When he
(1) a little boy, Christopher Cockerell once watched his
mother turning the wheel of her sewing-machine with her hand.
"Wouldn't it work quicker if a machine
turned the wheel for you?"he asked.
"I suppose it would," said his
mother, without (2) him any
attention.
Christopher knew she always had a lot of
work,and he wanted (3) her. Up in his bedroom there was a toy
steam-engine which his father (4) him
as a gift. "I shall make better use of it," little Christopher said
to himself. So, when his mother (5) (not)her
sewing-machine, he fixed the toy steam-engine onto it. When the job
(6) , he was quite pleased,
(7) his mother would like it.
"Very clever,"his mother said,
when she saw it. Then she sat down and went on turning the wheel by hand.
"I (8) like this for too many years,"
she explained.
This taught Christopher Cockerell the
lesson that anyone who (9)to improve anything has to learn:
Many people (10) (not)new ideas.
