Question

Many years ago in a small German town, a Jewish businessman had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the businessman’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and he would forgo her father’s debt. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble-strewn path. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. No doubt she was caught in a dilemma.

What would you have done if you were the girl? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2. The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral (橫向的)and logical thinking.

Read on…

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.

72. The underlined word “forgo” in paragraph 2 may mean ____________.

A. pay off                     B. run out              C. take over         D. give up

73. Which of the following indicates lateral thinking?

A. The girl refused to take a pebble and fled at once.

B. The girl exposed the cheat and found another way.

C. The girl picked one pebbles and made it disappear.

D. The girl picked a black pebble and accepted the result.

74. It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.

A. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path on purpose

B. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path by accident    

C. The girl didn’t know there were two black pebbles in the bag             

D. The girl replaced a black pebble in the bag

75. What lesson can we learn from the story?

A. Keeping calm when facing a difficult situation.

B. Thinking about a complicated problem in another way.

C. Thinking twice before making a final choice.

D. Coming up with a clever answer is easy.

Answer 1

DCAB