The Scientist out of the Spilled Milk 打翻的牛奶所造就的科学家

获取更多精品英语课程，请关注微信公众号：Jerry的英语课堂

The Scientist out of the Spilled Milk
A famous scientist was asked
why he was able to be so much more creative than the average person. What set him so far apart from others?

一个知名科学家被问到：“为什么他比普通人更富有创造力，是什么让他如此与众不同。“”

He responded that, in his opinion,

他回答道，在他看来，

it all came from an experience with his mother that occurred

when he was about two years old.

这全部源于他两岁时和妈妈的一次共同的经历。

He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator

他试图从冰箱里取出一瓶牛奶，

when he lost his grip on the slippery bottle and it fell,

却没有抓住光滑的瓶子，瓶子掉了，

spilling its contents all over the kitchen floor—

a veritae sea of milk!

牛奶洒得厨房满地都是——白花花的一片。

When his mother came into the kitchen,

instead of yelling at him,

giving him a lecture or pshing him,

他妈妈走进厨房时，没有对他大吼大叫，没有训斥他或惩罚他，

she said,

"Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made!

而是对他说：“罗伯特，瞧你把地板弄得，多么的壮观啊!

I have rarely seen such a huge puddle of milk.

我几乎从未见过这么大的一摊牛奶。

Well, the damage has already been done.

噢，既然损失已经造成了，

Would you like to get down and play in the milk

for a few minutes before we clean it up?"

你要不要下来玩一会牛奶我们再打扫。

Indeed, he did.

他真的在一地的牛奶上玩了一会儿。

After a few minutes, his mother said,

几分钟后，妈妈又说：

"You know, Robert,

whenever you make a mess like this,

“罗伯特，你要知道，每次像这样搞得一团糟，

eventually you have to clean it up

最终还是要收拾干净，

and restore everything to its proper order.

让一切恢复原位。

So, how would you like to do that?

所以，你看该怎么打扫好呢？

We could use a sponge, a towel or a mop.

我们可以使用一块海绵、一条毛巾或者一个拖把。

Which do you prefer?"

你喜欢用哪一个呢？

He chose the sponge and together they cleaned up the spilled milk.

他选择了海绵，并和妈妈一起把地板上的牛奶打扫干净。

His mother then said,

他妈妈接着对他说：

"You know,

what we have here is a failed experiment in

how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two tiny hands.

“你知道，今天我们实际上做了个实验——如何用两只小手稳妥地端一个大的牛奶瓶，可惜我们的实验失败了。

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 dropping it."

那我们去后院继续做实验吧，给瓶子里装上水，看看你能不能发现用什么方法端这个瓶子它不会掉。

The little boy learned that

if he grasped the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands,

于是这个小男孩学会了用双手抓住瓶子上面靠近瓶盖的位置，

he could carry it without dropping it.

这样端的时候瓶子就不会掉。

What a wonderful lesson!

多么美妙的一堂课!

This renowned scientist then remarked

that it was at that moment that he knew he didn’t need to be afraid to make mistakes.

这位著名的科学家说道，正是在那一刻他明白了无需害怕犯错误。

Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportties for learning something new,

相反，他认识到错误正是学习新东西的机会，

which is, after all,

what scientific experiments are all about.

毕竟任何科学实验都是如此。

Even if the experiment "doesn’t work,"

即使实验“行不通，

we usually learn something valuae from it.

我们往往也能从中得到一些宝贵的经验。

Wouldn’t it be great if all parents would respond the way Robert’s mother responded to him?

如果所有家长都像罗伯特的妈妈那样对待孩子该有多好啊。