廣東珠海市斗門區(qū)第二實驗小學 趙 剛 編譯

What is “l(fā)ogic”? Do you know?

什么是“邏輯”？你知道嗎？

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，愛因斯坦在課堂上問學生：“有兩個修理舊煙囪的工人，當他們爬出煙囪時，一個人身上非常干凈，另一個人沾了一身煤灰。誰會洗澡？”

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

一個學生說：“當然是那個滿臉滿身沾上了煤灰的工人將會去洗澡了！”

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?”

愛因斯坦問道：“真的嗎？請注意，那個身上干凈的工人看到另一個工人滿身煤灰，他認為，從煙囪里爬出來是臟的。另一個工人看到對方身上是干凈的，所以他就不這么認為了?，F(xiàn)在我再問你們，誰將會洗澡？”

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.”

另一個學生找到了答案，很興奮地說道：“哦！我知道！當身上干凈的工人看到身上臟的工人時，他認為自己身上一定也很臟。但是，當身上臟的工人看到身上干凈的工人時，他認為自己身上也不臟！所以，身上干凈的那個工人一定會去洗澡?！?/p>

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’.”

愛因斯坦看著其他學生。似乎所有的學生都同意這個答案。愛因斯坦慢慢說道：“我很抱歉地告訴你們，這個答案是錯的。如果兩個人同時從舊煙囪里爬出來，怎么可能一個人身上干凈而另一個人身上臟呢？這就叫作‘邏輯’?！?/p>

Notes:

repairv. 修理

chimneyn. 煙囪

climb out of … 從……里面爬出來

be covered with … 被……覆蓋

coaln. 煤炭；煤

ashn. 灰

take a bath 洗澡

notev. 注意

a face full of …滿臉的……

dirtyadj. 臟的

excitedadj. 激動的；興奮的

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)?

（參考答案見本期第60頁）