There were two men who lived next to each other. One of them was a retired teacher and the other was a lawyer. Both of them had planted many different plants in their gardens. The retired teacher hardly watered his plants and didn't care much for them. But his neighbor was very careful with his plants and watered them often.
The retired teacher's plants were small, but still looked okay, while the lawyer's plants were much bigger and greener. One night, there was a heavy rain and strong wind, then came a terrible storm. The next morning, both of the neighbors came out to check on their gardens. The lawyer saw that his plants had been ripped from (拽出) the ground and were totally destroyed(摧毁). But the retired teacher's plants were not damaged at all but stood firm(坚定的).
The lawyer was surprised. He went to ask the retired teacher."We both grew the same plants and I cared for my plants better than you did. How could your plants still be okay?" The retired teacher smiled and said, "Because you gave your plants too much care. You made it too easy for them to grow. I gave my plants just a little bit of water, so their roots(根) had to grow deeper to absorb(吸收) more water. That is why my plants survived(幸存)."
