i recently heard a story from stephen glenn about a famous research scientist who had made s*ral very important medical breakthroughs. he was being interviewed by a news* reporter who asked him why he thought he was able to be so much * creative than the average person. what set him so far apart from others?
he responded that, in his opinion, it all came from an experience with his mother that occurred when he was about two years old. he had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he lost his grip1 on the slippery2 bottle and it fell, spilling its contents all over the kitchen floor - a veritable（名副其实的） sea of milk!
when his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling3 at him, giving him a lecture or punishing him, she said, "robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made! i have rarely seen such a huge puddle4（水坑，泥潭） of milk. well, the damage has already been done. would you like to get down and play in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?"
indeed, he did. after a few minutes, his mother said, "you know, robert, when*r you make a mess like this, *ntually you have to clean it up and restore5 *rything to its proper order. so, how would you like to do that? we could use a sponge6, a towel or a mop. which do you prefer?" he chose the sponge and together they cleaned up the spilled milk.
his mother then said, "you know, what we have here is a failed experiment in how to effectively carry a *g milk bottle with two tiny hands. let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can discover a way to carry it without *ping it." the little boy learned7 that if he grasped the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without *ping it. what a wonderful lesson!
this renowned8 scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be afraid to make mistakes. instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning9 something new, which is, after all, what scientific experiments are all about. *n if the experiment "doesn't work," we usually learn something valuable from it.
wouldn't it be great if all parents would respond the way robert's mother responded to him?
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