The Sixth Sense When you were a child, did you ever wonder how your mother knew when you were writing on the wall with crayons (蜡笔) , even though she couldn't possibly see or hear you? ... Or why she always came outside and called you just as you headed for forbidden territory? How did she know? If you asked her, she probably told you that it was her 'mother's intuition'. That never really explained anything, but it gave you something to think about. Just exactly what is a mother's intuition? Unfortunately, not even mothers who profess to having it can explain exactly what it is. Some would say it was a 'sixth sense' or a funny feeling that prompted them to check on their children' s whereabouts and activities. Others have claimed to hear a voice inside their heads that called their children' s names or had a 'flash vision' of what their children were doing. In any event, almost every mother seems to have it and will swear by its reliability. A typical example of this ability is the case of a woman who claims that her intuition prevented each of her five children from serious mishaps. Once she awoke in the middle of the night and felt the need to check on her son Paul, who was three years old at the time. He wash' t in his bed, so she raced down the stairs to find him. She found him outside, sleepwalking, headed straight toward a flight of concrete steps. Then again, there was a time when one of her daughters fell off a horse and broke her arm. The child neither cried nor yelled for help. But the mother, sensing that something was wrong, came out of the house and found her in a field just minutes after the accident. How did she know? 'Just a feeling,' she said, 'that something was wrong.' The concept that people are capable of having a sixth sense is not a new one. Numerous studies of ESP (extra sensory perception) have been under way for decades. What they have revealed only supports the theory that people axe capable of having and using another sense beyond sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. But no single group of people seems to have this ability as consistently as mothers do? Why is this? Some theorize that the close and intimate relationship that mother and child have for the first years of a child' s life sets up an empathy (感情移入) that no other relationship could possibly duplicate. In other words, a mother 'tunes in' to the thoughts and behavior. of her child more than any other person could. Therefore, even though she may be preoccupied with household chores or social activities, a part of her is constantly alert for her child' s safety. Not an unreasonable theory--since most of us axe the product of our mothers' devotion. But how does this explain why a mother will know that her child is in danger, even though the child itself may not be aware of it? This is the question which has kept mother's intuition a mystery. Something beyond that which we can logically explain somehow seems to warn a mother when her child approaches danger. An interesting illustration of this sixth sense involves the famous escape artist, Houdini. As the story goes, Houdini was planning to perform. an escape from a steel trunk wrapped in chains and dropped into a frozen river. Because the river was so cold, he' d only have a few minutes to escape in order to survive. They wrapped Houdini in a straight jacket, locked him into the trunk, secured the chains, and then dropped him into the river through a hole cut into the ice. Minutes passed and Houdini did not appear. When enough time had passed to make it apparent that Houdini' s escape had failed, the grief-stricken party left the scene and reported that Houdini had died. One friend remained at the hole in the ice, not yet convinced that Houdini had drowned. To his utter amazement, Houdini did indeed surface at the spot. When the half-frozen artist had recover