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塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯：自助论·摘录 109
塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《自助论》· Self-Help · 领导
It is the intelligent eye of the careful observer which gives these apparently trivial phenomena their value. So trifling a matter as the sight of seaweed floating past his ship, enabled Columbus to quell the mutiny which arose amongst his sailors at not discovering land, and to assure them that the eagerly sought New World was not far off. There is nothing so small that it should remain forgotten; and no fact, however trivial, but may prove useful in some way or other if carefully interpreted. Who could have imagined that the famous “chalk cliffs of Albion” had been built up by tiny insects—detected only by the help of the microscope—of the same order of creatures that have gemmed the sea with islands of coral! And who that contemplates such extraordinary results, arising from infinitely minute operations, will venture to question the power of little things?
出处：
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/935
定位：Excerpt 109 · 核对日期：2026-10-19 · 核验：短摘录
白话
正是细心观察者那有见识的眼睛，让这些看似微不足道的现象有了价值。像漂浮过船边的海藻这样的小事，就使哥伦布能够平息水手们因未发现陆地而爆发的叛乱，并让他们相信，急切寻找的新大陆已经不远。没有什么东西小到应该被遗忘；也没有哪个事实，无论多么琐碎，只要仔细解读，就不能在某个方面派上用场。谁能想到，著名的“阿尔比恩白垩悬崖”竟是由微小昆虫——只有借助显微镜才能发现——建造起来的，它们与在海上点缀出珊瑚岛的生物属于同一类！想到这些由极其微小的作用产生的非凡结果，谁还敢质疑小事物的力量呢？
上下文
斯迈尔斯在《自助》中举例说明，微小观察往往能带来重大发现和实际用途。
今日一问
今天你是否留意到身边一个看似无关紧要的细节，并思考它可能隐藏的价值？
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