The one who first springs to①spring to 躍入（腦海）mind was my PhD supervisor, Ken Crowe. He had a reputation②reputation 英 [repj?'te??(?)n] 美 [,r?pju'te??n] n. 名聲，名譽；聲望for making grown men cry when they crewed on his racing sailboat, and other grad students were terrifi ed of him, but I was fascinated by the topic he was working on, so I joined his group.

He gave me an assignment: to figure out what was causing muons③muon 英 ['mju??n] 美 ['mj?,ɑn] n. [高能 ] μ 介子to get depolarized④depolarize 英 [di?'p??l?ra?z] 美 [di'pol?,ra?z] vt. 去偏光；去偏極in liquids.I knew it involved muonium formation⑤formation 英 [f??'me??(?)n] 美 [f?r'me??n] n. 形成；構造；編隊, so I went off to learn all about muonium. After a week or two I came to Ken's offi ce to tell him about it. He listened for a few minutes and then yelled at me, "You have no idea what you're talking about! Get out and don't come back until you do!"

So I went away and learned more, better, about muonium. I really got into it, and a week later I came back to tell Ken about it. Again he listened for a few minutes and then threw me out.

Now I was starting to get mad. I bored down on⑥bear down on 沖向；加壓力于……，對（某人）施加壓力；襲擊the problem until I understood it so well that to this day it is one of my most proud accomplishments.Then I went back to tell Ken what I had fi gured out. Again he interrupted me a few minutes into my presentation⑦presentation 英 [prez(?)n'te??(?)n] 美 [,priz?n'te??n] n. 展示；描述，陳述；介紹, at which point I said, "Shut up and listen!" Which he did. And when I finished he complimented⑧compliment英 ['k?mpl?m(?)nt] 美 [?kɑ?mpl?m?nt] n. 恭維；稱贊；問候；致意；道賀vt. 恭維；稱贊me on doing some very original research. From that day forward he supported and promoted me until we became great friends and respected colleagues.

So never complain about your "mean"teachers' high standards. They may spur⑨spur 英 [sp??] 美 [sp?] n. 鼓舞，刺激；馬刺；山坡vi. 騎馬疾馳；給予刺激vt. 激勵，鞭策you to accomplishments you will be proud of decades later.