String lit1 = "String Literal" ; 
String lit2 = "String Literal" ; 

if ( lit1.equals( lit2 ) )
  System.out.println("TRUE");
else
  System.out.println("FALSE");

A good answer might be:

In this case there is only one object (a string literal) which both lit1 and lit2 refer to. So equals() detects equivalent data and returns true.

Example Continued

Here is the previous program with some more if statements: 

class literalEgTwo
{
  public static void main ( String[] args )
  {
    String str1 = "String literal" ;  // create a literal
    String str2 = "String literal" ;  // str2 refers to the same literal
     
    String msgA = new String ("Look Out!");  // create an object
    String msgB = new String ("Look Out!");  // create another object
  
    if ( str1 == str2 ) 
      System.out.println( "This WILL print.");

    if ( str1 .equals( str2 ) ) 
      System.out.println( "This WILL print.");

    if ( msgA == msgB ) 
      System.out.println( "This will NOT print.");

    if ( msgA .equals( msgB  ) ) 
      System.out.println( "This WILL print.");
  }

}

QUESTION 23:

Say that you know that thing1.equals( thing2 ) is FALSE.

What can you then say about ( thing1 == thing2 ) ?