八（3）杨宗霖-If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable

The grown-ups'response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boaconstrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself insteadto geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six,I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had beendisheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One andmy Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, andit is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
So then I chose another profession, and learnedto pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and itis true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I candistinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledgeis valuable.