Bill Gates dies in a car accident. He finds himself in purgatory¹（炼狱） , being sized up by God. Well, Bill, I'm really confused on this call; I'm not sure whether to send you to Heaven or Hell. After all, you enormously helped society by putting a computer in almost every home in America, yet you also created that ghastly（可怕的，惨白的） Windows '95. I'm going to do something I've never done before, in your case; I'm going to let you decide where you want to go." Bill replied, "Well, what's the difference between the two?" God said, "I'm willing to let you visit both places briefly,if it will help your decision.

"Fine, but where should I go first?" "I'll leave that up to you." "Okay then," said Bill, "Let's try Hell first." Bill went to Hell. It was a beautiful, clean, sandy beach with clear waters and lots of beautiful women running around, playing in the water, laughing and frolicking about. The sun was shining; the temperature perfect. He was very pleased. "This is great!" he told God. "If this is Hell, I really want to see Heaven!" "Fine," said God, and off they went. Heaven was a place high in the clouds, with angels drifting about, playing harps² and singing. It was nice, but not as enticing³（迷人的） as Hell. Bill thought for a quick minute, and rendered his decision. "Hmmm. I think I'd prefer Hell," he told God. "Fine," retorted God, "as you desire." So Bill Gates went to Hell. Two weeks later, God decided⁴ to check on the late billionaire to see how he was doing in Hell. When he got there, he found Bill, shackled⁵ to a wall screaming amongst hot flames in dark caves, being burned and tortured by demons⁶.

"How's everything going?" he asked Bill. Bill responded, his voice filled with anguish⁷（痛苦） and disappointment, "This is awful! This is nothing like the Hell I visited two weeks ago! I can't believe this is happening! What happened to that other place,with the beaches, the beautiful women playing in the water "That was a demo（演示，样本） ," replied God.