夏日消閒

才五月, 氣溫已高得反常。夏日炎炎, 驕陽似火, 走在赤日之下, 那灼膚之熱實在令人難受得喘不過氣來。沒甚麼要事的話, 實在不想上街, 野外遠足更不消說了。 聽說內地有些地方氣溫昨天竟高達42C度, 打在汽車身上的生雞蛋也烤熟, 好不吓人。看來連慈愛的地球母親也被人類的破壞環境惡行惹得發火了。

已忘記少年時是怎樣渡過炎夏的。那些年, 不似現在學校的冷氣課室, 我們是在電風扇底下長大的。現在晚上睡覺沒冷氣不能成眠, 小時候是搖葵扇搖至不知不覺間闔上眼睛的。

以前總覺得一個大男人光天白日之下在大街大巷打着傘子怪別扭的。堂堂男子漢怎能輕易讓形象受損? 現今人老了, 好像不再計較"形象"。我已學老妻那樣撐傘擋陽, 健康要緊, 管它什麼形象? 正如blog友El Zorro早前在他的博文中回應我說: As one gets older, one cares more about reality and less about "appearance". One becomes wiser.

假如這幾天朋友們已被溽暑熱暈了頭腦, 不妨試答以下的考題, 看看自己的神智是否仍清醒:

A) 這是美國哈佛大學2001學年度應用科學研究所的考題(禁止使用計算器):

時限: 20 秒 (時限終結前請勿往下看答案)

請問......  如果

            1 = 5

            2 = 25

            3= 125

            4 = 625

            5 =?

答案是=1 .

忘記了嗎？ 第一題中1=5

B) 這是個腦筋急轉彎。

耶魯大學的試題更有意義：照鏡子的時候左右顛倒，為什麼上下不顛倒？

C) 五則難題

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST FIVE RIDDLES I HAVE SEEN....THE ANSWERS ARE AT THE BOTTOM (Don't read the answers before you finish solving the riddles).

RIDDLE #5 IS AMAZING. IT SHARPENS THOSE GENES IN YOUR BRAIN AND STALLS ALZHEIMER'S FOR YEARS!!

1) A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms.

The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years.

Which room is safest for him?

2) A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

3) What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away ?

4) Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?

5) This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though. Study it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

ANSWERS:

1) The third room. Lions that haven't eaten in three years are dead. That one was easy, right?

2) The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry (shot; held under water; and hung).

3) Charcoal, as it is used in barbecuing.

4) Sure you can name three consecutive days: yesterday, today, and tomorrow!

5) The letter “e”, which is the most common letter used in the English language, does not appear even once in the paragraph.

答不出? 別惱火, 來根西瓜冰棒消消氣!