Benjamin once said, "I don't divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures. I divide the world into the learners and non-learners."
What would make someone a non-learner? Everyone is born with an intense drive to learn. Babies practise their skills daily, even the most difficult tasks of a lifetime, like learning to walk and talk. They never think it's too hard. Babies don't worry about making mistakes. They walk, they fall and they get up. They just move forward.
What could put an end to this kind of learning? The fixed mindset(固定思维模式). As soon as children become able to evaluate(评估) themselves, some of them become afraid of hard tasks. They become afraid of not being smart. I have studied thousands of students, and you can't believe how many people refuse a chance to learn.
We offered four-year-olds a choice. They could redo an easy task or try a harder one. Even at this age, children with the fixed mindset stuck with the safe one. Children with the growth mindset—the ones who believed you could get smarter by learning—thought it was a strange choice. Why are you asking me this? Why would anyone want to keep doing the same task over and over? "I'm dying to solve them!" one little girl said.
So children with the fixed mindset want to make sure they are successful. Smart people should always be successful. But for children with the growth mindset, success is about practising themselves. It's about learning to become smarter.
One seventh-grade girl made a conclusion, "I think being smart is something you have to work for. It isn't just given to you. Most kids, if they're not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand to answer the question. But what I usually do is to raise my hand, because if I'm wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Just by doing that I'm improving my ability."
任务一 选择正确答案
1. Which of the following is a fixed mindset according to the passage?
A. Being happy with his own growth.
B. Working hard and being thirsty to learn.
C. Avoiding showing how smart he is.
D. Being afraid of facing different failures.
2. What does the girl mean by saying "I'm dying to solve them!"?
A. She can't wait to give herself a task to practise.
B. She thinks a healthy body can help learn better.
C. She believes it's painful to solve the problems.
D. She doesn't find it difficult to finish these tasks.
3. What's the main idea of the passage?
A. Be a good learner in babyhood.
B. Stay active when facing difficulties.
C. Show the importance of success.
D. Make decisions and choices carefully.
任务二 回答问题
1. How does Benjamin divide the world?

2. Why do children with the growth mindset choose hard tasks?

3. What can you learn from the growth mindset in your study?（请自拟一句话作答）