A group of frogs was traveling through the woods and two of them fell into a deep pit. Immediately, all the other frogs in the group gathered around the pit and watched as the imprisoned¹ frogs tried to jump out. The frogs on top could see that the pit was very deep and it looked as if there was no way out, so they started yelling at the two frogs in the pit to give up. "The pit is too deep. You're as good as（实际上等于） dead," the chorus of frogs said. When the trapped frogs kept trying, the crowd yelled louder, "Give up. You're as good as dead." After a while, one of the exhausted² frogs took heed³ to what the others were saying, and fell down and died.

 

But amazingly, the second frog kept jumping as hard as she could despite the negative remarks of those that kept yelling at her to accept the inevitable⁴ and just die. Finally, with one valiant⁵ leap, she made it out of the pit! 

 

This amazing result occurred because the second frog was deaf and unable to hear what the others had been saying. She thought they had been cheering her on the entire time they were yelling! What she had mistakenly perceived as encouragement inspired her to try harder and succeed against all odds⁶. And that made all the difference! 

 

With a positive mindset（心态，倾向）, and being deaf to others' opinions, the second frog made use of such negativity to overcome obstacles and reach her goals by using it as encouragement, instead of being influenced by others like the first frog, who failed to develop her potential to strive for survival. Thus, when we surmount⁷ others' criticism, ridicule⁸ or cynical⁹ comments, we can do anything we set our minds to, just as the second frog did. But, if we are not deaf like this frog, who could not be influenced by others due to a physical condition, we need the Wisdom to guide us to the proper way, so as not to be blindly guided by worldly opinion.

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