得那么厉害，把杯子都碰倒了。到最后，连奶奶都在擦眼睛。
Later, while the band is playing, Hamid's phone buzzes in his pocket. It is a message from the assistant: "How did the speech go?"
后来，乐队正在演奏，哈米德口袋里的手机震了一下。是那个助手发来的消息：“致辞效果怎么样？”
He smiles and types back: "Very well. I wrote it myself."
他笑了笑，回复道：“非常好。是我自己写的。”
