I handed her a handkerchief and tried to keep from screaming while she wiped her eyes. "Next," I said in a carefully controlled tone,"we will discuss False Analogy. Here is an example: Students should be allowed to look at their textbooks during examinations. After all, surgeons have X-rays to guide them during an operation, lawyers have briefs to guide them during a trial, carpenters have blueprints to guide them when they are building a house. Why, then, shouldn't students be allowed to look at their textbooks during an cxaniinadon?"
我把手帕遞給她。她擦眼淚時,我極力壓制自己不要對她大叫。“接下來,”我小心地控制自己的語氣,“我們要討論錯誤類比。舉個例子說:應該允許學生考試時査閱教材。外科醫生在做手術時可以看X光片,律師在法庭上可以查看案情摘要,木匠在蓋房子時可以看圖紙,那么學生在考試時為什么不能看課本呢?”
"There now," she said enthusiastically, "is the most marvy idea I've heard in years."
“正確,”她激動地說,“這是我這么多年來聽到的最妙的主意。”
"Polly," I said testily, "the argument is all wrong. Doctors, lasers, and carpenters aren't taking a test to see how much they have learned, but students are. The situatioas are altogether different, and you can't make an analogy between them."
“波莉,”我不耐煩了,“這個結論完全錯誤。醫生、律師和木匠并不是通過考試去檢驗他們所學的東西,但學生是。情況是完全不同的,他們之間沒有可比性。”
"I still think it's a good idea," said Polly.
“可我還是認為這是個好主意。”波莉說。
"Nuts," I muttered. Doggedly I pressed on. "Next we'll try Hypothesis Contrary to Fact."
“癡呆!”我小盧嘀咕,但我堅持不懈,“接下來再看卡與事實相反的假設。”
"Sounds yummy," was Polly's reaction.
波莉的反應是:“聽起來不錯。”
"Listen: If Madame Curie had not happened to leave a photographic plate in a drawer with a chunk of pitchblende,the world today would not know about radium.
“聽著:如果居里夫人不是偶然把一張底片放在裝有瀝青鈾的抽屜里,那么人們就到現在還不知道世界上存在鐳這個元索。”
"True, true," said Polly, nodding her head. "Did you see the movie? Oh, it just knocked me out. That Walter Pidgeon is so dreamy. I mean he fractures me.
“真的,真的,”波莉點著頭說,“看過那部影片嗎?哇,絕了。沃爾特·皮金演得讓人著迷,我是被他迷倒了。”
"If you can forget Mr. Pidgeon for a moment," I said coldly, "I would like to point out that the statement is a fallacy. Maybe Madame Curie would have discovered radium at some later date. Maybe somebody else would have discovered it. Maybe any number of things would have happened. You can't start with a hypothesis that is not true and then draw any supportable conclusions from it."
“先把皮金先生忘了吧,”我冷冷地說,“我想指出這種結論是錯誤的。也許居里夫人以后會發現鐳,也許其他人會發現,也許還會發生其他的事情。你不能從一個不正確的假設開始,進而得出任何可靠的結論。”