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Chapter 3 Interests are the best teacher
§01 From curiosity to exploration
Interest is the best teacher. Interest keeps you in a state of seeking knowledge all the time. Interest makes you motivated to complete one exploration after another, and complete one goal after another actively and confidently.

Curiosity inspires interest and opens doors to exploration—

Children, curiosity is like a firecracker, it crackles when you touch it, bringing us many "explosive" imaginations.Everyone's interests, even dreams, initially stem from a little curiosity.Curiosity makes us always maintain a strong desire for knowledge in learning.

On October 1903, 10, Bei Shizhang was born in a family that had been fishing for generations in Zhenhai County, Ningbo, Zhejiang.

Although Bei Shizhang was taciturn when he was a child, he was diligent in thinking. No matter what happened, he always asked "why".Once, his father took him to Shanghai to do business. Along the way, he saw the "Jiangtian Steamer" sailing on the river, and wondered: How could the "Jiangtian Steamer" move without the puller and the boss of the boat?How can the lamps in the cabin be lit without oil?On the bustling Nanjing Road, why do yellow-haired "foreign models" turn around in shop windows?Bei Shizhang couldn't figure it out.The short trip to Shanghai opened Bei Shizhang's eyes and opened the door of curiosity and exploration in his heart.

In the autumn of 1921, Bei Shizhang graduated from the Pre-Medical Department of Tongji Medical Engineering School.With the support of his parents, he went to study in Germany in March 1922 and embarked on a scientific journey to explore life.

After Bei Shizhang arrived in Germany, he successively studied natural science at the University of Freiburg, the University of Munich and the University of Tübingen.Bei Shizhang works with books and instruments all day long, takes the laboratory as his home, and studies hard.He not only studied biology courses, but also studied physics, chemistry, geology, paleontology and many other courses, and taught himself mathematics.Bei Shizhang benefited a lot from the study and life in these universities.

During his eight years in Germany, Bei Shizhang mastered subject theory, learned scientific research methods and techniques, accumulated research work experience, and formed his own style of study at the same time.He pays attention to order, and everything he does is meticulous and methodical.When the first draft of the paper is written, it is always repeated scrutiny or supplementary experiments.

At the beginning, Bei Shizhang made his debut in Germany, which attracted the attention of German academic circles.However, neither the material temptation nor the mentor's persuasion could shake Bei Shizhang's determination to serve the motherland. In the autumn of 1929, he bid farewell to the University of Tubingen and returned to the motherland he had always dreamed of.

good way to learn
Reading tips: Why did Bei Shizhang become a great scientist?

Classic sentence: He pays attention to order, and everything he does is meticulous and orderly.

Learning Proverbs: Develop your own interests with curiosity, and work hard to explore them, and one day you will achieve excellent results.

The little things around you bring you great inspiration——

Children, have you paid attention to the little things around you?These little things usually stimulate your interest in learning and cultivate your serious and inquisitive learning attitude.So we have to be a person who loves to observe and ask questions.Only by asking "why" more can we learn more knowledge.

§02 Why the lid of the pot jumps
Watt was a British inventor.

When he was young, one day he watched his grandmother cook.On the stove, a pot of water was boiling. The boiling water was tumbling in the pot, and the pot was bouncing up and down without being able to cover it.Watt felt very strange, so he asked his grandmother: "Grandma, why is the pot lid jumping?"

Grandma said: "When the water boils, the lid of the pot jumps."

Watt asked again: "Why does the lid of the pot jump when the water is boiled?"

Grandma couldn't answer.

Later, Watt often sat by the stove and observed carefully.He saw that the water boiled, and the steam in the pot rose straight up, pushing the lid of the pot.He thought: The lid of the pot is pushed by water vapor. The steam produced by a pot of boiling water can push a lid of a pot, and more boiling water will produce more water vapor. Isn’t it possible to push heavier things?
After Watt grew up, he continued to study this problem.He absorbed the experience of his predecessors, and after many studies, he finally invented the steam engine.

good way to learn
Reading tips: Have you noticed any phenomena in your life that puzzle you?
Classic sentence: The lid of a pot is pushed by water vapor. The water vapor produced by a pot of boiling water can push a lid of a pot. More boiling water will produce more water vapor. Isn’t it possible to push heavier things?
Learn Proverbs: Only by seeing more, asking more, and learning more can we unravel the great mysteries hidden in small things.

Life is about doing what you love-

Children, do you like to study?Learning without interest is boring, even if you persist until the end with perseverance, it will not have much effect, because you don't have it in your heart!Therefore, learning must first cultivate good interests and find interesting points, so that you can get twice the result with half the effort.

§03 The secret of life

In May 2001, a middle school in Nevada in the United States asked such a question during the entrance examination: Bill Gates' desk has five drawers with locks, which are respectively labeled wealth, interest, happiness, honor, and success. Gates always carries only one key, and locks the other four keys in a drawer.Excuse me: Which key is Gates carrying?In which drawer or drawers are the other four keys locked?

A Chinese student who had just arrived in the United States happened to catch up with this exam. When he saw this question, he panicked because he didn't know whether it was a Chinese question or a math question.After the exam, he went to ask his guarantor, a trustee of the school.The director told him that it was an intelligence test question, the content was not in the book, and there was no standard answer. Everyone was free to answer according to their own understanding, but the teacher had the right to give a score based on his point of view.

Chinese students scored 9 points on this 5-point question.The teacher thought that he didn't answer a single word, at least it showed that he was honest, and based on this, he should give more than half of the marks.What he couldn't understand was that his deskmate only scored 1 point for answering this question.The answer at the same table is: What Gates brought is the key on the wealth drawer, and the other keys are locked in this drawer.

Later, his American deskmate wrote to Bill Gates for an answer.Bill Gates wrote this sentence in his reply letter: The secret of your life is hidden in the things you are most interested in.

There is another sentence that many people agree with: The happiest thing in life is to waste time on things that are most meaningful to you.

Do what you love and love what you do.A person has to do what he is interested in, and he must do his best.

Don't force yourself to do something you are not interested in; if you have to do it, then find the fun of that thing, go deep into it, and slowly develop interest!

good way to learn
Reading tip: Which key do you think Bill Gates will be carrying?
Classic sentence: Do what you love, love what you do.

Learning Proverbs: If you want to have a good learning method, you must first develop a love of learning.

Curiosity can inspire scientific inventions——

Children, every great invention contains great scientific truths, and their inventions are inspired by people's curiosity about science.Therefore, we must maintain our curiosity, maybe the future inventor is you.

§04 invisible magnetic field

When Einstein was a child, there was one thing worth mentioning.

One evening, as soon as Mr. Herman came back from get off work, he yelled to Einstein's room, "Albert, come and see what present Dad bought you!" As soon as Einstein heard the word "gift", he immediately ran out of the room happily.I saw Dad take out a carton from his bag, and then carefully and slowly open it.

Einstein took it curiously and saw that it contained a round thing like a big pocket watch.It's just that in addition to the uniform scale, four letters are written on the four sides of this "big pocket watch": N, S, E, W.The biggest difference between it and a pocket watch is that it has only one pointer-it is constantly swinging from side to side.

"What is this? Is it a watch? But, there seems to be something on it." Einstein asked his father in surprise.

"Listen to you. It's not a watch. A watch is used to keep time. With this thing, you can know the position. It's used to determine the direction." Father patiently became the explainer.

When Einstein found this compass so magical, his eyes began to light up, and he couldn't put it down.He held the compass and kept shaking it. No matter how he shook it, the magnetic needle always pointed in one direction——North.

"Why does the magnetic needle always point to the north?" Einstein looked at the magical compass and said to himself.

"This is because the earth we live on has a magnetic force that leads the magnetic needle to the north." Dad explained patiently after listening to Einstein's words.

"Where is this magnetic force on earth?"

"It can be said that there are everywhere on the whole earth."

For several days, Einstein often held the small compass in both hands in a daze.He kept trying to turn it over, or turn it slowly, but no matter what he did, the little pointer kept pointing north.He knew that this was the invisible and intangible earth's magnetic field at work.

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Reading Tips: What is the compass for?
Classic sentence: He keeps shaking the compass, no matter how he shakes it, the magnetic needle always points in one direction—North.

Learn Proverbs: Curiosity is the best guide, it will lead you to find the true meaning of science.

Interest drives us to take the initiative to practice——

Children, when we encounter difficulties in study, we should actively solve them, ask teachers or discuss with classmates until we find the answer.If we don't solve the problem, we will become less and less interested, and eventually we will become less interested in learning.

§05 Edison hatching chickens

Scientist Edison invented many things such as electric lights and movies. He is the "King of Invention" in the United States.

When Edison was a child, he always asked: "What is this?" "Why is that?" He is a child who loves to use his brain.

When Edison was 5 years old, one day he saw his hen staying in the nest and would not come out, so he learned to crow to drive it away, but the hen tilted its head, blinked its eyes, and did not move.

what is going on?Edison picked up the hen and looked at it. There were a pile of eggs in the nest. Counting them, there were more than a dozen.Strange, did the hen lay so many eggs today?He jumped up and down and ran to ask his mother.

"Mom, the hen laid more than a dozen eggs today, what's going on?"

"The hen is not laying eggs, but is afraid that the eggs will catch cold." Mom held Edison in her arms and said, "Wouldn't you be much warmer if mom hugged you?"

Edison felt even more strange, and asked with staring eyes: "Mom, eggs are just like people, will they catch cold?"

The mother laughed and told Edison: "The hen is hatching the egg. The hen covers the egg with her body, and the egg is warmed. When the egg is warm, the chick's mouth, feet and feathers will grow inside. Then the chick grows up, pecks the eggshell, and emerges from the eggshell."

After hearing what his mother said, Edison immediately ran to the neighbor's house, made a nest with hay, and put many eggs in it. He imitated the appearance of a hen, squatting on the eggs and hatching them!He thought: a hen squatting on top of an egg will hatch a chick; I squatting on an egg will also hatch a chick.

Take the initiative to find the answer to the question. Even if the method is wrong, you will understand that this road will not work. On the contrary, you will become more and more interested in solving this problem, and you will become more and more fond of learning.

good way to learn
Reading tips: Edison squatted on the egg, can the chick hatch?

Classic sentence: When a hen squats on an egg, chicks will hatch; when I squat on an egg, chicks will also hatch.

Learning Proverbs: Interest drives us to practice, no matter whether the method of practice is right or wrong, it increases our interest in learning.

Only by insisting on what you love can you open up a piece of sky——

Children, a person should know what he likes, what he hopes to do, and what he must do; he must know his own ability and his own boundaries; he must know what he should stick to and what he should give up.We don't have to be a successful person, we just need to be a person who finds his own position, insists on doing what he loves, and then he is a successful person.

§06 Insist on doing what you like

When the famous cartoonist Cai Zhizhong was in the second grade of junior high school, he took the 250 yuan manuscript fee he earned from submitting cartoon manuscripts to Taipei to draw cartoons.He was only 15 years old that year.

Cai Zhizhong soon faced the problem of academic qualifications.When he was planning to apply for a job at Guangqi Society, which is famous for its foreign-made TV programs, he was dumbfounded when he saw the condition of "graduated from a relevant university" in the job advertisement.However, he still believed in his own strength, so he ignored the academic qualifications and took the exams he was applying for.As a result, he defeated the other 29 college graduates who applied for the recruitment and entered the Guangqi Club.

After that, Cai Zhizhong made a sudden rise in the comics industry, especially the "Zhuangzi Shuo" and "Lao Tzu Shuo" series were translated into various languages ​​and published all over the world. He also became one of the writers with the highest tax payment in Taiwan, and he himself is proud of it.So what is the reason that gave him the courage to step into this society where diplomas are paramount when he has not even finished junior high school?

Cai Zhizhong said: "The most important thing to be a man is to understand yourself. Some people are suitable to be the president, and some are suitable to sweep the floor. If the person who is suitable to sweep the floor takes being the president as his life goal, then he will only suffer all his life and suffer all kinds of setbacks. But I am not biased. Yi, is suitable to be a cartoonist." He knew he could draw since he was a child, so he started drawing at the age of 15, drawing as early as possible, drawing continuously, and finally drew his own piece of sky.

Cai Zhizhong's statement reminds people of Brazil's world football king "Black Pearl" Pele. He once said: "I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to be a musician."

How lucky it is to be able to fully recognize yourself!Don't think that only those geniuses know their abilities. There are many ordinary people around us. They do what they like, live freely and happily. Isn't this also a successful life?
good way to learn
Reading tips: Why can Cai Zhizhong become an excellent cartoonist?

Classic sentence: He knew that he could draw since he was a child, so he started to draw at the age of 15, drew as early as possible, kept drawing, and finally drew his own piece of sky.

Learn Proverbs: Knowing yourself and doing what you like is the greatest success.

Interest is the driving force of practice——

Children, let's not lose interest in learning because of failure.Failure is the mother of success. We must find a solution from failure, or dare to try new learning methods, so that we can always maintain a strong interest in learning.

§07 Franklin who catches lightning

One day in July 1752, in Philadelphia, North America, the sky was gloomy and dark clouds were billowing.From time to time, bluish-white lightning flashed in the sky, and there were bursts of dull thunder, and a terrible thunderstorm was coming.Franklin and his son William took the kite and the Leiden bottle (a rechargeable and discharging container) to a grass shed in the outskirts of the field to start their experiments.

This is no ordinary kite: it is made of silk, and a thin metal wire is tied to its tip as a "receiver" for attracting lightning; In this way, after the string is wetted by rain, it becomes a wire; the other end of the string is tied with a ribbon as an insulator (to be dry) to prevent the experimenter from getting an electric shock; a key is hung between the ribbon and the rope as a electrode.

Franklin and his son took advantage of the wind to fly the kite into the sky.The father and son hid under the eaves of the thatched hut, holding tightly the silk ribbon that was not wet by the rain, and watched the movement of the kite intently.Suddenly, a dazzling lightning flashed across the sky.Franklin found that the fibers on the kite leading rope stood up all of a sudden.This shows that the lightning has been transmitted through the kite and the lead rope. "It really is electricity!" Franklin exclaimed excitedly.

"Bring the Leighton jar," Franklin called to William.He hastily connected the key on the lead rope to the Leighton bottle.The electric spark flickers on the Leiden bottle, which means that the Leiden bottle is charged.Afterwards, Franklin did a series of experiments with the lightning collected in the Leiden bottle, which further confirmed that the lightning is exactly the same as ordinary electricity.Franklin's kite experiment completely shattered the saying that lightning is "God's fire" and "gas explosion", and made people truly understand the nature of thunder and lightning.Therefore, people say: "Franklin separated God from lightning."

Franklin's kite experiment was by no means done on impulse.Before that, he had done a lot of research, and after making various preparations, he took the risk and did a kite test.From the kite experiment, Franklin not only understood the nature of thunder and lightning, but also confirmed that lightning can "walk" down from the sky.

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Reading Tip: How did Franklin unlock the secret of Thunder?

Classic sentence: Before that, he did a lot of research, and he took the risk and did a kite test after making various preparations.

Learn the Proverbs: The courage to take risks and the never-fading interest are the necessary conditions for success.

Curiosity is essential to learning—

Children, as we grow older, we may cover our curious ears and close our curious eyes, so it is difficult for us to discover new things.Therefore, always maintaining a curiosity is the source of our progress.

§08 Follow in the footsteps of curiosity
Pascal was a famous French scientist and inventor. One day when he was 11 years old, he was playing outside the kitchen of a restaurant when he suddenly heard the sound of "jingling" coming from the kitchen.He felt very strange, so he followed the sound and walked into the kitchen.It turned out that it was the sound of the chef hitting the plate with a knife and fork.

In fact, this is a very common sound. I believe everyone has heard this sound, and no one will find it strange.But Pascal was different. He not only cared about the sound itself, but also had question marks in his mind: Why is there a sound?Why doesn't the sound stop immediately when the knife and fork leave the plate?Why is the sound of knocking on a plate different from the sound of knocking on a table?why……

Pascal, who was full of question marks, decided to knock on the plate himself, and unravel the mystery of sound through experiments.After several experiments, he found that the plate still made a sound after the knife and fork that hit the plate left the plate.But when he pressed the plate with his hand, the sound stopped immediately.It turned out that the sound came from the plate, and the key to the sound was not the beating of the knife and fork, but the vibration of the plate.In this way, 11-year-old Pascal discovered that vibration can produce sound.

Curiosity is an essential element for new discoveries. All new discoveries in the world are driven by curiosity. While satisfying their own curiosity, inventors have also changed the world.

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Reading Tip: Do you know any other stories about Pascal?

Classic sentence: All new discoveries in the world are the result of curiosity.

Learning Proverbs: Curiosity is one of the most enduring and surest ways of learning alive.

Learning requires concentration to be successful——

Children, besides studying, we have many interests.But our energy is limited, and learning can make us a useful person, so we have to give up some personal interests and focus on learning, only in this way can we get good grades.

§09 Su Buqing's reading story
Su Buqing is a famous mathematician in my country. He has made outstanding achievements in differential geometry research, and his research results have been cited by many scientists.

Su Buqing was born in a farming family, and his parents were farming, but Su Buqing showed a strong interest in reading. Seeing that his son loved books so much, his father gritted his teeth and sent him to a primary school in the county.

When he came to the county seat, Su Buqing felt fresh in everything. He played all day and put aside his homework. In the final exam, he got No. 1 from the bottom.In the second year, he transferred to a town center elementary school a little closer to his home.A teacher named Chen Yufeng in the class found that Su Buqing was very smart, but he just wanted to play and didn’t work hard, so he talked to him and enlightened him earnestly: "Your food and school money are all due to your parents' hard work." In exchange for hard work, who do you feel sorry for if you don’t study hard?” Teacher Chen’s words made Su Buqing feel ashamed, and he was determined to live up to the teacher’s expectations and be a person of accomplishment.From then on, Su Buqing studied hard.This year, his academic performance jumped to No.1.

In middle school, under the influence of a teacher who returned from studying in Japan, Su Buqing shifted his interest to mathematics.He reads, thinks, and solves problems with his heart, regardless of the scorching heat and winter, the frosty morning and the dawn of the moon.In order to prove the theorem that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles, he used 20 methods and wrote a paper, which was exhibited at a student work exhibition in Zhejiang Province.

Since then, Su Buqing has made greater strides in the pursuit of science.A mathematics paper he wrote in the third year of university was published in the Journal of the Japanese Academy of Sciences, which caused a great sensation in the school.Later, his 41 research papers on differential geometry were successively published in mathematics journals in Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy. The international mathematics community called him "the brilliant mathematical star rising from the eastern country".

In 1931, Su Buqing taught at Zhejiang University after returning to China.At that time, the domestic conditions were very poor. During the Anti-Japanese War, Zhejiang University kept moving to avoid the Japanese invaders, but no matter what the conditions were, Su Buqing never relaxed his research on mathematics.His research results have been successfully applied in my country's shipbuilding industry, aviation industry, automobile shape, and computer-aided design, and have made outstanding contributions to the prosperity of my country's scientific cause.

good way to learn
Reading tips: How should we choose between study and other interests?
Classic sentence: The food you eat and the money you spend on going to school are all paid for by your parents' hard work. If you don't study hard, who are you worthy of?

Learning Proverbs: Learning requires full dedication and full concentration.

Dreams spring from incredible interests—

Children, what we like, we will have what kind of dreams.Therefore, we must stick to our interests and develop them to the extreme. One day, the dreams born from interests will spread their wings and show the most beautiful posture.

§10 If a pencil had a dream

In March 1968, at the No. 3 Middle School in Sochi, southwest of the Soviet Union, Heim raised his hand high to signal the teacher to ask himself a question. He had just completed a funny invention: he wanted to use magnetism to levitate a frog in mid-air.

Mr. Sonowski asked him to stand up, and Haim made faces to the students around him, showing off his great achievement.He stood in the classroom, put a frog on the desk, and then raised a huge magnet high up. The frog was magically sucked up. Although it was only a few seconds, the students on the scene were extremely moved. surprise.

Haim's explanation made everyone suddenly understand: he stuffed a huge iron block into the frog's body.Mr. Sonowski expressed disgust at his prank and angrily scolded him loudly: "The frog is an animal that is beneficial to human beings. If you torture it like this, it will get angry."

Heim was punished after class, and many of his classmates scoffed at his invention, thinking he was just a complete clown.

Heim became interested in pencils again, especially the graphite in them.He thought, wouldn't it be a very interesting thing if solid graphite could be turned into liquid graphite one day in the future.So he scraped the graphite out, added various liquids, and it exploded.

After entering the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, he cooperated with his companions to separate graphene from graphite in pencils, because it is recognized as the thinnest, hardest, and fastest-conducting new material, and many scientists are working on it. researched this technique, but none of them succeeded in exfoliating graphene.

After ten years of hard work, they successfully separated graphene from the graphite of a pencil by using a tape and tearing method. The advent of this method shocked the whole world.

Due to their outstanding contributions, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The seemingly simple experimental process has yielded unexpected results.Sometimes, dream + hard work + self-confidence + opportunity may also become a successful symphony.

good way to learn
Reading Prompt: Do you have any weird interests?

Classic sentence: dream + hard work + self-confidence + opportunity, may also become a successful symphony.

Learning Proverbs: Prepare more for incredible dreams and study hard.

Cultivate your own careful observation ability——

Children, nature is full of endless mysteries, don't you want to find out?Then we have to start studying seriously from now on, because only by mastering scientific knowledge can we unlock the secrets of nature.

§11 Fabre who loves bugs
Fabre was born in a small village in the mountains of southern France.There is a small stream in front of the village, and there are mountains and trees outside the village. The environment is very beautiful.

Fabre had no literacy cards or books when he was a child, so he and his friends could only fight in the field, capture "captives", and play the game of occupying the mountain as king.They almost became a group of "wild" children covered in dirt.Little Fabre is a little different from other children. He is very interested and curious about what happens in nature.Whether it's fish in the water, birds in the air, or butterflies in the flowers...he always likes to ask himself a series of questions: "Do fish sleep?" "Do birds grow teeth?" "Why do butterflies do this?" Pretty?"... these questions, adults often can't answer.So he often pays attention to observing birds and insects, looking for answers by himself.

One night in late autumn, Fabre, who was sleeping next to his grandmother, suddenly heard a "chirp - chirp chirp" sound of insects from the grassy beach behind the house, the sound was clear and pleasant.Is it crickets?Much quieter than crickets.Is it tits?Chickadees don't sing continuously, let alone in the dark of night.

"Grandma, what is this called?" Fabre asked.Grandma replied in a daze: "Go to sleep, maybe...it's a wolf." Fabre didn't want to wake up grandma, but couldn't resist the temptation of insects, so he quietly put on his shoes, opened the door, and walked into the grass in the dark Go, want to see what happens.As a result, the weeds scratched his hand, and he couldn't find the bug.

When Fabre was seven years old, his family sent him to study in a primary school in a neighboring village.This is a very simple school with only one thatched hut and one teacher.The teacher is an animal lover and has raised pigs, chickens, sheep, pigeons, orioles, bees, and a cute little hedgehog.In addition to learning homework here, Fabre also learned a lot about small animals.

Little Fabre became more and more interested in animals, especially insects.One day, his father came back from the market and bought him a "wall chart of animals" and a collection of fables.There are many exquisite illustrations of animals and insects in the collection of fables. Fabre couldn't put it down, and he gradually fell in love with the study of insects.

Once, he found a group of ants carrying a dead fly on the side of the road.The ants seem to be engaged in a huge project nervously, some are pulling desperately, some are dispatching troops, some are transmitting information... What a busy labor scene!Fabre was attracted. He lay down on the side of the road, took out his magnifying glass, and observed the actions of the ants motionlessly.Sometimes in order to catch a bug, Fabre often panted and ran with the bug.At other times, he would rather trip himself than to damage the bug's legs or wings.

One winter, he was sick in bed.When he saw a few frozen insects, he put them into his arms.The insects woke up slowly, and Fabre was very happy.Fabre studies insects and has entered the realm of "ecstasy".

In 1858, after Fabre received his Ph.D., he has been engaged in the research of biology and insect behavior with outstanding achievements.

With the spirit of true love for scientific truth, Fabre explored the insect world and discovered a brand new world.

good way to learn
Reading tips: Have you ever noticed small animals in nature?

Classic sentence: Fabre was attracted. He lay down on the side of the road, took out his magnifying glass, and observed the actions of the ants motionless.

Learning Proverbs: For learning, we can start with interest, but not stop with interest.

(End of this chapter)