Out of the Box

小时候看动画片《邋遢大王》的时候，有一个情节是主角逃跑的时候，要打开一扇门，门上有一个九宫图，必须使用连续的四笔连接所有的九个点。
当时看得时候是记住了，但是后来忘了，忘了之后就再也不知道怎么画了。
英语中，out of the box这个词我觉得它有的意思有点难以掌握，看了很多的资料，似懂非懂，过几天又忘了。
今天在opera的notes中有发现这个词，再拿出来看看，google一下，意外地在这里发现一个解释：

"Out of the box" is an expression that describes nonconformal, creative thinking. The term is used as an adverb to describe the thinking or as an adjective to describe the ideas. The term is said to derive from a famous puzzle created by early 20th century British mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney, in which someone is asked to interconnect nine dots in a three-by-three grid by using four straight lines drawn without the pencil leaving the paper. In order to be successful, the puzzle solver has to realize that the boundries of the dot array are psychological. The only way to solve the puzzle is to extend the lines beyond the artificial boundry created by the nine dots. One also thinks of the expression "boxed-in," or having reduced choices. In the fast-paced world of information technology, employers often say they are looking for someone who "thinks out of the box." Older, related but really different terms include blue sky, far out, and off the wall. A variation is "outside the box."

大意就是说，这个词来自于一个难题，就是如何使用连续的四笔连接九宫图（老外不知道九宫图，所以说three-by-three grid）。要解决这个难题，需要"thinks out of the box"。知道了它的起源，就不难记住了。
这次一下得到两个收获，总不至于再忘掉了吧！
[文章转载自http://my.opera.com/fantast_xue/blog/2006/11/24/out-of-the-box]

还好，现在我回忆起了当时看《邋遢大王》时的情景，而且画出了那个九宫图，Think Out of the Box：

鄙视一下自己，为什么有些重要的事记不清楚，这些事怎么如此清晰……