At the age of 16, Einstein always hung out with a group of friends, playing all day. He was busy playing and didn’t study hard     1    . As a result, he did badly in his schoolwork.

One morning, when Einstein was holding a fishing rod (竿) and was ready to go fishing with his friends, his father stopped him and said     2    , “Einstein, you enjoy playing so much that you hardly pass your exam. I’m     3     about your future.”

“Why are you so upset? Jack and Robert couldn’t either, but don’t they still get to go fishing?”

“My boy, you can’t think     4     that,” his dad said. “There is a story that people tell in our hometown. Listen to it now.”

“There were two cats playing on a roof. One cat nearly got caught and     5     down into the chimney (烟囱) while holding the other cat. When the two cats climbed out of the chimney, one of the cats had soot (烟灰) on his face, while the other cat’s face was clean. Seeing the soot-faced cat, the clean cat thought its face must be     6    , so it quickly ran to the riverside and washed its face. The soot-faced cat saw the clean-faced cat and thought its face was also clean, so it just walked down the street.”

“Einstein, no one can be your ‘    7    ’. You have to think for yourself. If you always follow     8    , you will never learn.”

Hearing this, Einstein put down his fishing rod and returned to his room. He made a decision     9     his own future through hard work. After that, he spent     10     time on what his friends were doing and more time on schoolwork.