下班回家，看到两个孩子激动地跟我讲他们抓了一只毛虫。费思找了个篮子，给做了个窝，两个小孩子还在大橡皮擦上挖了个洞，做了个“窝”，还找来草、树叶，甚至还有一个小草莓给它吃。我和腐败分子都很反感这个毛虫，都说这玩意有什么好玩的。两个小孩子都不理解，说为什么会反感毛毛虫，因为“它们好可爱啊”（It’s so cute）, 他们说。
我是反感毛虫的，因为小时我吃过毛虫不少苦头。有时候我人瘦瘦地爬上树，结果胖胖地下来了，都是被树叶上毛虫给害肿的。大人见我突然一身包，就称我为包公包大人。我有个小伙伴，三天不打，上房揭瓦那种，光着膀子爬树，结果下来的时候溜下来，那树干上正好有一个毛虫，在他肚皮的位置，所以他这么一滑，毛虫是壮烈牺牲了，可是他也没占什么便宜，他从下巴到肚皮，留了一道毛虫自杀爆炸的痕迹。
所以鉴于毛虫的危害，我不喜欢的原因可想而知。
那么为什么小孩子会喜欢呢，后来想想也觉得自然。我给他们看过一本书，叫The Hungry Catepillar(饥饿的毛虫)。这本书在儿童中很流行，好像还得过奖，书里说毛虫饿极了，吃草莓、馅饼，等等等等，后来长大了，变成了大蝴蝶了。这本书很浅显，是教孩子认各种食物、数字、颜色的名字，不过有这么一只毛虫从头到尾串着讲就是了。
还有，费思告诉我，她们班上老师养了一些毛虫给小孩观察，看毛虫怎么变化（他们老师还带了个孵化箱在班上孵出了20只小鸡）。老师有时候还把毛虫放在光胳膊上，让它往上爬啊爬（大家不妨设身处地想象一下，我已经起鸡皮疙瘩了）。她们还学了一首关于毛虫的歌曲，今天晚上我给录下来。关于毛虫变化的这个观察是很直观的教育，孩子们会看到环境的变化（如光线、食物）会如何改变一个生物。
所以可能是出于这些原因，搞到最后，两个小孩拿毛虫当宠物，两个大人不敢碰。在美国文化里，我想毛虫不是坏东西，它象征着蜕变，符合基督教“重生得救”的说法。
这个毛虫的问题上，肯定一开始，小孩子的时候都不怕，接着在某个时间，我们今天惧怕的大人是某个时间吃亏了，或是家长老是说：“这么脏的东西往家里带！”然后渐渐就敬而远之了。而美国这边的小孩没有这个教育，居然把它当成了玩偶，所以小孩从小就不怕。
人还在胚胎的时候，上帝就把一些独特，放在了各人的心里，但人不是机器，外界的因素会影响，会造成一些变化，而且这个影响非常重要，有时候后天会打败先天。所以三字经上说：人之初，性本善，性相近，习相远，苟不教，性乃迁。那么“性相近”到“性乃迁”这个过程是怎么发生的呢？我以前在一个中学的教室墙上贴的一段话很能说明问题，它是说：注意你的思想，因为它们会变成语言；注意你的语言，因为它们会变成行动；注意你的行动，因为它们会变成你的习惯；注意你的习惯，因为它们会变成你的性格；注意你的性格，因为它会变成你的命运。这个发生的过程，少不了各式各样外界的影响。
关于后天的培养，或学习，有很多说法，有人说是“由于经历，造成行为的永久改变”（a permanent change of behavior due to experience）. “由于思维的关联，造成行为的永久改变”（a permanent change of behavior due to mental associations）. “由于社会交往，造成行为的永久改变”（a permanent change of behavior due to social interactions）。多少年来，各个流派总是为这些问题争论，其实是没有必要的，这些定义都对。从上面的例子上可以看出，我们两代人对一个动物的不同态度，其实是和经历、思维关联和社会交往都有些关系的。各种因素一起上，才造成了我们最后“性乃迁”了。
但人的喜好和偏爱，有先天（nature），也有后天（nurture），恐怕二者的作用和影响看情况而定，比例不一。有的是三分天性、七分人工；有的是五分人工，五分天性；有的是七分天性，三分人工。有些东西，你经历也好、思维关联也好、社会交往也好，好像都没有用，要不怎么老和尚说女人是老虎，小和尚还说就喜欢这老虎呢？
还好没说女人是毛虫，不然小和尚还等她变蝴蝶呢。
译文:
One Worm and Two Generations
When I came home from work, I saw two children agitato told me that they had caught a caterpillar.Faith found a basket and dug a hole in a big eraser to made a nest for it.They also found some grass,leaves and even a small strawberry to feed it.Both I and badger dislike the caterpillar, we both said this dingus were not amused at all.Two children didn't understand, and asked why dislike caterpillar,it's so cute.
I dislike caterpillars, because I suffered greatly from them when I'm a child. Sometimes, I climbed up a tree sparely, and got down fattly. It's all got swollened by caterpillars on leaves. Adults called call me Breadberry when they saw vesication all over my body. I had a little companions, a kind of boy who always climbed up to uncover tiles if he wasn't beatened for three days. He climbed up the tree with bare arms. When he was slipping down the tree, there happened to be a caterpillar on tree trunk. Caterpillar died hard at the place of belly because of his such slip. However, he didn't take advantage from this. There remained a trace of caterpillar's suicide bombing from his chin to belly.
Therefore, in view of harm of caterpillar, it's obvious that why I dislike them.
Then why children are fond of caterpillars. It's natural after I think about it. I had them read a book named "The Hungry Caterpillar", whcih was very popular among children. It seemingly won a prize. It's said in the book that a caterpillar is hungry very much, it eats stawberry, pie and so on. It become a big butterfly afterwards. This book is very easy to understand. It aims to teach children to recognize all kinds of name for food, numbers, colors. There is a caterpillar going through this book .
Besides, Faith told me that her teacher kept some caterpillars for children to obverse, to see how caterpillars change (Her teacher also brought a incubator to class to hatch out 20 chickens). Sometimes, the teacher put caterpillar on her bare arm and had it crawl and crawl.(Everyone might think it as well. it already gave me goose bumps.) They also learned a song about caterpillar, I will record it tonight. As for observation of caterpillar change is a very intuitionistic education. Children can see how the environment(such as light and food) change an organism.
So maybe for these reasons that the two children treat caterpillar as pet at last. Adults don't dare to touch it. I think caterpillar is not a bad thing in American culture. It signifies spallation, which is in accordance with the saying of Christian"renascence and salvation".
On the issue of caterpillars,a person must feel fearless at the very start when he was a child. Then at a certain time, us adults who are fearful to caterpillars at present must get the worst of them at a certain time. Or parents always say: "such a dirty thing you bring to home." Afterwards, children gradually politely keep themselves away at arm's length. However, children in America don't receive this kind of education. Children here unexpectedly look on caterpillars as dolls, so they are fearless from childhood.
When a person is an embryon, God put some speciality in everyone's heart. However, human is not a machine, exoteric factors can affect them, which may make some changement. And this effect is very important, sometimes posteriority can overpower innateness. So as it says in three-character scripture: Man at their birth, are naturally good. Their natures are much the same, their habits become widely different. If foolishly there is no teaching, the nature will deteriorate. In that way, how happerns the process from " the natures are much the same" to "the natures will deteriorate"? One words I saw on classroom wall of Middle School before can well explain this issue. It says that, pay attention to your thoughts, because they will become language, they will change your nature. Pay attention to your nature, because it will change your destiny. This generant process can't do wiithout all kinds of exoteric influences.
There are many statements for postnatal cultivation or learning, Someone says that "a permanment change of behavior due to experience", "a permanent change of behavior due to mental associations", "a permanent change of behavior due to social interactions". All school of thoughts were always arguing about these issues for many years. Actually it's unnecessary. These definations are all right. From the above examples we can see that, different attitudes of us two generations towards an animal has some relationships with experience, mental associations and social ineractions. With many factors together, it results in our final " the nature will deteriorate".
But human fancy and preference has nature and nurture. Perhaps action and influence of both depends on how things go, whose proportion is different. Some is tripart inborn and seventh manpower. Some half inborn and half manpower.Some seventh inborn and tripart manpower. It seems won't work that somethings whether you experience, mental associations or social interactions. Otherwise, how on earth an old monk says that women are tigers, but little monk says he love this kind of tigeter?
It's just as well old monk doesn't say women are caterpillars, otherwise little monk will wait her to become a butterfly.