我以后读英诗人Cowper的传记时之特别同情他，即是因为我自己深切体验到一个幼小的心灵在离开父母出外读书时的那种滋味──说是＂第二次断奶＂实在不为过。第一次断奶，固然苦痛，但那是在孩提时代，尚不懂事，没有人能回忆自己断奶时的懊恼，第二次断奶就不然了，从父母身边把自己扯开，在心里需要一点力气，而且少不了一阵心酸。

I have a vivid memory of what happened， and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. "Jeff， you're so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates， figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division." That's not what happened. Instead， my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying， my grandfather， who had been driving in silence， pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. Was I in trouble？ My grandfather was a highly intelligent， quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me， and maybe this was to be the first time？ Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother. I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be. We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me， and after a bit of silence， he gently and calmly said， "Jeff， one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever."

我清晰地记得接下来发生了什么，而那是我意料之外的。我本期待着小聪明和算术技巧能赢得掌声，但那并没有发生。相反，我的祖母哭泣起来。我的祖父之前一直在默默开车，把车停在了路边，走下车来，打开了我的车门，等着我跟他下车。我惹麻烦了吗？我的祖父是一个智慧而安静的人。他从来没有对我说过严厉的话，难道这会是第一次？还是他会让我回到车上跟祖母道歉？我以前从未遇到过这种状况，因而也无从知晓会有什么后果发生。我们在房车旁停下来。祖父注视着我，沉默片刻，然后轻轻地、平静地说："杰夫，有一天你会明白，善良比聪明更难。"