I spent hours picking through sources – mostly dusty papers in the years before the Internet, or strangers on the telephone – to clarify questions of fact: Was this really the first such product? Was Mr. Smith 42 or already 43?
我常常用几个小时逐一查阅消息来源——在互联网诞生前大多是些落满灰尘的报纸，或者向陌生人打电话询问——以求澄清事实的真相：这种产品真的是同类中最早的吗？史密斯先生是42岁还是43岁？他所说的收入在之前五年内保持增长是否只是因为公司的一次兼并？还有凡此种种。