这就是“逻辑”

广东珠海市斗门区第二实验小学 赵 刚 编译

What is “logic”? Do you know?

什么是“逻辑”？你知道吗？

One day, Einstein asked the students in class, “There are two workers whorepairthe oldchimney. When theyclimb out ofthe chimney, one is very clean and the otheris covered with coal ash.Who willtake a bath?”

一天，爱因斯坦在课堂上问学生：“有两个修理旧烟囱的工人，当他们爬出烟囱时，一个人身上非常干净，另一个人沾了一身煤灰。谁会洗澡？”

A student said, “Of course, the worker with a face and body full of coal ash went to take a bath!”

一个学生说：“当然是那个满脸满身沾上了煤灰的工人将会去洗澡了！”

Einstein asked, “Really? Pleasenotethat the clean worker saw another one witha face full ofcoal ash. He thought it wasdirtyto climb out of the chimney. The other saw that the other was clean, so he didn’t think so. Now I’ll ask you again who will take a bath?”

爱因斯坦问道：“真的吗？请注意，那个身上干净的工人看到另一个工人满身煤灰，他认为，从烟囱里爬出来是脏的。另一个工人看到对方身上是干净的，所以他就不这么认为了。现在我再问你们，谁将会洗澡？”

Another student was veryexcitedto find the answer, “Oh!I know! When the clean worker saw the dirty worker, he thought he must be very dirty. But when the dirty worker saw the clean worker, he thought he was not dirty! So the clean worker must have gone to take a bath.”

另一个学生找到了答案，很兴奋地说道：“哦！我知道！当身上干净的工人看到身上脏的工人时，他认为自己身上一定也很脏。但是，当身上脏的工人看到身上干净的工人时，他认为自己身上也不脏！所以，身上干净的那个工人一定会去洗澡。”

Einstein looked at the other students. All the students seemed to agree with that answer. Einstein said slowly, “I’m sorry to tell you that the answer is wrong. If two people climb out of the old chimney at the same time, how can one be clean and the other dirty? This is called ‘logic’.”

爱因斯坦看着其他学生。似乎所有的学生都同意这个答案。爱因斯坦慢慢说道：“我很抱歉地告诉你们，这个答案是错的。如果两个人同时从旧烟囱里爬出来，怎么可能一个人身上干净而另一个人身上脏呢？这就叫作‘逻辑’。”

Notes:

repairv. 修理

chimneyn. 烟囱

climb out of … 从……里面爬出来

be covered with … 被……覆盖

coaln. 煤炭；煤

ashn. 灰

take a bath 洗澡

notev. 注意

a face full of …满脸的……

dirtyadj. 脏的

excitedadj. 激动的；兴奋的

I. Put the following into Chinese.

one day ________________

in class _________________

climb out _______________

take a bath ______________

of course _______________

think so ________________

excited _________________

find the answer __________

agree with ______________

at the same time _________

II. Fill in the blanks with “can” or “must”.

1. That boy is small, but he ________ run very fast.

2. It is 18:00 now, Richard. I ________ go home now, or my mother will be worried.

3. The Maths teacher told us that we ________ hand in our exercise-books tomorrow morning.

4. Zac: ________ I play table tennis now, dad?

Dad: No. You ________ finish your homework first, Zac.

5. A: How _________ I get to the Water Cube?

B: You _________ take a taxi or a bus to the Water Cube.

6. Jack: ________ we copy the new words 5 times, Mr.Smith?

Smith: Yes, you ________.

7. Bob: Mom, ________ I eat up the two apples?

Mom: No. You _______ only eat one of them. The other is for your younger brother.

8. It’s said that it will rain this afternoon. You ________ take an umbrella with you, Anderson.

III. Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the words given.

1. What shape ________ (be) the Earth? Do you know?

2. There are twelve school ________ (bus) in front of our school.

3. That lady ________ (see) a small tiger in the trees last week.

4. I’m sorry _______ _______(tell) you that the famous basketball player will not come to our school next Friday.

5. That student is often late for school. He must _______ (get)up late in the morning.

6. The old man is walking ________ (slow) in the park.

7. After playing football, Sam took _______ _______ (bath).

8. Helen: Mary, our team won yesterday.

Mary: ________ (real)?

（参考答案见本期第60页）