At the age of 16, Einstein was always busy playing with a group of mischievous (顽皮捣蛋的) kids. He failed his final exam.
One morning, when Einstein was about to go fishing with his friends, his father stopped him and said, "Einstein, you like playing all day so much that you failed your exam. I'm worried about your future."
"What are you worrying about? Jack and Robert also failed, but don't they still get to go fishing?"
"My boy, you can't think like that," his dad said. "There is a story that people tell in our hometown. Listen to it now."
"There were two cats playing on the top of a house. One cat fell down the chimney (烟囱) while holding the other cat. When the two cats climbed out of the chimney, one of the cats had soot (烟灰) on his face, but the other cat's face was clean. Seeing the soot faced cat, the clean cat thought its own face must be dirty, so it quickly ran to the riverside and washed its face. The soot-faced cat saw the clean-faced cat and thought its own face was also clean, so it just went down the street happily."
"Einstein, no one can be your 'mirror (镜子)'. You have to think for yourself. If you just follow others, you will never learn."
Hearingthis, Einstein walked back to his room. He decided to study instead of caring about what his friends were doing. This allowed him to be successful.
