人生之求11-打翻的牛奶所早就的科学家

[00:00.00]The Scientist out of the Spilled Milk 切记——我们是在抚养孩子，不是在养花!
[00:08.46]A famous scientist was asked
[00:10.55]why he was able to be so much more creative than the average person.
[00:14.04]What set him so far apart from others?
[00:17.66]He responded that, in his opinion,
[00:20.27]it all came from an experience with his mother that occurred
[00:23.35]when he was about two years old.
[00:25.42]He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator
[00:29.35]when he lost his grip on the slippery bottle and it fell,
[00:32.97]spilling its contents all over the kitchen floor—
[00:36.03]a veritable sea of milk!
[00:38.56]When his mother came into the kitchen,
[00:41.17]instead of yelling¹ at him,
[00:42.82]giving him a lecture or punishing him,
[00:44.99]she said,
[00:45.98]"Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made!
[00:50.46]I have rarely seen such a huge puddle² of milk.
[00:53.65]Well, the damage has already been done.
[00:56.29]Would you like to get down and play in the milk
[00:59.01]for a few minutes before we clean it up?"
[01:01.10]Indeed, he did.
[01:03.38]After a few minutes, his mother said,
[01:06.35]"You know, Robert,
[01:07.76]whenever you make a mess like this,
[01:09.73]eventually you have to clean it up
[01:12.16]and restore everything to its proper order.
[01:14.54]So, how would you like to do that?
[01:16.64]We could use a sponge³, a towel or a mop.
[01:20.68]Which do you prefer?"
[01:22.00]He chose the sponge and together they cleaned up the spilled milk.
[01:27.14]His mother then said,
[01:28.76]"You know,
[01:30.19]what we have here is a failed experiment in
[01:33.24]how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two tiny hands.
[01:36.98]Let’s go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water
[01:40.91]and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it."
[01:44.95]The little boy learned that
[01:46.93]if he grasped the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands,
[01:50.64]he could carry it without dropping it.
[01:52.84]What a wonderful lesson!
[01:54.57]This renowned⁴ scientist then remarked
[01:57.65]that it was at that moment that he knew he didn’t need to be afraid to make mistakes.
[02:02.25]Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning something new,
[02:07.05]which is, after all,
[02:08.59]what scientific experiments are all about.
[02:11.32]Even if the experiment "doesn’t work,"
[02:14.69]we usually learn something valuable from it.
[02:17.01]Wouldn’t it be great
[02:18.98]if all parents would respond the way Robert’s mother responded to him?

1 yelling   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The coach stood on the sidelines yelling instructions to the players. 教练站在场外，大声指挥运动员。
• He let off steam by yelling at a clerk. 他对一个职员大喊大叫，借以发泄怒气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。

3 sponge   

n.海绵，海绵状的东西；v.用海绵擦拭，吸收掉， 抹掉

参考例句：

• The child is screwing water out of a sponge.小孩正把海绵中的水挤出来。
• You should try to sponge out the memory of the accident.你该努力抹除那次事故的记忆。

4 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。