新視野大學(xué)英語第四冊unit1ALoveandlogicThestoryoffallacy

1、Loveandlogic:Thestoryoffallacy愛情與邏輯：謬誤的故事IhadmyfirstdatewithPollyafterImadethetradewithmyroommateRob.Thatyeareveryguyoncampushadaleatherjacket,andRobcouldn'tstandtheideaofbeingtheonlyfootballplayerwhodidn't,sohemadeapactthathe'dgivemehisgirlinexchangeformyjacket.Hewasn'tthebrightestg

2、uy.Pollywasn'ttooshrewd,either.在我和室友羅伯的交易成功之后，我和波莉有了第一次約會。那一年校園里每個人都有件皮夾克，而羅伯是校足球隊員中唯一一個沒有皮夾克的，他一想到這個就受不了，于是他和我達(dá)成了一項協(xié)議，用他的女友換取我的夾克。他可不那么聰明，而他的女友波莉也不太精明。Butshewaspretty,well-off,didn'tdyeherhairstrangecolorsorweartoomuchmakeup.Shehadtherightbackgroundtobethegirlfriendofadogged,brilliantlawyer

3、.IfIcouldshowtheelitelawfirmsIappliedtothatIhadaradiant,well-spokencounterpartbymyside,Ijustmightedgepastthecompetition.但她漂亮而且富有，也沒有把頭發(fā)染成奇怪的顏色或是化很濃的妝。她擁有合適的家庭背景，足以勝任一名堅忍而睿智的律師的女友。如果我能夠讓我所申請的頂尖律師事務(wù)所看到我身邊伴隨著一位光彩照人、談吐優(yōu)雅的另一半，我就很有可能在競聘中以微弱優(yōu)勢獲勝。"Radiant"shewasalready.Icoulddispenseherenoughpearl

4、sofwisdomtomakeher"well-spoken".光彩照人”，她已經(jīng)是了。而我也能施予她足夠多的智慧之珠”，讓她變得談吐優(yōu)雅Afterabannerdayout,Idroveuntilweweresituatedunderabigoldoaktreeonahillofftheexpressway.WhatIhadinmindwasalittleeccentric.Ithoughtthevenuewithaperfectviewoftheluminouscitywouldlightenthemood.Westayedinthecar,andIturneddown

5、thestereoandtookmyfootoffthebrakepedal."Whatarewegoingtotalkabout?"sheasked.在一起外出度過了美好的一天之后，我驅(qū)車來到了高速公路旁一座小山上一棵古老的大橡樹下。我的想法有些怪異。而這個地方能夠俯瞰燈火燦爛的城區(qū)，我覺得它會使人的心情變輕松。我們呆在車子里，我調(diào)低了音響并把腳從剎車上挪開。我們要談些什么？”她問道。"Logic."邏輯學(xué)?！?quot;Cool,"shesaidoverhergum.好酷啊，”她一邊嚼著口香糖一邊說。"Thedoctrineofl

6、ogic,"Isaid,"isastapleofclearthinking.Failuresinlogicdistortthetruth,andsomeofthemarewellknown.Firstlet'slookatthefallacyDictoSimpliciter."邏輯學(xué)的原理，"我說道，即清晰思考的主要原則。邏輯上出現(xiàn)的問題會歪曲事實(shí)，其中有些還很普遍。我們先來看看一種叫做絕對判斷的邏輯謬誤。”"Great,”sheagreed.好啊，”她表示同意。"DictoSimplicitermeansanunqualif

7、iedgeneralization.Forexample:Exerciseisgood.Therefore,everybodyshouldexercise."“絕對判斷是指在證據(jù)不足的情況下所作出的推斷。比方說：運(yùn)動是有益的，所以每個人都應(yīng)該運(yùn)動。Shenoddedinagreement.她點(diǎn)頭表示贊同。Icouldseeshewasstumped."Polly,"Iexplained,"it'stoosimpleageneralization.Ifyouhave,say,heartdiseaseorextremeobesity,exercise

8、isbad,notgood.Therefore,youmustsayexerciseisgoodformostpeople."我看得出她沒弄明白。波莉，"我解釋說，這個推斷太過簡單化了。如果你有心臟病或者超級肥胖癥什么的，運(yùn)動就變得有害而不是有益。所以你應(yīng)該說，運(yùn)動對大多數(shù)人來說是有益的?！?quot;NextisHastyGeneralization.Self-explanatory,right?Listencarefully:Youcan'tspeakFrench.Robcan'tspeakFrench.Lookslikenobodyatthisscho

9、olcanspeakFrench."接下來是草率結(jié)論。這似乎不言自明，對吧？仔細(xì)聽好了：你不會說法語，羅伯也不會說法語，那么這所學(xué)校里好像是沒有人會說法語。"Really?"saidPolly,amazed."Nobody?"是嗎？”波莉吃驚地說。沒有人嗎？”"Thisisalsoafallacy,"Isaid."Thegeneralizationisreachedtoohastily.Toofewinstancessupportsuchaconclusion."這也是一種邏輯謬誤，”我說，這一結(jié)論太草率

10、了，因?yàn)槟軌蛑С诌@一結(jié)論的例證太少了?！盨heseemedtohaveagoodtime.Icouldsafelysaymyplanwasunderway.Itookherhomeandsetadateforanotherconversation.她似乎學(xué)得很開心，而我也可以放心地說我的計劃正在穩(wěn)步推進(jìn)中。我把她送回家，并且定下了下一次約會交談的日子。SeatedundertheoakthenexteveningIsaid,"OurfirstfallacytonightiscalledAdMisericordiam."第二天晚上，坐在那棵橡樹下，我說：今天晚上我們要談的第一

11、個邏輯謬誤叫文不對題?！盨henoddedwithdelight.她高興地點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。"Listenclosely,"Isaid."Amanappliesforajob.Whenthebossaskshimwhathisqualificationsare,hesayshehassixchildrentofeed."聽好了，"我說，有個人去申請工作，當(dāng)老板問他有什么應(yīng)聘資格時，他說他有六個孩子要撫養(yǎng)?！?quot;Oh,thisisawful,awful,"shewhisperedinachokedvoice.哇，這太可怕了，太可怕了，”

12、她哽咽著輕聲說到。"Yes,itsawful,"Iagreed,"butit'snoargument.Themanneveransweredtheboss'squestion.Insteadheappealedtotheboss'ssympathy-AdMisericordiam."對，是挺可怕的，”我表示贊同地說，但這不是理由。這個人根本沒有回答老板的問題，而只是在博取老板的同情，這就是文不對題Sheblinked,stilltryinghardtokeepbackhertears."她眨著眼睛，仍在竭力地忍住眼淚。N

13、ext,"Isaidcarefully,"wewilldiscussFalseAnalogy.Anexample,studentsshouldbeallowedtolookattheirtextbooksduringexams,becausesurgeonshaveX-raystoguidethemduringsurgery.接下來”，我小心地說，我們來討論錯誤類比。舉個例子：學(xué)生考試時應(yīng)該允許看課本，因?yàn)橥饪漆t(yī)生在做手術(shù)時可以看X光片?！?quot;Ilikethatidea,"shesaid.我喜歡這個主意，”她說。"Polly,"Igro

14、aned,"don'tderailthediscussion.Theinferenceiswrong.Doctorsaren'ttakingatesttoseehowmuchtheyhavelearned,butstudentsare.Thesituationsarealtogetherdifferent.Youcan'tmakeananalogybetweenthem."波莉，"我抱怨道，別打岔，這一推論是錯誤的。醫(yī)生們不是在參加考試以檢查他們學(xué)到了多少，而學(xué)生卻是。他們的情況完全不同，你不能將他們作類比?！?quot;Istillthi

15、nkitsagoodidea,"saidPolly.我仍然認(rèn)為這是一個好主意，”波莉說。Withfivenightsofdiligentwork,IactuallymadealogicianoutofPolly.Shewasananalyticalthinkeratlast.Thetimehadcomefortheconversionofourrelationshipfromacademictoromantic.經(jīng)過五個夜晚的辛勤努力，我竟然真的將波莉打造成了一個邏輯行家，她總算能夠分析思考了?，F(xiàn)在應(yīng)該是時候讓我們的關(guān)系從學(xué)術(shù)向浪漫發(fā)展了。"Polly,"Isai

16、dwhennextwesatunderouroak,"tonightwewon'tdiscussfallacies."波莉，”當(dāng)我們又一次坐在那棵橡樹下的時候我對她說，今晚我們不討論邏輯謬誤了?！?quot;Oh?"shesaid,alittledisappointed.哦？”她回答說，有一點(diǎn)失望。Favoringherwithagrin,Isaid,"Wehavenowspentfiveeveningstogether.Wegetalongprettywell.Wemakeaprettygoodcouple."我贊許地對她笑了笑，說：

17、我們在一起已經(jīng)度過了五個晚上，相互之間挺合得來，我們是蠻相配的一對。""HastyGeneralization,"saidPollybrightly."Orasanormalpersonmightsay,that'salittlepremature,don'tyouthink?"'Ilaughedwithamusement.She'dlearnedherlessonswell,farsurpassingmyexpectations."Sweetheart,"Isaid,pattingherha

18、ndinatolerantmanner,"fivedatesisplenty.Afterall,youdon'thavetoeatawholecaketoknowit'sgood."草率結(jié)論，”波莉伶俐地說，或者是按一般人的說法，這個結(jié)論有些不成熟，你不這樣認(rèn)為嗎？"我被逗得笑了起來，她功課還真學(xué)得不錯，大大超過了我的預(yù)期。親愛的，”我開口說，同時寬容地拍了拍她的手，五次約會已經(jīng)夠多了，畢竟你不需要吃掉整個蛋糕才知道它是不是好吃?！盕alseAnalogy,“saidPollypromptly.Yourpremiseisthatdatingisli

19、keeating.Butyou'renotacake.Youreaboy.”“錯誤類比，”波莉立即回應(yīng)?！澳愕那疤崾羌s會就如同吃東西?？赡悴皇堑案?，你是個男孩?！盜laughedwithsomewhatlessamusement,hidingmydreadthatshe'dlearnedherlessonstoowell.Afewmorefalsestepswouldbemydoom.Idecidedtochangetacticsandtryflatteryinstead.“Polly,Iloveyou.Pleasesayyou'llgooutwithme.I'

20、mnothingwithoutyou.”“AdMisericordiam,“shesaid.“Youcertainlycandiscernafallacywhenyouseeit,“Isaid,myhopesstartingtocrumble."Butdon'ttakethemsoliterally.Imeanthisisallacademic.Youknowthethingsyoulearninschooldon'thaveanythingtodowithreallife.”“DictoSimpliciter,"Shesaid.“Besides,youre

21、allyshouldpracticewhatyoupreach.我又笑了笑，不過不覺得那么有趣了，同時還不能表露出我害怕她學(xué)得太好了。再錯幾步我可就無法挽回了。我決定改變策略，轉(zhuǎn)而嘗試奉承她的辦法。“波莉，我愛你。請答應(yīng)做我的女朋友，沒有你我什么也不是?！薄拔牟粚︻}，”她說。“你還真是能在遇到邏輯謬誤時一一辨別它們了，"我說，心里的希望已經(jīng)開始動搖?！安贿^不要對它們太死板，我是說這都是些學(xué)術(shù)的東西。你知道，學(xué)校里學(xué)的東西和實(shí)際生活根本沒有什么聯(lián)系。”“絕對判斷，”她說道，“而且，你自己教的東西應(yīng)該自己身體力行。”Ileapedtomyfeet,mytemperflaringup.”W

22、川youorwillyounotgooutwithme?”“Nottoyouproposition,"shereplied.“Why?Idemanded.“I'mmoreinterestedinadifferentpetitioner-RobandIarebacktogether.”我一下跳了起來，怒火中燒，“你到底愿不愿意做我的女朋友？”“我不愿意（不能同意你的提議），”她答道。“為什么？”我追問道。“我對另一位求愛者更感興趣一一羅伯和我重歸于好了。”Withgreateffort,Isaidcalmly,“HowcouldyougivemetheaxeoverRob?Lookatmeaningeniousstudent