What is the most simple thing that most people know that you had to explain to someone that did not know it?
有什么大多數(shù)人都知道的最簡(jiǎn)單的事你還要對(duì)不懂的人解釋？

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獲得5.1k好評(píng)的回答@Manuela Cabrera：

That women have periods no matter what country they're from.
無(wú)論哪個(gè)國(guó)家的女人都有月經(jīng)。

Yes.
是的。

Someone actually didn't know this. And no, it wasn't a 5-year-old boy. It came from a supposedly well-educated female classmate, that was 16 years old at that time.
有人就不懂，當(dāng)然這個(gè)人不是5歲的小男孩。這個(gè)問(wèn)題來(lái)自一個(gè)應(yīng)該受過(guò)良好教育的女同學(xué)，當(dāng)時(shí)她16歲。

She was hosting a German exchange student and couldn't understand why she'd laughed so much at her question: “Do girls have periods in Germany too?”
她家里有一個(gè)德國(guó)交換生，而且她不明白為什么對(duì)方聽(tīng)到她的問(wèn)題“德國(guó)女孩也有月經(jīng)嗎？”會(huì)笑得前仰后合。

I had to explain to her why the girl had thought she was kidding and that geography wasn't a period determining factor.
我就跟她解釋為什么對(duì)方以為她在開(kāi)玩笑，而且地域也不是決定月經(jīng)時(shí)間的因素。

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獲得14.3k好評(píng)的回答@John Geare：

I couldn’t make this up.
這個(gè)事真不是我能編出來(lái)的。

A worker in my office made a copy of a document before faxing the document.
我辦公室里的一個(gè)職員發(fā)傳真之前先把文件復(fù)制一份。

She was assuming that the original physical document itself was sent over the phone lines and she would therefore need to copy the original before sending it because the original would disappear from our fax, and reappear at the receiving fax.
她以為源文件能從電話線發(fā)出去，會(huì)從我們的傳真機(jī)里消失，然后出現(xiàn)在接受文件的傳真機(jī)里，所以她發(fā)傳真之前需要復(fù)制一份。

But didn’t she notice the original when it reappeared in the output tray? No, she didn’t. She stacked the originals in the feeder tray, punched in the number and walked away.
但難道源文件再次出現(xiàn)在接紙盤上時(shí)她沒(méi)看見(jiàn)嗎？她沒(méi)看見(jiàn)。她把源文件放在送稿托架上撥完號(hào)就走了。

Over the course of a week, or so, other workers noticed that the output tray was filling up with previously sent faxes. As a courtesy, they scooped them up and filed them away, assuming it was just an oversight or the sender was called away. Until someone noticed that the file folder had a copy of the original already in it.
一周左右的時(shí)間里其他職員注意到接紙盤上堆滿了發(fā)完傳真的文件。大家出于禮貌把文件收起來(lái)堆在一邊，以為只是有人一時(shí)疏忽或者發(fā)傳真時(shí)被叫走了。直到有人發(fā)現(xiàn)文件夾里還有一份源文件的復(fù)印件。

That’s when the matter was brought to my attention. With a little eaves-dropping, we finally figured out who our very cautious sender was. That’s when I sent “the memo.”
我這時(shí)才注意到這件事。簡(jiǎn)單竊聽(tīng)之后我們最終知道了這個(gè)非常謹(jǐn)慎的發(fā)傳真的人是誰(shuí)，然后我發(fā)了一個(gè)“備忘錄”。

Dear Everyone:
親愛(ài)的各位：

A quick housekeeping item for you. When sending a fax, please remember to retrieve the original document from the output bin so you may return it to the file. It is no longer necessary to make a file copy of the original. Thank you for your attention.
快速管家消息：發(fā)傳真時(shí)請(qǐng)記得從出紙槽拿走源文件以便放回文件夾，沒(méi)必要復(fù)制源文件。謝謝配合。

That did the trick. A few days later, the guilty worker appeared in my office to identify herself, express regret at her “stupidity,” and thank me for not having called her out specifically.
這招奏效了。幾天以后，那個(gè)內(nèi)疚的職員來(lái)我辦公室承認(rèn)是她所為，而且對(duì)自己的“愚蠢行為”表示很后悔，還感謝我沒(méi)有特別點(diǎn)她的名字。

All’s well that end well.
皆大歡喜。

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（翻譯：菲菲）