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你或许会很不解，小爱为什么会问你一个这么奇怪的问题。区区一个窨井盖，谁曾想过为什么会这么设计？可能你觉得这个问题不值得去思考，但是请先听听著名哲学家Descartes（笛卡尔）的名言吧：

I think, therefore I am.

“我思故我在”，这并非故弄玄虚，因为思考才能产生自我意识。思考得越多，我们就越完善，也越聪明。相反的，如果对什么事都懒得去思考，缺乏好奇心和求知欲，那么最终我们会变成同一种东西：笨蛋。

像窨井盖之类的东西，在我们生活中随处可见，一点也不新鲜，大家都懒得去想为什么会这样。但正因被我们忽视，此类的思考才弥足珍贵。甚至你还可以借这种方式去锻炼英语，比如尝试用英语思考和解读“为什么窨井盖是圆的，而不是方的或三角的”。

这绝非是一个无聊的问题，看看答案，你一定会从中收获到别人不知道的知识，并从中获得灵感和启发，变得比别人更聪明。

Why Are Manhole Covers Round? 

If you’re in the habit of looking down at your feet as you walk, you may have noticed that most manholes, and their covers, are round. Or perhaps you’ve been in a job interview where your prospective employer asked this question (which apparently happens enough that it was included in the third edition of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Job Interviews”). He wants to know about your ability to think on your feet, and isn’t so much interested in the correct answer, but it is a good question. Of all of the potential shapes for manholes, why was a circle chosen?

There are a number of reasons, according to Larry Scheckel in his book “Ask A Science Teacher: 250 Answers to Questions You've Always Had About How Everyday Stuff Really Works”. Manholes are round because “it is the best shape to resist the compression of Earth around it.” Round shapes are easier to manufacture than square or rectangular shapes, and because manhole covers are heavy, being round makes them easier to move from place to place (just roll them!). As an added benefit, workers don’t need to line up the covers with any angles, making round covers easy to slip into place.

But perhaps the biggest reason that manhole covers are round is that round covers can’t fall through a circular opening. “For all manholes, there is a ‘lip’ around the rim of the hole, holding up the cover, which means that the underlying hole is smaller than the cover,” Scheckel writes. “A round manhole cover can’t fall through its circular opening, because no matter how you position it, the cover is wider than the hole. But a square, rectangular, or oval manhole cover could fall in if it was inserted diagonally into the hole,” which would be bad news for unobservant pedestrians and drivers alike.

圆形窨井盖的三大好处：

1. 使沉重的金属井盖易于搬动

2. 均匀承受土地压力

3. 大小环设计与均匀半径使其不可能掉落井中

你或许没有想到，区区一个小小的窨井盖设计成圆形，竟然还有这么多讲究和门道吧？千万不要忽视我们生活中看似平凡的那些东西，其实它们都是智慧和经验的结晶。“存在即合理”，如果你能掌握每个事物背后的原因和道理，毫无疑问你的思想和力量会因此无限膨胀。

现在，你尝试着自己来思考那些被我们忽视的常见事物吧。比如为什么英语有26个字母？

如果这篇微信能对你有所启发，不妨也【分享】给朋友们，也给他们启发一下。

文本来源：佛山英语培训-爱德华国际英语

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