来源：moronland.net

　　编辑：Fosen@语际翻译

　　A Collection of random facts. Interesting, worth the read.

　　不合常规事实的大集合，有趣并且值得一读。

　　1) In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb".

　　在1400年法律规定不允许男人用比他的拇指厚的木棍打他的妻子。于是有了“拇指规则”

　　2) Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only... Ladies Forbidden"... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

　　许多年前在英格兰，发明了一个新的游戏，它的规则为“只能男士参与……女士禁止”把其每个单词的首字母合起来就为GOLF，于是在英语里产生了高尔夫这个词。

　　3) Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

　　男人是视力比女人好，而女人听力比男人好。

　　4) It is impossible to lick your elbow.

　　你不可能舔得到自己的手肘。

　　5) Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

　　聪明人的头发有更多的锌和铜

　　6) Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king in history:

　　每一组纸牌的王代表着历史上的一个国王

　　Spades - King David

　　黑桃-大卫国王(古以色列国王)

　　Hearts - Charlemagne

　　红桃-查理曼大帝(西罗马帝国皇帝)

　　Clubs - Alexander, the Great

　　梅花-亚历山大大帝(古马其顿国王)

　　Diamonds - Julius Caesar

　　方块-朱利乌斯 凯撒

　　7) 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

　　8) Question: If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?

　　问题：如果你要详细说明数字，要到哪个数才能找到字母“A”(一个)呢?

　　Answer: A thousand

　　答案：一千

　　9) In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase... "goodnight, sleep tight."

　　在莎士比亚时期，垫子被绳子绑在床架上。当你拉绳子时，垫子便会收紧，使床变得结实于是睡得更安稳。于是有了英语词组“晚安，睡得紧哦。”

　　10) It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

　　4000年前在巴比伦规定结婚后一个月，新娘的父亲要给女婿充足的蜂蜜酒，由于蜂蜜酒是甜啤酒且他们的日历是按阴历计，所以那个月被称为今天所说的蜜月

　　11) In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

　　在英国酒吧里，啤酒是以品脱和夸脱计的，所以在古英格兰，当遇到蛮横的顾客时，酒保对他们喊道“管你自己的品脱(Pints)和夸脱(Quarts)去吧，冷静点。”所以我们有了这个短语“注意你的P's 和 Q's”

　　12) Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

　　许多年前在英格兰，酒吧常客把口哨焊进瓷杯的镶边或把手上。当他们要新来一杯时，就用吹吹口哨叫服务生。"Wet your whistle"(润润口哨)即是 “喝酒” 的意思。

　　13) This is pretty sick. I can read it actually!

　　这是非常奇怪的一段话。事实上我能读懂。

　　I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

　　几乎难以置信，我事实上能明白我正在读的。据剑桥大学研究，人脑有一种奇异的能力，无论字母在单词里以什么顺序出现，只要第一个字母和最后一个字母没错，剩下的字母可以完全随机排列，人仍然能读出来。这是因为人脑并不是一个字母一个字母的读，而是把单词当成一个整体来读。

　　(上面这段话你能读懂吗?)

　　Amazing huh?

　　感觉到很惊奇?

　　Redging phenomenal