本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛This is translation of a joke i read at sinanet.com. i
think it's quite clever. if you happened to have read
it, sorry for the waste of your time.

***********************
In a research lab, scientists lock 5 monkeys into a
cage. On the top of the cage hang a bunch of bananas.
and of course the monkeys will try to reach for the
bananas. however, if any of the 5 monkeys reaches
within a certain distance from the bananas, a
sprinkler will be triggered and all the monkeys will
have to "take a shower", and not a very nice one.
After a period of time, the monkeys have learned not
to reach for the bananas, as much as they want to.
even if anyone of them can't suppress the craving, the
others will stop him.

Then one of the 5 monkeys is let out and a new monkey
is introduced. not knowing about the showers, he
certainly jumps at the bananas. in order to stop him,
all the other monkeys give him a good lesson, by
beating. he soon learns that he'll be beaten if he
tries to get the bananas, without know why.

Then one of the 4 old monkeys is let out and another
new one is introduced. he also makes the mistake and
also learns some good lessons, especially from the
previous new monkey, who beats him harder than anyone
else.

One by one the old monkeys are all let out and now
none of the monkeys in the cage knows anything about
the sprinkler. but none of them dare reach for the
bananas, because they know they'll be beaten without a
reason why.

That, my friend, is called the becoming of moral.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net