Being Observant
French chemist Louis Pasteur once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” True enough. He might have added that it also favors the observant eye. Many obvious things wait to be seen, yet we never notice them. What color eyes does your father have? Does your mother part her hair on the left or the right? What is the pattern of the wallpaper in your dining room? How many of the houses on your street have white roofs?
Being observant is not merely an interesting quality that enlivens our days. Clear and sound thinking often depends on subtleties that are revealed only by close observation—in other words, by attentive seeing and hearing. If there are gaps in our seeing and hearing, then the perceptions on which we base our judgments are less likely to be complete and accurate. In addition, the keener our observation, the less likely we will be to commit to stereotypes, oversimplifications, and unwarranted assumptions.
善于观察
法国化学家路易斯·巴斯德曾说过：“机遇有利于有准备的头脑。”真的。他可能补充说，这也有利于观察的眼睛。许多显而易见的事情等着我们去看，但我们从来没有注意到它们。你父亲的眼睛是什么颜色的？你妈妈的头发是在左边还是右边分开？你餐厅壁纸的图案是什么？你街上有多少房子有白色的屋顶？
观察不仅仅是一种有趣的品质，它使我们的生活充满活力。清晰而健全的思维往往取决于只有通过密切观察才能揭示出来的微妙之处-换句话说，就是通过专注的观察和倾听来表现出来。如果我们的视觉和听觉有差距，那么我们的判断所依据的感知就不太可能是完整和准确的。此外，我们的观察越锐利，我们就越不可能对刻板印象、过度简单化和毫无根据的假设作出承诺。
