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She thought this over for a minute and decided she liked it. "Magnif," she said.
她想了足有一分鐘，才下了決心，說：“好極了。”
"Logic," I said, clearing my throat "is the science of thinking. Before we can think correctly, we must first learn to recognize the common fallacies of logic. These we will take up tonight."
“邏鉗學，”我清了清嗓子，“是思維的學問。能夠正確地思維之前，首先必須學會判斷邏輯中常見的謬誤。今晚就聊這個。”
"Wow-dow!" she cried, clapping her hands delightedly.
“哇！”她拍手大叫。
I winced, but went bravely on. "First let us examine the fallacy called Dicto Simplicitcr."
我眉頭抖動了一下，可還是勇敢地繼續(xù)：“首先，我們來看看過度概括。”
"By all means," she urged, batting her lashes eagerly.
“說呀！”她急切地眨了眨眼，催促著。
"Dicto Simplicitcr means an argument based on an unqualified generalization. For example: Exercise is good. Therefore everyboby should exercise."
“過度概括是指建之于不合格概括基礎上的論斷。比如說，運動是有益的，因此人人都應該運動。”
"I agree," said Polly earnestly. "I mean exercise is wonderful. I mean it builds the body and everything."
“我同意，”波莉認真地說，“我是說運動好極了，它增強體質(zhì)，好處多多！”
"Polly," I said gently, "the argument is a fallacy. Exercise is good is an unqualified generalization. For instance, if you have heart disease, exercise is bad, not good. Many people are ordered by their doctors not to exercise. You must qualify the generalization. You must say exercise is usually good, or exercise is good for most people. Otherwise you have committed a Dicto Simplicitcr. Do you see?"
“波莉，”我輕柔地說，“這個論斷是謬誤。運動有益是不合格的概括。例如，假如你有心臟病，運動有害，而不是有益。有不少人就被醫(yī)生建議禁止他們運動。你必須對這個概括加以限定。你必須說，一般來說運動是有益的。或者說，運動對多數(shù)人來說有益。否則就是過度概括，明白了嗎？”
"No," she confessed. "But this is marvy. Do more! Do more!"
“不懂，”她坦率地說，“不過太有趣了，繼續(xù)，接著講。”
"It will be better if you stop tugging at my sleeve," I told her, and when she desisted, I continued: "Next we take up a fallacy called Hasty Generalization. Listen carefully: You can't speak French. I can't speak French. Petey Burch can't speak French. I must therefore conclude that nobody at the University of Minnesota can speak French."
“最好別拽我的袖子了。”我對她說。她松開手，我繼續(xù)說：“接下來是草率結(jié)論。仔細聽：你不會講法語，我不會講法語，皮蒂·伯奇也不會講法語。因此我就會得出結(jié)論，明尼蘇達大學誰都不會講法語。”
"Really?" said Polly, amazed. "Nobody?"
“真的？”波莉大為吃驚，“誰都不會？”
