For long, a little boy was wondering why his next-desk-pal could rank 1st in the class whenever he wanted to, whereas he himself failed to: he only ranked 21st.

有个孩子对一个问题一直想不通：为什么他的同桌想考第一一下子就考了第一，而自己想考第一却只考了全班第二十一名？

At home, he asked his Mom, “Mom, am I more stupid than others? I feel I am as obedient and as careful as him, but how come I always lag behind? "Hearing the words, Mom was aware that her son began to gain amour-propre, which was now being undermined by the ranking system. Staring at him, she went wordless, not knowing how to explain.

回家后他问道：“妈妈我是不是比别人笨？我觉得我和他一样听老师的话，一样认真地做作业，可是，为什么我总比他落后？”妈妈听了儿子的话，感觉到儿子开始有自尊心了，而这种自尊心正在被学校的排名伤害着。她望着儿子，没有回答，因为她也不知道怎样回答。

In another test, the son ranked 17th, while his pal remained 1st. Back home, he raised the same question. Mom really wanted to inform her son that intelligence differs, which means that students ranking 1st are supposed to be cleverer than normal ones. However, was this disillusioning answer the one that her son was constantly curious about? Thank goodness she did not open her mouth.

又一次考试后，孩子考了第十七名，而他的同桌还是第一名。回家后，儿子又问了同样的问题。她真想说，人的智力确实有三六九等，考第一的人，脑子就是比一般的人灵。然而这样的回答，难道是孩子真想知道的答案吗？她庆幸自己没说出口。

How to answer her son’s question? There were times she felt an impulse to equivocate, “You are too lazy. You are not as industrious as others…” but she stopped when envisioning her son suffering from the pains of unsatisfied grades and rankings. She thought it cruel to inflict any additional burden on his son and was trying to find out a perfect answer.

应该怎样回答儿子的问题呢？有几次，她真想重复那几句被上万个父母重复了上万次的话——你太贪玩了；你在学习上还不够勤奋;和别人比起来还不够努力……这样来搪塞儿子。然而，像她儿子这样脑袋不够聪明，在班上成绩不甚突出的孩子，平时活得还不够辛苦吗？所以她没有那么做，她想为儿子的问题找到一个完美的答案。