You woke up 20 minutes late this morning. Racing through breakfast, you spilled black tea on your school uniform. Your mother saw this and got angry at you. The beautiful weather turned to rain while you were on your way to school—without an umbrella. When you arrived, your teacher announced a surprise quiz in math, your worst subject. Sound familiar? If so, you may be living Murphy's law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. Chances are you've heard some version of Murphy's law somewhere. You may even have applied it to your own life at a time when nothing seemed to go right. Or you may have applied it to someone else's life. Do you have a friend who always gets terrible marks, can't play any sport, and looks funny with any haircut? If so, you've probably thought or said, "If there's any way to do it wrong, he or she will." Call this Murphy's law in the third person. But the law isn't always negative. An early version states that "Whatever can happen will happen," which sounds pretty optimistic if you're feeling good. And "Anything that can go wrong probably will" is a useful reminder to think of all possibilities before starting a task. Of course, it's also a handy excuse if you mess up that task! Just where Murphy's law comes from is a mystery, but there's nothing mysterious about a bad day. Especially when you know how to describe it.
你今天睡過頭20 分鐘才起床，急急忙忙吃早餐，卻將紅茶灑到學校制服，你媽媽看見了還大發雷霆。上學途中，本來風和日麗的天氣卻突然下雨，而且你居然沒帶傘。到校後，老師竟突然宣布要抽考你最不拿手的數學。 覺得很耳熟嗎？ 如果是的話，表示你可能實現了莫非定律：凡是可能會出錯的事，都將出錯。 也許你聽說過不同版本的莫非定律，甚至可能在諸事不順的時候將莫非定律應用到自己或他人的生活當中。你是否有朋友老是考不好、什麼運動都不會、剪什麼髮型看起來都很好笑？如果有這類朋友的話，你或許曾想過或說過：「任何事到了他/她手上，就一定會搞砸」，這就是以第三人稱的角度來思考莫非定律。 但是莫非定律不完全是負面的意義，早期的版本是「會發生的事就是會發生」，對於自我感覺良好的人來說，聽起來還蠻樂觀的。而「只要事情有出錯的機率，就很有可能會出錯」的說法，則是在你執行任何事情之前，先好好思考各種可能性的實用提醒。當然，這也是讓自己在搞砸事情後，方便歸咎的藉口！ 雖然莫非定律的起源仍是個謎，但是倒楣的一天卻沒有這麼難解，特別是當你懂得如何描述自己遭遇的話。 | 
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