举一反三
To learn by analogy
A breakdown of the characters in 举一反三 (jǔ yī fǎn sān):
举 (jǔ): to list (列举 - liè jǔ)
一 (yī): one
反 (fǎn): usually means “opposite” but here means “to infer”
三 (sān): three
I once met a boy who thought people from Japan were called “Japanians.”
After laughing for a minute, I thought “why not?”
If we have Italians and Australians, why not “Japanians”?
Though he was technically “wrong,” I think his approach to grasping the English language was right on. He was recognizing patterns and applying them to new situations. Perhaps he was wrong because of the arbitrary nature of the English language, but in the long run I’d bet he’ll learn faster this way.
There’s a chengyu for what the boy was doing: 举一反三 (jǔ yī fǎn sān).
举一反三 (jǔ yī fǎn sān) means to infer many things from one fact, and literally means to “list one and infer three.”
“我们应该举一反三，学会如何把金融做为战略武器来使用”
“wǒmen yīnggāi jǔyīfǎnsān, xuéhuì rúhé bǎ jīnróng zuòwéi zhànlüè wǔqì lái shǐyòng “
“We should infer from what we know, and learn how to use finance as a strategic weapon”
“为此，我们要举一反三，进一步完善政府服务”
“wèicǐ, wǒmen yào jǔyīfǎnsān, jìnyibù wánshàn zhèngfǔ fúwù”
“Regarding this, we should infer from previous facts, to further improve government services”
“他们在实际生产中通过事故案例举一反三，预防事故的发生”
“tāmen zài shíjì shēngchǎn zhōng tōngguò shìgù ànlì jǔyīfǎnsān, yùfáng shìgù de fāshēng”
“They prevent accidents from occurring in actual production by inferring from accident case studies”
“要求管理员举一反三地做好整改”
“yāoqiú guǎnlǐyuán jǔyīfǎnsān de zuòhǎo zhěnggǎi “
“Request administrators to do solid reform based on strong inferences from known facts”