Two Irishmen were working in the public works department. One would dig a hole and the other would follow behind him and fill the hole in.
After a while, one amazed onlooker said: “Why do you dig a hole, only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?”
The hole digger wiped his brow and sighed, “Well, I suppose it probably looks odd because we’re normally a three-person team. But today the lad who plants the trees called in sick.”
两个爱尔兰人在公共工程部门工作。一个负责挖洞，另一个跟在后面把洞填平。
有一次，一个惊讶的旁观者说:”你为什么挖个洞，结果你的伙伴跟在后面又把它填平?这看起来很奇怪啊。”
那个挖洞的人抹了抹额头，叹了口气说:”嗯，我猜这看起来确实有点奇怪，因为通常我们是三个人的团队。但是今天负责栽树的小伙子请假了。”
故事中三人小组，一个挖洞、一个在洞里栽树，还有一个填洞，这个植树过程中，每个人的工作都是有意义的。但是今天栽树的人请假了，其他两个人还要继续挖洞和填洞两个动作，那就很荒谬了。