Last Friday night I was leaving Joe's art class and heading to Roscoe for dinner with friends. Instead of taking the highway, I1to drive down Roscoe's little main street. Roscoe s is a fairly 2town, though it does have a traditional main street. I3 that people there had already put up their holiday 4There were few cars in the street so I look ray time driving5and enjoying each light. Yes, it was the first week of November and6 not close to Thanksgiving Day, but they were still pretty.

    The next day, I walked into a kid's store to 7chiffon (雪纺绸) flowers for a hat I was knitting (编织). An employee came out of the back room8some beautiful holiday decorations. She saw me and9explained that she wasn't really decorating for Thanksgiving for fear that I would10her. There was just a weekend event that 11some holiday cheer, but afterward all the decorations would be taken down. Her12confirmed the fact that holiday decorations were clearly important13her. I knew she was just following the decorating14Put it up—take it down-put it up again.

    After a deep 15about the two events, 1 have decided that this year I'm just going to16what I see. It doesn't matter what holiday it is or if it's up or down at the “correct” time.17ifs pretty, ifs going to make me delighted. Sometimes, I think we make ourselves a little 18 trying to follow rules that are not really important, or trying to be 19 or not to stand out in the neighborhood. This year I'm going to see the holiday decorations wherever they are and whenever they are and just be20.

    Shayla Mitchell, 16, was diagnosed with the terminal stage of cancer. As a father, Mitchell always stayed home to care for her. He said the 1 1eft them financially worse off. Then a group called Growing Hope 2 in with $1,800 to help with his living costs.

    3, he wanted to pay them back. In his 4, he had once been a 5. So at age 40, Mitchell took up the 6 again, participating in two fights in Fairfax. Mitchell was 7 out in the first and second rounds, but he still 8 to raise $ 20,000 that he gave to Growing Hope. During this time, he 9 his daughter. “I fell into a dark bottom,” Mitchell said, and for six months, he did little but 10.

    One day, Mitchell 11 upon a Mark Twain quote- The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you 12 why. “After I read that quote, I was going to spend the rest of my life helping kids with 13 and their families,” he said.

    Mitchell thought of creating a foundation, though boxing did not seem 14any more for fund-raising, due to his age. Then he found that 15 could be a source to raise money. In the Corps Marathon, he cut a striking figure on the course. 16 by this success, he set his sights higher. He 17 each of the miles of the race to a different child with cancer, and he carried their 18 with him. Years after his daughter's death, Mitchell now 19 up in the morning knowing his 20.

    Jim and his brother lived on the 80th level. When they were coming home one day, to their 1 , the lifts were not working and they had to 2 the stairs.

    After reaching the 20th level, breathless and tired, they decided to 3  their bags and come back for them the next day. They climbed 4 . When they got to the 40th level, Jim's brother became 5 . However, they 6 to climb the flights of steps, arguing all the way to the 60th floor.

    They then 7 that they only had 20 levels more to climb and decided to stop arguing and continue climbing 8. They reached their home at long last. Each stood calmly before the door and waited for the other to 9 the door. And they realized that the 10 were in their bags which were left on the 20th floor.

    This story is a reflection (反映) of our life. When11 , many of us are asked to do as our parents and teachers expect. We 12  get to do the things that we really like and love. We are under too much pressure 13  by the age of 20, we get tired and decide to 14  this load (负担).

    Once 15 the pressure, we work to realize our dreams. But by the time we reach 40 years old, we find it16 to realize them and begin to lose patience and complain, and 17 them. Reaching 60, we realize that we have 18  cause for complaint any more, and we begin to walk the final stage with19.

    So follow your dreams and 20 for them carefully, never complain and lose your key, and your dreams will come true one day.

    "None of us get out of life alive, so be brave and be thankful for all the opportunities (机会)you have." Those were 1 words said by 18-year-old Jake Bailey, a cancer patient.

    Bailey was in the leading position of the Students' Union. The young man had planned to2 at his high school's end-of-year ceremony (典礼)on schedule. 3, just the week before, he received shocking 4. After several weeks of not feeling well, tests showed that he had a fast-growing form of cancer. Doctors said, without 5, he would only have weeks to live, so they didn't 6 him to take part in the event. But Bailey put on his school uniform along with his 7 face and left his hospital bed to give the inspiring speech to his 8. Without doubt, his surprise appearance 9 everyone at the ceremony. Sitting in the wheelchair, he began to 10 his ideas. He expressed that a strong-willed person would not easily 11, no matter how hard life was.

    At the speech, Bailey encouraged his schoolmates to 12 their time. "The future is truly in our hands. 13 about having impractical long-term dreams. Let's be 14to short-term goals," He15. "We don't know where we might end up, or when we will end up, so work with pride on what is 16 us."

    When the senior 17 his speech with the school's 18, "Altiora Peto," which means "I fight for higher things", the entire room burst into cheers.19, Bailey's message was heard loud and clear. Bailey then closed his eyes and 20 the words "Thank you".

    For many, just taking part in a single marathon is the achievement of a lifetime. But for Julie Weiss, it has become a1routine. She has run 12 marathons once a week-for the past year in memory of her dad who2just 35 days after he was3with pancreatic cancer(胰腺癌). When Julie Weiss lost her father in 2010, she was4to find the research for pancreatic cancer is so short of fund. "It made me feel5" she said, "I knew I had to do something."

    So this marathon queen, 6she calls herself, did what she did best; she went running. Having completed 25 marathons during the7two years, Julie now vowed(发誓) to run 12 marathons in 12 weeks in8of her father. After asking people to9money for each marathon, she10a website, marathon goddess, com, to collect money for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network(PANCAN), a nonprofit organization. Julie began her incredible11with a marathon is Rome and then entered a race every12in some city across North America.13leaving work at 5p.m.on Friday she would be ready to begin the next race, before she14home to California on Sunday. Julie finished her 1,362.4-mile journey in March 2013, 15more than $ 200,000 in the process for PANCAN.

    While running, she stuck to a strict training schedule. "My body's getting used to this. I'm changing my diet, becoming more healthy and learning to run more16" she said. When her muscles began to17, she kept her18in mind. "When you do what you love, for those you love, that is where the19happen. Together we can make a(n)20, and pave the way for a happy, healthy, cancer free life." she said.

No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own 1 .  

I learned this lesson from a(n) 2 many years ago. I took the head coaching job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football programme.  

 It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn't even practice to 3 the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment, we were defeated. I couldn't 4 I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to 5 that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were depending on me. I had to change my 6 about their ability and potential.  

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little 7 . Most importantly, I began to treat them like 8 . That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their vacations, we met every day and 9

passing and kicking the football.  

Six months after suffering our 10 on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to improve. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a

11 for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn't what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest

12 of my life! 

From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can 13 the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and 14 them. I helped them to see themselves15 , and they built themselves into winners.  

Winners are made, not born.