要离开同行办公室时，我想起那学生曾说过有其他的答案，于是就问他其它的答案是什么。“噢，是的。”学生说“借助气压计，有很多方法可求得大楼的高度。比方说，阳光明媚时，拿气压计到室外，量出气压计和它阴影的长度，再量出大楼阴影的长度。列一个简单的比例式，就能算出楼高。”“很好！”我说道，“其他方法呢？”

    “Yes,” said the student. “There is a very basic measurement method that you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units. A very direct method.” “of course, if you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and determine the value of ‘g ‘ at the street level and at the top of the building, From the difference between the two values of ‘g’, the height of the building can, in principle, be calculated.” “Finally,” he concluded, ”There are many other ways of solving the problem.” “Probably the best,” he said, “is to take the barometer to the basement and knock on the superintendent’s door. When the superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows:’ Mr. Superintendent, here I have a fine barometer. If you will tell me the height of this building, I will give you this barometer.”

     “有的。”学生说道。“有一个基本的测量方法，你会喜欢的。带上气压计爬楼。一边爬，一边以气压计的长度为单位在墙壁上作标记。数出标记总数，再乘以气压计的单位长度，得出楼高。此法很直接。”“当然啦，更复杂的方法也有。把气压计拴到绳子一头，作钟摆式摆动，分别在街面及楼顶测出其摆动时重力“G”值。由两个重力“G”的值差，从理论上讲可导算出楼高。“最后，”他总结道“有很多其它方法解答这个总是他说：“或许，最好的方法就是把气压计拿到地下室，敲敲管房人的门。他开门时，你就这样说：“房管先生，我这儿有一个很不错的气压计。要是你告诉我这楼的高度，就送给你。”

   At this print, I asked the student if he really did mot know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think, to use the “scientific method”, and to explore the deep inner logic of the subject in a pedantic way, as is often done in the new mathematics, rather than teaching him the structure of the subject, With this in mind, he decided to revive scholasticism as an academic lark to challenge the Sputnik-panicked classrooms of America.

      听到这儿，我就问那学生是否真的不知道这题的常规解法。他承认知道，但说他烦透了中学和大学老师的那一套：如何思考，如何运用“科学方法”，如何以学究方式探索学科内部的深层逻辑（在新数学中常用这一方式）。他们就是不教学生某某学科是如何构建的。想到这一点，他决定把中世繁琐的经院哲学搬来，开个学术玩笑，刺激一下患有苏联人造卫星恐慌症的美国学校课堂。