每日英语：Got 5 Minutes? 'Flash Fiction' Catches On

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

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.

satirical：讽刺的

His work is part of a rising literary genre called flash fiction, in which stories are told in 300 to 1,000 words. In an era of Sina Weibo and WeChat, flash fiction is becoming fertile ground for China, with its brevity and humor.

genre：体裁，流派

'A lot of people are drawn to it because the era we're in is an age of short stories rather than the novels of Tolstoy,' said Chinese contemporary author Yan Lianke, who joined Mr. Lao in discussing flash fiction at the Bookworm Literary Festival in Beijing on Saturday.

Mr. Lao's tales take a humorous look at a variety of societal issues, with characters ranging from farmers to academics to civil servants.

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. The professor says he can't talk much because something is wrong with his throat. The man later finds out his old classmate can talk, but only when he's paid large sums of money. In 'A View of the Hills,' a young boy writes a letter to a mayor, describing his desire to view the hills from his balcony, which he can no longer see because of pollution. The mayor is moved by the boy's letter and writes, ' What this child says is very important...Be sure to make every effort to restore this child's eyesight!'

Silver Tongue：口才，三寸不烂之舌

Mr. Lao's stories provide a refreshing take on a culture that's often mistaken as having no sensor of humor. 'Since I was small, I've been insufficiently serious,' Mr. Lao told a crowd at the festival.

The allure of micro fiction comes at a time when China's leaders are beginning to worry about the population's interest in reading, as video games, TV shows and movies dominate the entertainment landscape. Mr. Yan, who was last year shortlisted for a Man Booker International Prize, and also writes short stories, joked that China's political leaders are their ideal readership. 'Flash fiction is a good solution if you're sleepy at night and still have work to do,' he said. 'Reading a couple of these stories is as good as a cup of coffee.'

allure：诱惑，引诱       flash fiction：微小说

Mr. Lao traced the origins of Chinese flash fiction to the Qing Dynasty, when Pu Songling wrote hundreds of short stories. But humor is a new addition to the genre, he said, noting that the actual Chinese word for humor -youmo-is relatively new. The younger generation of readers, who have 'sharper tongues and better comedy skills than their predecessors,' has propelled these works.

One of the hurdles flash fiction faces is finding legitimacy in a culture that views the strength of novels by their thickness. 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 200,000 words lacks dignity. 'I personally do not see direct correlation between the length of fiction and its quality,' Mr. Lao said.

legitimacy：合法，合理，正统

Mr. Yan echoed Mr. Lao's sentiments, adding that the real death of civilization comes when it no longer has laughter. 'Xi Jinping is asking where the time has gone,' Mr. Yan said. 'What he should be asking is where all the laughter has gone.'

sentiment：感情，情绪