故事
The Magic Pebbles "Why do we have to learn all of this dumb stuff?" Of all the complaints and questions I have heard from my students during my years in the classroom,this was the one most frequentlyuttered.I would answer it by recounting the following legend. One night a group of nomads were going to sleep when suddenly they were surrounded by a great light.They knew they were in the presenceof God.A voice spoke finally,"Gather as many pebbles as you can.Put them in your saddle bags.Travel a day's journey and tomorrow night will find you glad and it will find you sad." The nomads were disappointed and angry-the task made no sense to them at all.However,the memory of the brilliance of their visitor caused each one to pick up a few pebbles. They traveled a day's journey.At night they searched their saddle bags and discovered every pebble had become a diamond.They were glad they had diamonds.They were sad they not gathered more. It was an experience I had with a student,Alan. When Alan was in the eighth grade,his master's in "trouble".He had studied how to be a bully and was getting his master's in "thievery". Every day I had my students memorize a quotation from a great thinker.No one complained about this daily routinemore than Alan- right up to the day he was expelled and I lost touch with him.Then one day,he called. He told me that after being sent to juvenile hall,he had because so disgusted with himself that he had cue his wrists. He said,"As I lay there with my life running out of my body,I suddenly remembered that dumb quote you mad me write 20 times one day.'There is no failure except in no longer trying.'Then it suddenly made sense to me.As long as I was alive,I wasn't a failure,but if I allowed myself to die,I called for help and started a new life." When he had heard the quotation,it was a pebble.When he needed guidance in a moment of crisis,it became a diamond.So,gather all the pebbles you can,and you can count on a future filled with diamonds.
神奇的鵝卵石 “為什么我們非要學(xué)這些沒用的東西呢？”這是在我多年教書生涯中聽得最多的學(xué)生們的抱怨與質(zhì)疑。 然后我就會給他們講下面這個故事。 有一天晚上，一群游牧民正要睡去的時候，忽然北一全要顏色光芒所包圍。他們知道神就要出現(xiàn)了。 神終于說話了：“盡量多撿一些鵝卵石，放在你們的馬褡子里。再走一天，到明天晚上，你們將同時體會到快樂和沮喪?！? 神消失后，牧民們有失望又憤怒，議論紛紛。神讓他們?nèi)プ龅氖戮谷绱藷o聊.但是不管怎樣，方才神現(xiàn)身的靈光令人敬畏，他們?nèi)耘f各自撿了一些鵝卵石。 他們又走了一天。當(dāng)夜幕降臨，他們查看自己的馬褡子，發(fā)現(xiàn)每一顆鵝卵石都變成了鉆石。得到鉆石他們很高興，同時也懊悔沒有撿更多的鵝卵石。 我和一個名叫艾倫的學(xué)生就有過這樣的經(jīng)歷。 那時，艾倫正讀8年級，他調(diào)皮搗蛋，不僅常常欺凌弱小，更是個偷竊高手。 我每天讓學(xué)生記一條名人名言。在我所有的學(xué)生中，沒有誰比艾倫更愛抱怨這每日的例行作業(yè)了——直到他被勒令退學(xué)。此后，我再也沒有得到他的消息。但是有一天，他來電話了。 他說，他被送進(jìn)青年看守所后，對自己感到十分厭惡，曾經(jīng)割腕自殺。 他說：“當(dāng)我躺在那兒，感覺著生命正逐漸離我遠(yuǎn)去，我忽然想到有一天你曾經(jīng)叫我寫了20遍的那句無聊格言：‘沒有所謂失敗，除非你不再嘗試?！且豢蹋彝蝗幻靼琢怂暮x。只要我活著，就不能算失?。坏侨绻易屪约核懒?，那么我就真的永遠(yuǎn)失敗地死去了。于是我竭盡殘存的力氣求救，并且開始了新生活?！? 在艾倫當(dāng)初聽到這句格言的時候，他還只是一顆鵝卵石。但是當(dāng)他面臨危機(jī)，需要指引的那一刻，他就變成了鉆石。所以，盡量多地收集些鵝卵石，那么有朝一日你就會擁有一個鉆石般的未來。