26

名言格句如自然科学规律的公式表达,形式简单优美,而内涵深刻普适。很多名人不仅发现了自然科学中的简单公式,还总结了不少社会学的规律,爱因斯坦就是其中的代表。

测量一个物体的质量就是测量其中的能量。
The mass of a body is a measure of its energy content.

当知识的圆周扩大之时,包裹它的黑暗的圆周也一样。
As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.

万有引力并不对人们堕入爱河负责。
Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.

人生就像骑单车。想保持平衡就得往前走。
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

在上帝面前我们都一样聪明——也都一样愚蠢。
Before God we are all equally wise— and equally foolish.

常识就是人到十八岁为止所累积的各种偏见。
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

教育就是当一个人把在学校所学全部忘光之後剩下的东西。
Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.

我无法知道第三次世界大战会有什么武器登场,但第四次世界大战中人们肯定用的是木棍和石块。
I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

我喜欢旅行,但我不喜欢到达。
I love to travel, but hate to arrive.

如果我们知道我们在做什么,那么这就不叫科学研究了;不是吗?
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

掰开人身上的偏见比掰开一个原子难的多。
It is harder to crack a prejudice than an atom.

把你的手放在滚热的炉子上一分钟,感觉起来像一小时。坐在一个漂亮姑娘身边整整一小时,感觉起来像一分钟。这就是相对论。
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.

天才和愚蠢之间的区别就是天才有它的极限。
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.

这个世界最不可理解的就是它是完全可以理解的。
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.

两件事情让我敬畏:布满星星的天空和隐藏在其中的人的精神世界。
Two things inspire me to awe: the starry heavens and the moral universe within.

态度上的弱点会变成性格上的弱点。
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

并不是我很聪明,而只是我和问题相处得比较久一点。
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

宇宙中唯有两件事物是无限的:那就是宇宙的大小与人的愚蠢。对于前者我并不肯定。
Zwei Dinge sind unendlich: Das Universum und die menschliche Dummheit. Aber beim Universum bin ich mir nicht ganz sicher.

真正有价值的是直觉。在探索的道路上智力无甚用处。
The only real valuable thing is intuition. The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery.

宇宙中最强大的力就是复利。
The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.

想像力比知识更重要。因为知识是有限的,而想像力是无限,它包含了一切,推动著进步,是人类进化的源泉。
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge islimited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.

21

看《动物世界》里刚孵化出来的小鳄鱼可爱极了,想必“再凶猛的野兽都有一个可爱的童年”。而于人的成长却是相反的过程,再温文尔雅的中年都曾是一个躁动的青年,再慈悲宽厚的长者都曾是一个逆反的少年。而教师职业之所以崇高更是因其职业的风险,我眼里的单词teenager基本上可以翻译成火药桶:)
twoway.jpg
via:two ways of looking at a fish
不经意看到阮一峰翻译的一些引言摘录,挑了些自己喜欢的。

许多人说他们在思考,实际上他们只是在重新安排偏见。-William James
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

那些为自己聪明而得意的人,就好像夸耀牢房宽敞的囚徒。-Simone Weil
The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.

大多数人过着一种平静的绝望生活,他们心中的歌和他们一起埋入坟墓。-Henry David Thoreau
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

他不知道,信心如同猜疑,会无限增长,希望好比恐惧,会无限膨胀。-Charles Mackay
He did not see that confidence, like mistrust, could be increased, almost ad infinitum, and that hope was as extravagant as fear.

对待生活别太严肃了,你绝不会活着离开的。-Elbert Hubbard
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out alive.

活着是美好的,死去是平静的。真正困难的是两者之间的过渡。-Isaac Asimov
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.

我们所有人都活在臭水沟里,但是有些人仰望星辰。-Oscar Wilde
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

没有什么比有效地做那些根本不需要做的事更无效了。-Peter F. Drucker
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

美是一种力量,微笑是它的剑。-Charles Reade
Beauty is power, a smile is its sword.

爱的反义词不是恨,而是冷漠。-Elie Wiesel
The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.

不快乐是一片需要英雄的大陆。-Goethe
Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.

23

生活中钱未必最为重要,但很多时候钱却能把看似洁白的简单折射出七彩的复杂来。
monyneed.jpg
The best things in life are free
But you can give them to the birds and bees
I want money (That's what I want)
via:Barrett Strong

14

策兰,是石头要开花的时候了...

...
We stand by the window embracing, and people
look up from the street:
it is time they knew!
It is time the stone made an effort to flower,
time unrest had a beating heart.
It is time it were time.

It is time.

19

说到稻草,英文中有句谚语,"The straw that broke the camel's back。"最初的说法是"As the last straw breaks the laden camel's back。"也就是我们常说的"压挎骆驼背的最后一根稻草"。这源于一则寓言,说一个商人让他的骆驼驮了很重的货物,还和同伴炫耀自己的骆驼多能干。同伴提醒骆驼的负重已到了极限,商人不以为然,于是同伴捡起一根稻草往骆驼背上轻轻一放,这匹"能干"的骆驼轰然倒下。

社会学上有个“稻草原理”。说往一匹健壮的马身上放一根稻草,马毫无反应,再添一根稻草马还是没有感觉…一直往马身上加稻草,当最后一根稻草轻轻落到了马身上,健壮的马竟不堪重负摊倒在地。类似的,生物学中也有个什么“蚂蚁效应”,说一群蚂蚁选择了一棵大树安家,它们辛苦劳作,挪移一粒粒沙土,咬去一点点树皮...一天,一阵微风吹来,百年大树轰然倒塌。

这还让我想起以前提到的“谷堆论证”和“秃顶论证”。一颗谷粒不能形成谷堆,再加一颗也不能形成谷堆,如果每次都加一颗谷粒,而每增加的一颗又都不能形成谷堆,那么怎么形成谷堆的呢?掉一根头发不能成为一个秃顶,再掉一根也不能成为秃顶,那么如果每次掉一根,而掉的每根又不能形成一个秃顶,那么何以形成秃顶呢?

单独看一根稻草的分量很轻,但“迭代”后的稻草分量就很重了,这如分形中皇冠是如何炼成的那样,是量变到质变的道理。而能被稻草压跨的也不仅仅是骆驼、驴和马,生活中我们也难免成为那不懂拒绝,也不懂节制的骆驼,我们也犯看起来只是添加一根稻草的无足轻重,实则是添加了那致命稻草的错误。时下的学生何尝不是负重的骆驼,而家长和老师还在轮番添加稻草,也不知道谁能更有幸轮到那最后一根。骆驼的倒下,被谴责的也不该仅仅是那最后的稻草。

有致命的稻草,自然也有救命的稻草,溺水的人抓住一根稻草都觉得能“救命”。传一次海难中就一个人存活了下来,原来他一直觉得自己眼前有一根稻草,一直想去抓到它。也许看见的所谓稻草是幻觉,但就是凭着这点希望,他一直在海上漂,直到获救。这是救命稻草的典故。

面对负重到极限的骆驼,我们不是添加最后一根稻草,而是从骆驼背上一根的一根的拿下稻草,那丁点亮光或许就能救了绝望了的骆驼。一根微不足道的稻草也就成了救命的稻草。对于不稳定系统,小小的稻草就成了决定性的因素,这样看来最后一根稻草的分量很重。高三最后的阶段,这种认识尤为强烈。而能给于绝境中的人以稻草的幻觉,谎言反而成了善意,还能救命。