兒子小學(xué)畢業(yè)了，雖然他比過(guò)去更加刻苦，但依然沒(méi)有趕上他的同桌，不過(guò)與過(guò)去相比，他的成績(jī)一直在提高。為了對(duì)兒子的進(jìn)步表示贊賞，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(wèn)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(xiàn)在這位做兒子的再也不擔(dān)心自己的名次了，也再?zèng)]有人追問(wèn)他小學(xué)時(shí)成績(jī)排第幾名，因?yàn)樗ツ暌匀５谝幻某煽?jī)考入了清華。寒假歸來(lái)時(shí)，母校請(qǐng)他給同學(xué)及家長(zhǎng)們做一個(gè)報(bào)告。其中他講了小時(shí)候的一段經(jīng)歷：“我和母親坐在沙灘上，她指著前面對(duì)我說(shuō)，你看那些在海邊爭(zhēng)食的鳥(niǎo)兒，當(dāng)海浪打來(lái)的時(shí)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(zhǎng)時(shí)間；然后，真正能飛躍大海橫過(guò)大洋的還是它們。”這個(gè)報(bào)告使得很多母親流下了眼淚，其中包括他自己的母親。