事情并不總是非黑即白

李荷卿

When I was in elementary school, I got into a major1) argument with a boy in my class. I have forgotten what the argument was about, but I have never forgotten the lesson I learned that day.

I was convinced that "I" was right and "he" was wrong—and he was just as convinced that "I" was wrong and "he" was right. Our teacher decided to teach us a very important lesson. She brought us up to the front of the class and placed him on one side of her desk and me on the other. In the middle of her desk was a large, round object. I could clearly see that it was black. The teacher asked the boy what color the object was. "White," he answered.

I couldn't believe he said the object was white, when it was obviously black! Another argument started between the boy and me, this time about the color of the object.

The teacher told me to go stand where the boy was standing and told him to come stand where I had been. We changed places, and now she asked me what the color of the object was. I had to answer, "White." It was an object with two differently colored sides, and from his viewpoint it was white. Only from my side was it black.

My teacher taught me a very important lesson that day: You must stand in the other person's shoes and look at the situation through their eyes in order to truly understand their perspective2).

在我上小學的時候，我和同班的一個男孩發生了一場激烈的爭論。我已經忘記我們當時為什么爭吵，但那天我所受到的教訓卻永生難忘。

我認為“我”是對的，“他”是錯的——而他恰恰與我相反，堅信“我”是錯的，“他”是對的。于是，老師決定給我們上很重要的一課。她把我們帶到講臺前，讓他站在講臺的這一邊，讓我站在講臺的另一邊。在講臺的正中間有一個又大又圓的東西。我能清楚地看見它是黑色的。老師問那個男孩那個東西是什么顏色的。“白色。”他回答說。

我簡直不敢相信，那個東西明明是黑色的，他卻說它是白色的！于是，我和那個男孩之間又爆發了一場爭論，只不過這次爭論的是那個東西的顏色。

老師讓我站到那個男孩站的地方，讓他站到我原來站的地方。我們交換了位置。現在，老師又問我那個物體的顏色。我不得不回答：“白色。”原來，那個物體兩邊顏色不同。站在他那邊看，它是白色的。只有從我這邊看，它才是黑色的。

那天，我的老師給我上了非常重要的一課：要想真實地理解他人的觀點，就必須設身處地，從他人的角度看問題。

Vocabulary

1. major [5meIdVE] adj. (數量、大小、程度等)較大的；較多的；較大范圍的

2. perspective

[pE5spektIv] n. 觀點，想法