爲什麼我總是考不了班裏的第一名?大綱

For long, a little boy was wondering why his next-desk-pal could rank 1st in the class whenever he wanted to, whereas he himself failed to: he only ranked 21st.

有個孩子對一個問題一直想不通：爲什麼他的同桌想考第一一下子就考了第一，而自己想考第一卻只考了全班第二十一名？

At home, he asked his Mom, “Mom, am I more stupid than others? I feel I am as obedient and as careful as him, but how come I always lag behind? "Hearing the words, Mom was aware that her son began to gain amour-propre, which was now being undermined by the ranking system. Staring at him, she went wordless, not knowing how to explain.

回家後他問道：“媽媽我是不是比別人笨？我覺得我和他一樣聽老師的話，一樣認真地做作業，可是，爲什麼我總比他落後？”媽媽聽了兒子的話，感覺到兒子開始有自尊心了，而這種自尊心正在被學校的排名傷害着。她望着兒子，沒有回答，因爲她也不知道怎樣回答。

In another test, the son ranked 17th, while his pal remained 1st. Back home, he raised the same question. Mom really wanted to inform her son that intelligence differs, which means that students ranking 1st are supposed to be cleverer than normal ones. However, was this disillusioning answer the one that her son was constantly curious about? Thank goodness she did not open her mouth.

又一次考試後，孩子考了第十七名，而他的同桌還是第一名。回家後，兒子又問了同樣的問題。她真想說，人的智力確實有三六九等，考第一的人，腦子就是比一般的人靈。然而這樣的回答，難道是孩子真想知道的答案嗎？她慶幸自己沒說出口。

How to answer her son’s question? There were times she felt an impulse to equivocate, “You are too lazy. You are not as industrious as others…” but she stopped when envisioning her son suffering from the pains of unsatisfied grades and rankings. She thought it cruel to inflict any additional burden on his son and was trying to find out a perfect answer.

應該怎樣回答兒子的問題呢？有幾次，她真想重複那幾句被上萬個父母重複了上萬次的話——你太貪玩了；你在學習上還不夠勤奮;和別人比起來還不夠努力……這樣來搪塞兒子。然而，像她兒子這樣腦袋不夠聰明，在班上成績不甚突出的孩子，平時活得還不夠辛苦嗎？所以她沒有那麼做，她想爲兒子的問題找到一個完美的答案。

Time elapsing swiftly, the son finished primary school. Despite studying harder and better, he was still unable to keep up with his pal. To show her pride of him, Mom decided to take him to the sea. During the trip, she managed to give out an answer.

兒子小學畢業了，雖然他比過去更加刻苦，但依然沒有趕上他的同桌，不過與過去相比，他的成績一直在提高。爲了對兒子的進步表示讚賞，她帶他去看了一次大海。就是在這次旅行中，這位母親回答了兒子的問題。

Now, the son no longer worries about his rankings, and there are no longer boring guys who would inquire his rankings in primary school, because, with the 1st ranking, he is accepted by Tsinghua University. Back home in winter vacation, he was invited to address the students and parents in his high school. In the speech, he mentioned an valuable experience in his childhood, “…When my mother and I was lying on the beach, she pointed to the front and said, ‘Do you see the seabirds scrambling for food over there? When the waves come near, little birds can rise quickly while “clumsy” sea-gulls would take more time to complete the process. However, have you noticed birds that finally fly across the endless ocean are none other than “clumsy” sea-gulls?’” The moving speech provoked many mothers present into tears, including his mother.

現在這位做兒子的再也不擔心自己的名次了，也再沒有人追問他小學時成績排第幾名，因爲他去年以全校第一名的成績考入了清華。寒假歸來時，母校請他給同學及家長們做一個報告。其中他講了小時候的一段經歷：“我和母親坐在沙灘上，她指着前面對我說，你看那些在海邊爭食的鳥兒，當海浪打來的時候，小灰雀總能迅速地起飛，它們拍打兩三下翅膀就升入天空；而海鷗總顯得非常笨拙，它們從沙灘飛入天空總要很長時間；然後，真正能飛躍大海橫過大洋的還是它們。”這個報告使得很多母親流下了眼淚，其中包括他自己的母親。