称大象

字幕原文

Long ago, a king was given a gift he had never seen before — 很久以前，一位国王收到了一件从未见过的礼物——

an enormous elephant. 一头巨大的大象。

Everyone marveled at its size, 所有人都惊叹于它的块头，

and soon a question started going around: just how heavy is it? 很快，大家就开始议论：这大象到底有多重呢？

The trouble was, 麻烦的是，

there wasn't a single scale in the kingdom anywhere near big enough. 整个王国里根本找不出一杆足够大的秤。

The king's wisest advisers scratched their heads, 国王身边最聪明的谋士们抓耳挠腮，

but not one of them had an answer. 可没有一个人能想出办法。

Then a young boy stepped forward. 这时，一个小男孩站了出来。

"Put the elephant on a boat," he said, “把大象牵到船上，”他说，

"and mark how far the boat sinks into the water. “在船身沉入水面的地方画个记号。

Then lead the elephant off, 然后再把大象牵下来，

and load stones onto the boat until it sinks to exactly the same mark. 往船上搬石头，直到船身下沉到同一个记号的位置。

Weigh the stones a few at a time — 把那些石头分批称一下——

and there's your elephant." 大象的重量不就出来了吗。”

For a moment the whole court went silent. 一时间，满堂上下鸦雀无声。

Then they broke into delighted laughter. 紧接着，大家爆发出一阵欣喜的笑声。

He was right. 他说得一点没错。

The biggest problems often just need someone willing to look at them from a completely different angle. 最棘手的问题，往往只需要有人愿意换个完全不同的角度去看待。