I went hiking to a mountain with my friends last summer． It was a good trip at the beginning but something unexpected happened on the half way．

    One of my friends, Mike, suddenly felt a terrible pain in his stomach and he couldn't move any further． Nobody knew what to do． One girl tried to call her mum with her mobile phone but there was no signal in the mountain area． Luckily I brought medicine with me． After Mike took some, he felt much better． We walked on, and then we all enjoyed ourselves on the top of the mountain.

    If you lose 12 times, will you just give up? Dale Carnegie, a pioneer in public speaking and self-development, kept trying. And he became famous by showing people how to be successful.

    Carnegie was born in 1888 in the central United States. As a son of a farmer, the boy had to get up at 4 a.m. every day to milk the cows. When Carnegie first entered college, he felt hopeless because of his clothes and ordinary (普通的) looks. His mother encouraged him, "Why not try to be better in other things instead of just dress and good looks?"

    Carnegie tried to be more active in college. He joined the debate (辩论) team. But one after another, he lost 12 times. The young man was so disappointed in himself that he even thought of ending his own life for so many failures.

    But soon Carnegie was seen practicing public speaking on the riverside. His hard work brought good results at last. In 1906, Carnegie won a famous speech match and became widely famous.

    The young man made his own words come true: "Believe that you will succeed, and you will." In order to share his success, Carnegie started schools and wrote books. More than 50 million copies of his books have been printed in 38 languages. They are still helping people on the road to success.

Information Card

    Are you learning a foreign language? Do you know what a successful Language learner should do?

    First of all, successful language learners are independent(独立的) learners. They do not depend on books or teachers. They find out their own ways to learn the language. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, they try to find methods and rules for themselves. They also look for clues (线索)and get their own ideas by guessing(猜测). When they guess wrong, they try again. They try to learn from their mistakes. It is more important for them to learn to think than to know the meaning of every word.

    Successful language learning is active learning, so successful learners do not wait for a chance to use the language. They usually look for such a chance. They find native speakers and ask them for help when they make mistakes. They will try everything to communicate. They are not afraid to what they hear or to say strange things.

    Finally, successful language learners are learners with a purpose(目的).

    They want to learn the language because they are interested in native speakers' lives. It is necessary for them to learn the language in order to communicate with foreigners and learn about their lives. Their cultures and so on.