Tasting | The story is short, but its meaning is profound! 2016.9.12

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11. One night, quite late, an elderly couple entered a hotel; they wanted a room. The front desk attendant replied, “I’m sorry, our hotel is fully booked; there isn’t a single room available.” ”Seeing the tired expressions on the old couple’s faces, the waiter said, “But let me think of a way…” At this point in the story, do you prefer a mathematical continuation, or would you like a literary ending? But in any case, mathematics and literature will part ways here. The story of mathematics unfolds like this: this kind-hearted waiter set about solving the room problem for those two elderly people. He woke up the guests who were already asleep in the hotel and asked them to change rooms – the guest in room 1 moved to room 2, the guest in room 2 moved to room 3, and so on, until every guest had moved from their own room to the next one. Then a miracle happened: Room 1 became available. The waiter happily seated the elderly couple inside. No rooms were added, and the number of guests didn’t decrease; when the two elderly people arrived, all the rooms were already occupied. But simply by moving each guest to the next room, the first room became empty. Why is that? /It turns out that the two elderly people entered the mathematically famous Hilbert Hotel – a hotel considered to have an infinite number of rooms. This story is about the great mathematician David. Hilbert described this, thereby introducing the mathematical concept of “infinity”. This concept is so important to this discipline that, without it, it is hard to imagine how mathematics could exist. Anyone who can count knows that every integer has a successor, going on indefinitely (so in Hilbert’s hotel, there is a room after each room, ad infinitum)… Mathematics is the science of infinity. Well, let’s go back to the point where the waiter said, “Let me think of a way.” The story of literature continues in this way. This literary servant should be more humane and compassionate; of course, he couldn’t bear to let those elderly people go out in the middle of the night to find another place to stay. Moreover, in such a small town, it’s likely that the other hotels are already full and closed, so wouldn’t these exhausted elders end up on the streets in the middle of the night? So the kind waiter led the elderly couple to a room and said, “It may not be the best, but this is all I can do for now.” ”Seeing that it was actually a tidy and clean room, the old man happily moved in. The next day, when they went to the front desk to settle the bill, the waiter said to them, “No need to pay; I merely lent you my room for one night—have a good trip!” ”I see. The waiter didn’t sleep at all that night; he worked a round-the-clock shift at the front desk. The two elderly people were very moved. The old man said, “Child, you are the best innkeeper I have ever met.” You will be rewarded. ”The waiter smiled and said it was no big deal. He escorted the old man out, then turned back to his own tasks, forgetting about the whole matter completely. Unexpectedly, one day the waiter received a letter. When he opened it, he found a one-way ticket to New York along with a short note offering him another job. He flew to New York and followed the route indicated in the letter to reach a certain place; looking up, he saw a magnificent luxury hotel standing before him. It turned out that, on that late night a few months ago, he was receiving a billionaire with hundreds of millions in wealth and his wife. The rich man bought a large hotel for this waiter, believing firmly that he would manage it well. This is the legendary story of the first manager of the world-famous Hilton Hotel. It all begins with the wise mind of a compassionate and kind-hearted servant: “Let me think of a way…” To enter the realm of mathematics, strict logic, sound reasoning, and precise proof are absolutely necessary ； Entering the world of literature relies on beautiful human nature, touching plots, and unexpected yet satisfying endings. But have you noticed: whether in literature or mathematics, the outcome is amazing—love combined with wisdom can indeed create miracles. ▼ 12. There were a pair of brothers whose home was on the 80th floor. One day, when they returned home from a trip, they found that the building had no electricity! Although they were carrying heavy luggage, it seemed there was no other choice, so the elder brother said to his younger brother, \"Let’s climb the stairs up!\" So, they started climbing the stairs with two large bags of luggage. By the time they reached the 20th floor, they started to feel tired. My brother said, \"The bags are too heavy. How about we leave them here and come back for them using the elevator once electricity is restored.\" ”So, they left their luggage on the 20th floor, which made things much easier, and continued climbing upward. They climbed up chatting and laughing, but the good times didn’t last long; by the 40th floor, the two of them were extremely tired. Realizing they had only climbed halfway, the two of them began to blame each other, accusing the other of not paying attention to the building’s power outage notices, which was why they ended up in this situation. They climbed while arguing, and in that way they made it all the way to the 60th floor. By the 60th floor, they were too tired to even argue. The younger brother said to his older brother, “Let’s stop arguing and finish climbing it.” ”So they continued climbing up silently, and finally reached the 80th floor! Excitedly, the two brothers arrived at their home only to realize that they had left their keys in their bag on the 20th floor… Some say that this story actually reflects our lives: before the age of 20, we live under the expectations of our family and teachers, bearing a lot of pressure and burdens; we are not yet mature enough or competent enough, which makes it inevitable that our steps are unsteady. After turning 20, free from the pressures of others and without any burdens, I began to pursue my dreams with all my effort, and spent 20 happy years in this way. But by the age of 40, realizing that youth had passed, one inevitably feels a lot of regret and remorse; thus, one begins to regret this, feel sorry for that, complain about this, and be envious of that... And so, 20 years pass in complaining. At 60, realizing that not much time was left in life, I told myself to stop complaining and to cherish the days that remained! And so, he spent the rest of his days in silence. Only at the end of life do we realize that there seems to be something we haven’t finished… It turns out that all our dreams remained from our 20-year-old youth, never getting a chance to be realized… ▼ 13. Before going on stage, a master performer was told by his disciple that his shoelaces were loose. The master nodded in thanks and squatted down to tie it carefully. After the disciple turned away, he crouched down again to loosen his shoelaces. A bystander who saw all this asked in confusion, “Master, why do you loosen your shoelaces again?” ”The master replied, “Because I am playing a tired traveler whose long journey has caused his shoelaces to come loose; this detail can show his exhaustion and weariness.” ”“Then why don’t you just tell your disciple? ”“He was able to notice carefully that my shoelaces were loose, and he kindly told me that I should encourage his enthusiasm and positivity. As for why the shoelaces needed to be untied, there would be more opportunities in the future to teach him how to do it; we could talk about it next time. ” Insight: A person can only do one thing at a time; those who know how to focus on the essentials are true talents.