懂你英语 Level4-Unit 2 2/4 Listening

This man is holding a piece of fruit in his hand. The piece of fruit is either an orange or an apple. We can’t see which it is because we can’t see inside the box. The probability that it is an orange is equal to the probability that it is an apple. It may be an apple and it may be an orange. It’s got to be one or the other. It can’t be anything else.

Now let’s lookat it from the man’s point of view. From his point of view the probabilitiesare different. From his point of view the probability that he has an orange is100% or 0%. That’s because he knows what he has. For him there is no uncertainty.If has an orange the probability is 100%. If he doesn’t have an orange theprobability is 0%.  He either has it orhe doesn’t.

From our point of view the probability that he has an orange is 50%. From his point of view the probability that he has an orange is 100% or 0%. So the probability depends on your point of view.

People see things from different points ofview. This often leads to arguments between people. Here are some examples. Fromthis man’s point of view, he is relaxing. He needs to relax because he has beenworking too hard. He hasn’t been getting enough sleep.

His wife sees things differently. She isn’t aware of how hard he has been working. From her point of view he is doing nothing. However she knows what needs to be done around the house. It isn’t fair that she has to work while he does nothing.

When people see things from different points of view they often come to different conclusions. These differences can cause real communication problems.