1973年，美国加利福尼亚州某小学某班级，一个调皮的小男孩托马斯在课间休息时逮了一只鸟儿握在手心里。他并非恶作剧，只是对鸟儿的啁啾声和生活习惯充满了兴趣。语言老师上课了，但小鸟的鸣叫突然响起，语言老师直皱眉，但他并没有责怪小托马斯，而是郑重地告诉大家：我想讲一下鸟儿的生活习性问题，鸟儿不喜欢被圈养着，它们喜欢自由飞翔，大自然才是它们的暖巢，下面，继续上课。小男孩托马斯受宠若惊，下课后将那只鸟儿放回了大自然。
In 1973, Thomas, a schoolboy in California of the U. S, caught a small bird during an interval between classes and mischievously hid it in the classroom. He didn't mean playing tricks. He was only interested in a bird's chirping and wanted to know its life and habits. The teacher was giving a language lesson when he heard the bird's chirping. He couldn't help frowning on it. However, he didn't blame the child. He only said in a solemn way that he would like to say a word about birds' habits. Birds like flying freely and hate being confined. It's in the nature that they find their warm nest. Then he went on with his lesson. Thomas felt he was flattered by the teacher's attention and immediately took action to send the bird back to the nature when the class was over.
同一时间，不同地点，中国某城市的某所学校，一名小男孩也将一只不知名的小鸟握在手心里，他也对它的叫声充满了兴趣。小鸟不知疲倦地在课堂上发出了怪声，惹得大家的目光锁定在他的身上，语文老师怒气冲冲，显然他觉得这妨碍了自己的课堂纪律与教学质量。他走过去，毫不客气地将小男孩拽了起来，将小鸟从他的手心里抢了过来，打开窗户放飞了小鸟。小男孩受了批评，他不得不抄写近一百遍的某首古诗。
Almost at the same time a small boy at a certain school of a certain city in China did the same thing as his American counterpart. He held the small bird in hand, very interested in its chirping, which greatly interfered with the class that was going on. The teacher giving a lesson of Chinese language and literature was enraged. He relentlessly dragged the boy up from his seat, robbed him of the bird and set it free through the window. He blamed the boy and ordered him to copy an ancient poem 100 times as a sort of punishment.
2010年，美国加利福尼亚州某大学的演讲台上，一位鸟类专家在生动地讲他小时候的故事：他说十分感谢当初老师的仁慈，没有扼杀他对鸟儿的憧憬和兴趣，兴趣是决定人初始开发的一个重要因素，我们需要沿着兴趣走而不是改变它。
In 2010 on the platform of a certain university in California an ornithologist was telling a story about his childhood. He said he was very grateful to his language teacher whose kindness helped him to keep up his interest in birds. Interest was an important factor to begin subsequent development. What we needed was to follow our interest, not to change it.
同样的时间，在中国某大学的讲台上，一位中文博士也在讲他小时候的故事，他说道：语文老师将自己引入了正途，他现在已经成为一位优秀的语文博士。
Meanwhile on the platform of a certain university in China a doctor specialized in Chinese language and literature made a speech about his childhood. He said it was his language teacher that prevented him from going astray. Thus he was able to pursue his studies that resulted in his becoming an excellent doctorate scholar of Chinese language and literature.
他们同样都是优秀的人才，只是有些遗憾罢了，传统意识与创新习惯的不同，改变了一个人甚至一个民族的兴趣和方向。童年有两只鸟，现实中有两种教育，世上有两种人。
Both of them were outstanding talents, though there might be something regretful. A traditional ideology is quite different from a habit of creating something new. This difference decides two little boys', even two nations' different interest and orientation. The different treatment of birds in their childhood points to two different education thoughts in the present time. That, in turn, creates two types of people in the world.