大多数人——尤其是大多数生物学家——都与弹性学有特殊的联系。可是他们却对弹性学丝毫不感必趣。因为,他们认为弹性学太平凡,太困难,无足轻重,尤其是令人生厌。其实有关植物和动物的许多力学问题并不是那么平凡的;这些问题是超乎寻常地困难和复杂的,而且力学强度对肌体的存在有绝对的重要性。但是,情况几乎总是这样:各种生物在解决其自身结构的问题方面是如此地成功,以致我们没有去注意它们是如何解决这些问题的。世上没有什么事情比圆满的成功更能吸引人们的好奇心。 Most people, especially most biologists, have special links with elasticity. However, they are not necessarily interested in elasticity. Because, they think that flexibility is too common, too difficult, and not very important, especially annoying. In fact, many mechanical problems related to plants and animals are not so ordinary; these problems are unusually difficult and complex, and the mechanical strength is of absolute importance to the existence of the body. However, the situation is almost always this: All kinds of organisms are so successful in solving their own structural problems that we have not paid attention to how they solve these problems. Nothing in the world can attract people’s curiosity more than successful success.