劳马

“劳马”是中国人民大学（RenminUniversityofChina）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。

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 .

劳马将长篇小说比喻为老虎，短篇小说则是四处躲藏的老鼠。谈到对《个别人》的看法，他援引2012年诺贝尔文学奖（Nobelliterature）得主中国作家莫言的话说，没有二十万字以上的篇幅，长篇小说就缺少应有的威严。

Mr. Lao offered up the comparison that full-length novels are tigers , while short stories are ' near rats . ' In his forward to ' Individuals , ' he cites Chinese writer and 2012 Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan as saying a novel with less than 200000 words lacks dignity . '

劳马的小说让人们对于常常被误解为没有幽默感的中国文化有了全新的认识。

Mr. Lao 's stories provide a refreshing take on a culture that 's often mistaken as having no sensor of humor .

劳马说，但我个人并不认为小说的长度和质量有直接关系。

' I personally do not see direct correlation between the length of fiction and its quality , ' Mr. Lao said .

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。

Chinese author Lao Ma has a simple approach to his short stories : In the face of life , everything is funny .

阎连科对劳马的观点表示赞同，并说如果不再有笑声，那才是文明真正死去的时刻。

Mr. Yan echoed Mr. Lao 's sentiments , adding that the real death of civilization comes when it no longer has laughter .

劳马将中国微小说的起源追溯至清朝，当时蒲松龄创作了数百篇短篇小说。

Mr. Lao traced the origins of Chinese flash fiction to the Qing Dynasty , when Pu Songling wrote hundreds of short stories .

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。

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。

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 .