视听说1(第三版)Unit1_P16Stephen Glenn

新视野大学英语 听说教程1（第三版）本学期期末考试将考到的材料

Further practice in listening: Long conversation and Passage 1&2 

P.16

Stephen Glenn is a famous research scientist. When he was interviewedby a newspaper reporter who asked him why he was so much more creative than theaverage person, he responded that it all came from an experience with hismother that occurred when he was about two years old.

He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigeratorwhen he lost his hold on the bottle and it fell, spilling milk all over thekitchen floor. When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of shouting athim, giving him a lecture or punishing him, she said, “What a wonderful messyou have made! Well, the damage has already been done. You know, Stephen, wheneveryou make a mess like this, eventually you have to clean it up and bringeverything to its proper order.” So together they cleaned up the spilled milk.His mother then said, “What we have here is a failed experiment in how toeffectively carry a big milk bottle with two tiny hands. Let’s go out in thebackyard and fill the bottle with water, and see if you can discover a way tocarry it without dropping it.” The little boy learned that if he grasped thebottle at the top with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. Whata wonderful lesson!

This famous scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that heknew he didn’t need to

be afraid to make mistakes. Instead, mistakes were just opportunitiesfor learning something new, which is, after all, what scientific experimentsare all about.

Q1: What happened whenStephen tried to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator?

Q2: What did Stephen’smother do when she came into the kitchen?

Q3: What did Stephen’smother teach him later?

Q4: What did Stephen learnfrom this experience?

Key

DDBA