期刊名称：Euro Area Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Statistics
印刷版ISSN：1830-3420
电子版ISSN：1830-3439
出版年度：2007
卷号：1
出版社：European Central Bank
摘要：Some time after returning from his discovery voyages, Christopher Columbus attended a dinner given in his honour. Unexpectedly, several guests were jealous of his success and began teasing him. “Anybody can sail across the ocean and coast along the islands on the other side – it is the simplest thing in the world”, they said. Instead of replying, Columbus took an egg from a dish and asked “Who among you, gentlemen, can make this egg stand on end?” The egg was passed around the table; all guests tried the experiment but nobody succeeded. “It cannot be done,” they said. Columbus took the egg and struck its small end gently onto the table so as to break the shell a little. After that there was no trouble in making it stand upright. “Gentlemen,” he said, “what is easier to do than this, which you said was impossible? It is the simplest thing in the world. Anybody can do it – after he has been shown how!”2
