A man was walking through an elephant camp and found that the elephants weren’t kept in cages or held by chains （铁链）. All that was holding them back from escaping the camp was a _______ piece of rope—it was just tied to one of their legs.

As the man looked at the elephants, he couldn’t _______ it. Why didn’t the elephants just use their strength to _______ the rope and escape from the camp? They could’ve easily done so, but instead, they didn’t try at all.

Wanting to know the answer, he asked a _______ nearby why it was so.

“When they were very young and much _______ , we used the same size of rope to tie them, and at that age, the small piece of rope was _______ to hold them. As they grew up, they _______ believed that the rope could hold them and they couldn’t break away, _______ they never tried to break free,” the trainer answered.

The man was speechless. These animals could have broken free whenever they wanted, but it was just because over time, they had the belief that it just wasn’t possible.

How many of us _______ life like the elephants—holding on to the belief that we cannot do something simply because we failed once or some times before?

Failure is part of learning. If we have failed once or a few times, it doesn’t mean we can never ________. We should never give up trying when we experience failures in life.