A child who has once been pleased with a tale likes, as a rule, to have it retold in almost the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as formal texts. It is always much better to tell a story than read it out of a book, and, if a parent can produce what, in the actual situation of the time and the child, is an improvement on the printed text, so much the better.

    A charge made against fairy tales is that they harm the child by frightening him or making him sad thinking. To prove the latter, one would have to show in a controlled experiment that children who have read fairy stories were more often sorry for cruelty than those who had not. As to fears, there are, I think, some cases of children being dangerously terrified by some fairy story. Often, however, this arises from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition turns the pain of fear into the pleasure of a fear faced and mastered.

    There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that they are not objectively true, that giants, witches, two - headed dragons, magic carpets, etc. do not exist; and that, instead of being fond of the strange side in fairy tales, the child should be taught to learn the reality by studying history. I find such people, I must say so peculiar (奇怪的, 异常的) that I do not know how to argue with them. If their cases were sound, the world should be full of mad men attempting to fly from New York to Philadelphia on a stick or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their beloved girl -friend.

    No fairy story ever declared to be a description of the real world and no clever child has ever believed that it was.

    One day，Mr.Arnold was teaching a lesson，and things were going as normally as ever.He was explaining the story of mankind to his pupils.He told them that，in the beginning，men were nomads(游牧人)；they never stayed in the same place for very long.Instead，they would travel about，here and there，in search of food，wherever it was to be found. And when the food ran out，they would move off somewhere else.

He taught them about the invention of farming and keeping animals.This was an important discovery，because by learning to cultivate(耕作)the land，and care for animals，mankind would always have food steadily available.It also meant that people could remain living in one place，and this made it easier to set about tasks that would take a long while to complete，like building towns，cities，and all that were in them.All the children listening were attracted by this story，until Lucy jumped up：

    “And if that was so important and improved everything so much，why are we nomads all over again，Mr.Arnold？”

    Mr.Arnold didnt know what to say. Lucy was a very intelligent girl.He knew that she lived with her parents in a house，so she must know that her family were not nomads；so what did she mean?

“We have all become nomads again，” continued Lucy.“The other day，outside the city，they were cutting the forest down. A while ago a fisherman told me how they fish.Its the same with everyone：when theres no more forest left, the foresters go elsewhere，and when the fish run out, the fishermen move on.Thats what the nomads did，isnt it？”

The teacher nodded,thoughtfully. Really,Lucy was right. Mankind had turned into nomads. Instead of looking after the land in a way that we could be sure it would keep supplying our needs，we kept developing it until the land was bare.And then off we would go to the next place！The class spent the rest of the afternoon talking about what they could do to show how to be more civilized.

    The next day everyone attended class wearing a green T-­shirt，with a message that said，“I am not a nomad！”

    And，from then on，they set about showing that indeed they were not.Every time they knew they needed something，they made sure that they would get it using care and control.If they needed wood or paper，they would make sure that they got the recycled kind.They ordered their fish from fish farms，making sure that the fish they received were not too young and too small.They only used animals that were well cared for，and brought up on farms.

    And so，from their little town，those children managed to give up being nomads again，just as prehistoric men had done so many thousands of years ago.

    Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows you also age, and your ambitions become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably accomplish what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.

    My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren't written until the final threat.

    I've been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master's degree in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student(技校学生). They're called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.

    When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he's a good kid,” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”

    I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don't often make school honor rolls(光荣榜).

    But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We who labor in clean shirts in offices don't have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was estimated at $800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.

    My son ,with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts from a junkyard, and ability from vo-tech classes. The lost was $25 instead of $800.

    Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.

    These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.

    I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most important, I have learned that fathers don't need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.

    My son may never make the school honor roll. But he made mine.

    The TED speaker series features “ideas worth spreading.” With over 1,400 to choose from, we've selected a few that are perfect for students.

    ⒈Larry Smith: Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career

    We humans have an excellent ability to make excuses for ourselves. Larry Smith, a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, tells us why most of us will fail to have a great career. But there is a way out— if you try to pursue your passion.

    ⒉Andy Puddicombe: All It takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes

    Between dance team, volunteering and—oh, right—lectures, your life's crazy factor is about to go way up. In this entertaining and informative talk, mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe teaches us how to be “more healthy, more mindful and less distracted” by taking just 10 minutes out of the day to be more present.

    ⒊Shane Koyczan: To This DAY For the Bullied and Beautiful

    This talk is sure to stay with you. Shane Koyczan's “To this DAY” is an affecting spoken-word poem about bullying and being different that gained over 10 million views on YouTube. In this talk, Koyczan gives a live reading of the poem, along with some stories about his background.

    ⒋Susan Cain: The power of Introverts(性格内向者)

    Does a cup of tea and a good book sound like a perfect Friday night? In this personal talk, Susan Cain argues that introverts have important talents and abilities. Our culture may value being social and outgoing, but the word needs all kinds.

    New research, attempting to throw light upon how male and female brains differ, has found that timing is everything. American Vanderbilt University researchers Stephen Camarata and Richard Woodcock discovered that females have a significant advantage over males in timed tests and tasks. The study involved more than 8,000 males and females ranging in age from 2 to 90 from across the US.

    “We found hardly any differences in overall intelligence. But we discovered that females performed better than men in time limited situations,” Camarata said, “It is very important for teachers to understand this difference in males and females when it comes to assigning work and tests.”

    Many males can do a better job without strict time limits, added Camarata.

    “Consider that many classroom activities, including testing, are directly or indirectly related to processing speed,” the researchers wrote in their report. “The higher performance in females may contribute to a classroom culture that favors females, not because of teacher bias(偏见)but because of inherent(与生俱来的)differences in gender processing speeds.”

    The researchers found that males scored lower than females in all age groups in tests measuring processing speed. However, the study also found that males consistently outperformed females in some language abilities, such as identifying objects and knowing antonyms(反义词)and synonyms(同义词). The research contradicts the popular belief that girls develop all communication skills earlier than boys.

    The researchers found no significant overall intelligence differences between males and females in any age groups.

    “We believe there are fundamental differences in how male and female brains end up getting organized,” Camarata said, “Our next studies will give us some insight into where these processing differences are occurring.”

    People do not analyze every problem they meet. Sometimes they try to remember a solution from the last time they had a similar problem. They often accept the opinions or ideas of other people. Other times they begin to act without thinking. They try to find a solution by trial and error. However, when all these methods fail, the person with a problem has to start analyzing. There are six stages in analyzing a problem.

    First the person must recognize that there is a problem. For example, Sam's bicycle is broken, and he cannot read it to class as he usually does. Sam must see that there is a problem with his bicycle.

    Next the thinker must define the problem. Before Sam can repair his bicycle, he must find the reason why it does not work. For instance, he must determine if the problem is with the gears, the brakes, or the frame. He must make his problem more specific.

    Now the person must look for information that will make the problem clearer and lead to possible solutions. For instance, suppose Sam decided that his bike does not work because there is something wrong with the gear wheels. At this time, he can look in his bicycle repair book and read about gears. He can talk to his friends at the bike shop. He can look at his gears carefully.

    After studying the problem, the person should have several suggestions for a possible solution. Take Sam as an illustration. His suggestions might be: put oil on the gear wheels; buy new gear wheels and replace the old ones; tighten or loosen the gear wheels.

    Eventually one suggestion seems to be the solution to the problem. Sometimes the final idea comes very suddenly because the thinker suddenly sees something new or sees something in a new way. Sam, for example, suddenly sees that there is a piece of chewing gum between the gear wheels. He immediately realizes the solution to his problem: he must clean the gear wheels.

    Finally the solution is tested. Sam cleans the gear wheels and finds that afterwards his bicycle works perfectly. In short, he has solved the problem.