亮は、月に一度の社内の勉強会で発表することになった。Ryo was down to give a talk at the monthly in-house study meeting.担当している商品の売れ方について、十分間話す。He would speak for ten minutes about how the product he looked after was selling.前の夜、亮はパソコンで資料を作り直した。The night before, he redid his slides on the computer.画面に出す図は、きれいだが少し子どもっぽい色になった。The charts for the screen came out neat but in slightly childish colours.
当日、先輩の木戸さんが紙の束を持ってきた。On the day, Kido, a colleague senior to him, arrived with a bundle of paper.「念のため、図だけ印刷しておいたよ。」"Just in case, I've printed off the charts."亮は、そんなものは必要ないと思いながら、礼を言って受け取った。Thinking he would not need them, Ryo thanked her and took them.
発表が始まって三分、画面が急に暗くなった。Three minutes into his talk, the screen suddenly went dark.発表の最中に、プロジェクターが止まってしまったのだ。Right in the middle of his talk, the projector had died.会議室が静かになった。The meeting room went quiet.木戸さんが立って、印刷した紙を全員に配った。Kido stood up and handed the printed sheets round to everyone.木戸さんのおかげで、亮は話を続けられた。Thanks to Kido, Ryo was able to carry on.
紙の図は白黒で、安っぽく見えた。The charts on paper were black and white and looked cheap.それでも、配ってくれたおかげで、全員の目が紙に集まった。Even so, thanks to her handing them out, every eye in the room was on the paper.画面を見ないので、亮は人の顔を見ながら話せた。With no screen to watch, Ryo could speak while looking at people's faces.終わったあと、課長が一言だけ言った。When it was over, the section head said just one thing.「図が分かりやすかった。紙のほうがよく見えたよ。」"The charts were clear. They showed up better on paper."
片づけの最中に、亮は木戸さんに聞いた。While they were clearing up, Ryo asked Kido a question.「どうして印刷してくれたんですか。」"Why did you print them out?"「前に同じことがあってね。あのときは何も用意していなかった。」"The same thing happened to me once. That time I had nothing ready."木戸さんは笑って、止まったプロジェクターを指した。Kido laughed and pointed at the projector that had stopped.
次の月から、亮は発表のたびに紙の資料を作るようになった。From the next month on, Ryo made paper handouts for every talk.一度の失敗のおかげで、準備の仕方が変わったのだ。Thanks to that one failure, the way he prepared had changed.機械が止まっても困らないと思うと、話し方まで落ち着いた。Once he knew a broken machine would not stop him, even his delivery grew calmer.