英语脑筋急转弯（Brain Teasers）
Brain Teasers
Section 1: The Missing Number
One day, a math teacher wrote a series of numbers on the blackboard: 8, 4, 2, 1. The students were confused and wondered what the pattern was. The teacher then said, \"Each number in the sequence represents something about the previous number. Can you figure out the missing number?\" The students started to think. After a few minutes, one student exclaimed, \"I got it! The missing number is ½!\" The teacher smiled and nodded. Can you explain how the pattern works and find the next missing number?
Section 2: The Talking Parrot
One day, a man walked into a pet store and saw a parrot sitting in a cage. The sign said, \"Talking Parrot - $100.\" Curious, the man approached the cage and asked the parrot, \"Can you really talk?\" To his surprise, the parrot replied, \"Yes, I can talk, and I can also solve math problems!\" Intrigued, the man thought of a difficult math problem and said, \"What is 27 multiplied by 9?\" The parrot instantly replied, \"243!\" The man was amazed and bought the parrot immediately. However, a few days later, the man returned to the pet store, angry and frustrated. He complained to the store owner, \"Your parrot is a fraud! It can't solve any math problems!\" The store owner smiled and said, \"I'm sorry, sir. Did you remember to ask the parrot to show its work?\" Can you figure out the secret behind the parrot's mathematical abilities?
Section 3: The Mysterious Box
A detective received a mysterious box with no sender information. Inside the box, there were three buttons: one red, one blue, and one yellow. Attached to the buttons was a note that read, \"Press the correct button to unlock the box.\" The detective examined the box but couldn't find any clues about which button to press. Frustrated, the detective thought for a while and then pressed the blue button. Suddenly, the box opened! How did the detective figure out which button to press?
Section 1: The Missing Number
Let's analyze the given sequence: 8, 4, 2, 1. If we divide each number by 2, we get the next number in the sequence. For example, 8 divided by 2 is 4, 4 divided by 2 is 2, and 2 divided by 2 is 1. Following this pattern, the missing number should be ½. It is because when we divide 1 by 2, the result is ½. Therefore, the next number in the sequence would be ½.
Section 2: The Talking Parrot
The secret behind the parrot's mathematical abilities lies in simple observation. The parrot was trained to listen carefully and identify keywords in the question. In this case, the keyword was \"multiplied.\" Whenever the parrot hears the word \"multiplied,\" it simply repeats the second number mentioned. In the question, the second number was 9, so the parrot simply replied with that number, which is 243. The parrot doesn't actually perform any calculations; it's a clever trick based on understanding language cues.
Section 3: The Mysterious Box
The detective won't find any clues about which button to press by examining the box. The clue is hidden in the text of the note itself. The note says, \"Press the correct button to unlock the box.\" The keyword here is \"correct.\" If we look at the first letter of each color mentioned in the note, we get the word \"C-B-Y,\" which can be rearranged to form \"BYC.\" This indicates that the detective should press the buttons in the order of blue, yellow, and then red. Therefore, by pressing the blue button, the detective unlocked the box.
