目 录 上一节 下一节 
待人亲切礼貌周到是很重要的 "Frankly, I think you're boring." Why do we seldom hear people speak so honestly? Unless you want to end a relationship, you don't tell another person what you think of her or him like this. Failing to be impressed by a friend's collection of stamps, yawning when a golfer tells you about that great shot he made on the 14th hole, or falling asleep when friends show pictures from their last trip to Sault Ste. Marie are all things that educated people try not to do. This is what manners are about: acting in a civilized way to avoid misunderstanding, friction, and conflict." 公开跟你讲，我觉得你很讨厌。"为什么我们几乎听不到人们会这样非常直来直去的讲话呢？除非你要终止与对方的关系，要不然你不会跟对方说出你对她或他有这种不好的想法。对你的朋友集邮的成就无动于衷；当一个高尔夫球手兴兴高采烈地告诉佻，他的第14穴打得很精彩时，你却在打哈欠；当你的朋友们兴致勃勃地给你看他们最近到苏圣玛丽去旅游拍下的那些照片时，你却酣然入睡了--这一切都是有教养的人所尽力避免的。一切行动都按市民能接受的懂礼貌的方式去做，避免误会，避免磨擦，避免冲突--这才是合乎礼貌的言行举止（注：高尔夫球，海外华人称"穴"，车内称"洞"--译者注）。 There are no laws enforcing respect. Yet we cannot interact with others without some rules of behavior, rules that are set by some form of social consensus. These guidelines represent what a majority of people consider acceptable and what they consider unacceptable. Rude people are those whose behavior shows little respect for the rules that the majority follow. For instance, because they talk at home while the television is on, many people think they can talk at movies as well. They are not even aware that this habit will bother the other members of the audience. 根本就没有强迫你来尊敬别人的那种法律。可是，如果没有一定的道德行为的准则，人们互相间就无法交往了。这些准则是以社会上一致赞成的公德的形式确定下来的。这些道德行为准则代表着大多数人所能接受的和他们认为所不能接受的做法。那些行为举止根本不新生大多数人所遵守的规则的人都是粗野的人。例如，因为许多人在自己家里一边看电视一边高谈阔论，他们就认为在电影院看电影时也可以高声喧哗。他们甚至没意识到，这种习惯会使其他一些电影观众感到讨厌。 Restaurants have smoking and non-smoking sections, and most smokers are polite enough to ask, "Do you mind if I smoke?" before lighting up. Restaurants should also have cellular-phone and no-cellular-phone sections. A new class of rude people has been born: the look-at-me phone users whose boring conversations are just as dangerous to our mental health as smoke is to our lungs. Sometimes, it is better to remain unknown than to make people hate you. 饭店里都设有吸烟室和非吸烟区，大多数烟民在没点着香烟之前，都会很有礼貌的问一声在旁边就座的人："我吸烟的话，您介意吗？"饭店里本来也都应该设有手提电话区和非手提电话区。现在又冒出来一族新的粗野人，即看我有多神气地打着手提电话的一族。这些人在电话上的那些无聊的谈话，对我们心理健康的危害，和吸烟对我们的肺部健康的危害是同样严重的。有时，做一个默默无闻的人倒比让人恨你、讨厌你更好一些。 There are many children and adolescents whose behavior is generally unacceptable. They swear no matter who is around them, they listen to their Walkmans while the teacher is talking to them. Indifferent parents who refuse to discipline their children are not helping them. Kids who have no idea what being polite means will pay the price sooner or later. When they join the work force, their employers and associates alike will soon realize that the behavior of these rude young people is closer to that of animals than civilized individuals. When they lose a few contracts because they talk with their mouth full, or when they say "Bob" to someone who should be "Mr.Johnson," these grown-up kids, because of their ignorance, will never understand why others are getting ahead and they are not. 有很多人家的子女和一些小青年的行为是一般人所不能接受的。他们动不动就开口骂人，也不管旁边有什么人在场。在教师同他们谈话时，他们还在听他们的随身听所播放的节目。凡是那些不能用行为道德准则来约束自己的孩子，对孩子的品德漠不关心的父母，其实并不是在爱护孩子，对孩子的成长没好处。凡是不懂礼貌为何物的孩子，迟早要为此付出代价的。在他们参加工作以后，他们的雇主和在工作中与之打交道的那些人都会一致意识到这些粗野的青年人的所作所为都和野兽的行为很接近，而不像规规矩矩的市民。当这些已经变成了成人的大小伙子，因为跟领导谈话时嘴里还嚼着食物，或者因为他们没大没小，把本应尊称为"约翰逊先生"的人，随便直呼其名为"鲍博"，这样几次被解除了合同之后，他们永远也不能理解为什么别人都跑到自己前头飞黄腾达，而自己却不能。 
每当你表现出一点点和蔼可亲都会很有帮助。至于说有礼貌，最好的一条原则就是能办成事，能起好作用。当我们对待别人很友善，那么就比较容易地让人愿意接近你，愿意听你的话。待人彬彬有礼，事事尊敬别人就能使我们占优势。我们要占优势干什么？一个人一生事业的成功经常是始于我们所喜欢的工作，而要得到自己所喜欢的工作，经常要靠给人留下良好的印象。待人和蔼可亲彬彬有礼总是上策。 Why We Walk in Circles 为什么我们会走成两个大圆圈 "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" is always fun when you're watching rather than pinning. It is somewhat surprising to see how the blindfolded performers act. Instead of going straight, they always wander off to one side or the other. The greater the distance to the donkey, the farther they go astray. Have you ever wondered why they are unable to walk straight ahead? 观看别人做"去把尾巴给毛驴安上"的游戏，比自己亲自去做更逗人。看到了被蒙住眼睛的参加游戏表演的人所走的路线着实有点儿让人吃惊。他们都不走直线，总是要由一边偏离到另一边。参加游戏比赛的人距离毛驴越远，他们偏离目标毛驴也越远。 It is a well-known fact that a person will move in a circle when he cannot use his eyes to control his direction. Dark nights, dense fogs, blinding snowstorms, thick forests - all these can keep a traveler from seeing where he is going. Then he is unable to move in any fixed direction, but walks in circles. 一个人若不用眼睛来掌握走路的方向，就会走成一个大圈。这一事实是众所周知的。每遇到漆黑的夜晚，浓浓的大雾，伸手不见五指的暴风雪，浓密森林--这一切都会使路上的行人看不见是在往哪个方向走。这时他就不能按既定的目标前进，只能走成一个大圆圈。 Animals act the same way. You have probably heard the saying "running around like a chicken with its head cut off." Well, a chicken with its head cut off actually does run around in circles. Blind birds fly in circles. And a blindfolded dog will swim in circles. 动物也会这样。你也许听过这样一句老话："像砍掉脑袋的鸡一样转着圈跑。"是的，一只被砍掉了脑袋的鸡确实会转着圈跑的。瞎了眼睛的鸟也都是转着圈飞的。一双被蒙住了眼睛的狗也会转着大圈游泳。 
一位挪威的生物学家哥尔柏格认为绕圈运动的问题确实值得调查研究。关于这一课题他汇集了很多实际事例。 One of his stories is about people rowing on a lake during a fog on a dark night. One group of rowers who tried to cross three miles of water in foggy weather never succeeded in reaching their goal. Without knowing it, they rowed in two large circles. When they finally got to the shore, they discovered that they were at the spot they had started from. 他汇集的实例之一就是在一个浓雾黑夜里，人们在湖面上划般。在大雾的天气里，一帮想要横渡三英里的水面的划船手永远也不能成功地划到他们的目的地。不知不觉地，他们都把船划行路线划成两个大圈。在他们缍上个岸后，才发现又划回到了他们原来出发的地点。 After studying many stories such as this, Professor Guldberg wrote an article in which he discussed "Circular Motion as the Basic Motion of Animals." A simple example will help you to understand his explanation of why we walk in circles. 在研究过很多诸如此类的实际经历之后，哥尔柏格教授写了一篇题为《动物的基本运动模式是圆周运动》的论文。一个很简单的的例子，就可以帮助你弄明白他的论点：为什么我们会走成两个大圆圈。 Have you ever wound up a toy automobile and started it off across the floor? Then you know that it will rarely travel in a straight path. It will travel, instead, in some kind of arc, or curve. If it is to travel in a straight line, the wheels on both sides have to be of exactly equal size. If they are not, the little automobile turns toward the side with the smaller wheels. 你有没有把一辆玩具汽车上好发条以后，把它放到地板上让它从头跑到那头的经历？那么，你就会知道小汽车几乎很少顺着直线跑，那么它左右两边的车轮的大小必须是正好绝对相等的。 Circular movement in walking is caused in much the same way. Usually a man walking will "watch his step" and "look where he is going." He needs his senses, especially his eyes, to get to the point he intends to reach. When he cannot use his eyes to guide his steps, he will walk straight only if he takes a step of the same length with each foot. 步行时绕大圆周运动的规律在很大程度上是由同一原理引起的。通常一个人走路时会看着脚下所踩的步子，会看着所要去的方向。一个人需要用他们的各种器官，特别是要用两只眼睛，才能走到他打算要去的地点。只有当一个人的两只脚所迈出的每一步的长短都完全相同时，这个人才可以不用眼睛来引导脚步而能够顺着一条直线往前走。 
但是，在绝大多数人左右两腿肌肉的发育并不是一样的，结果很可能左右两脚所迈的步子长短是不一致的。迈步子长短的差距是非常小的，以致于没有人会意识到这一微小的差距。尽管这个差距很小，但结果却导致了圆周运动。 Let us suppose that a man's left foot takes a step 20 inches long and that his right foot takes a step 30 inches long. Now suppose he takes ten step - five with his left foot and five with his right. His left foot will travel 100 inches. His right foot will travel 150 inches. This sounds impossible. One foot cannot remain 50 inches behind the other. What really happens? At each step the man turns a little bit to the left. Sooner or later he makes a complete circle. The tracks of his feet, however, make two circles, one inside the other. His left foot makes the smaller circle because it is taking larger steps. This is why a person may walk in an arc when he sets out in a straight line. 我们假定某一人的左脚迈一步是20英寸长，右脚万一步是30英寸长。现在假设这个人迈了十步--左脚迈五步，右脚也迈五步。他的左脚总共走了100英寸，他的右脚总共走了150英寸。这听起来让人觉得不可能。到底是怎么回事呢？每迈一步这个人就稍微向左转了一点点。迟早，他会走成一个大圆圈。于是他的两只脚所走过的圆圈稍微小一点，因为左脚迈的步子小。他的右脚所走的圈比较大，因为右脚的每一步都大一点。这就是一个人在出发时本来是想走的直线，结果却走成了一条弧线的原因。 The muscles of a man's arms are no more identical than the muscles of his legs. This explains why the rowers who set out to cross the lake at night rowed in a circle. By the same rule, a bird's wings do not develop evenly, and so it will fly in circles when blinded. Thus, dear readers, our circular mystery has a very straight answer. 一个人的两只胳膊肌肉的发育和他的两只腿的肌肉的发育也是不同的。这足可以说明这些在夜间出发去横渡湖面的划船手缍把船划行的路线划成了一个大圆圈的道理。同理，鸟的左右两个翅膀的发育也是不均衡的，所以如果它的眼睛瞎了以后，也会绕圆圈飞行。由此可见，亲爱的读者，这就是我们的圆圈运动之迷的最直截了当的答案。
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