逆向思維

「逆向思考」就是說一個人的思想模式，不能只有直線的，也不能只是單向的，凡事要從前後、左右、上下、正反等多方面去思考；也就是說，當事情陷入膠著狀態時，不妨換個角度來看，事情往往就會出現轉圜的餘地。所以逆向思考在中國又稱為水式思考，在西洋則稱 S 型思考。以下是一個有趣的例子:

一個老人走進一家銀行，來到信貸部坐下來。他身著豪華西裝、高級皮鞋，還有領帶和金領帶夾。

「我想借 1 美元。」老人對信貸部的職員說
「甚麼，1 美元？」
「對啊，可以嗎？」
「當然可以，只要有抵押，再多些也無妨的。」

老人打開豪華皮包，拿出一堆股票、債券等等，放在經理的桌上。「總共值 50 多萬美元，夠了吧？」

「當然！當然！不過，你真的只借 1 美元嗎？」
「是的，就 1 美元。」
「那麼年息為 6%，只要您按時付出利息，到期我們就退給您抵押品。」

老人辨完手續，拿了借來的 1 美元就準備離開銀行。

一直冷眼旁觀的分行行長，怎麼也弄不明白：有 50 多萬美元抵押品的人，為何來銀行商借 1 美元？於是他追上前去問個究竟。

老人笑道：「來貴行前，我問過好幾家金庫，他們保險箱的租金都很昂貴。所以啊，我就在貴行寄存這些証券，租金實在太便宜了，一年才 6 美分 ……」

所有「正常思維」的人，都會走同樣的路子并受到同種矛盾的限制：既然目的是寄存，但希望省錢，只能一家一家去詢問并比較租金高低；然而也自然有共同的擔憂，那就是寄存物品的保險系數，往往和租金高低成正比。

惟獨這位老人跨越了「正常」：改變思維方向，用「反常」的方法達到了「正常」的目的，而且將「租金」減少到幾乎等於零。

生活中許多事情也如此，尤其身處逆境，不妨換一種思維，或許就是另一片天空。

　　

Reverse Thinking

It is a story about a first year student who studied Philosophy in the University. He studied many different philosophies such as existentialism, structuralism, mentalism, dialectics etc, etc.

The year end final examination was coming. In the last lesson before examination, the professor said he would set a question that would cover all that the students had learnt during the whole year. The students went back and studied hard on all the theories they learnt during the year.

Eventually, the big day came. When the students received the examination paper, to their surprise, the question paper was printed with only one question - “WHY?” and there was a 100 pages answer book ready for each student. Most of students did not know how to answer the question.

After a week, the result of the examination came out. There was only one student get full mark. The professor explained to all his students: If they wanted to get full mark for this question, one way was to put down everything they leant this year about philosophy. That is almost impossible for a student to write down that much within 3 hours in the examination.

The other way to get full mark is: to put down the question or the answer “Why Not?”

　　

送別

整整兩年同窗苦讀，始終都有曲終人散的時候，這一日風雨如晦，心有所感，腦海浮現以下的一段文字：

送別
=======================

長亭外，古道邊，芳草碧連天；

　　晚風拂柳笛聲殘，夕陽山外山。


天之涯，地之角，知交半零落；

　　一杯濁酒盡餘歡，今宵別夢寒。


韶光逝，留無計，今日卻分訣；

　　驪歌一曲送別離，相顧卻依依。


聚雖好，別雖悲，世事堪玩味

　　來日後後相逾期，去去莫遲疑。