I used to be the shyest person in the world. I hid1 my elder sister whenever I had to speak to a stranger. When asked to speak in class, I could hardly 2, much less speak. Even among the few friends I had, my high, timid (怯怯的) voice earned me jokes —about being a girl.

    Then in the seventh grade, my sister suggested I 3 voice lessons. After considering it for a short time, I did. I began a series of vocal exercises.

After exercising a lot, I finally gained 4 in my voice.

    A few months later, I was asked to sing for some retired people, I thought I would do better than before 5 the voice lessons. I opened my mouth and —nothing. I couldn't remember the 6! My face turned hot. The kind pianist whispered a prompt (提示), and I remembered just enough to keep singing.

    Then the thought struck me: I've already embarrassed (尴尬) myself enough. There's really nothing else to 7. So in my second song, I just relaxed and felt the energy of the song lift me. And I did much better.

After that, I started singing to myself as 8 as I could in my own room. That's something I would never have done before. One classmate even said that I 9be in the school's talent show.

    I am not a shy person 10. Singing has made me more outgoing. Today, I can also stand in front of the whole class and give a big speech. I am proud of myself.

B

    My family is not very big. There are only three cats. I'm a white cat. My name is Snow White. My husband is a black cat. His name is Captain Black. We have a pretty（漂亮的）daughter. Her name is Lily. She is black and white. She's two years old. We live a happy life.

    Every day we work hard to catch mice（捉老鼠）. We help people live a happy life in this house.

    Larry and Jo Ann were an ordinary couple. Like any other couple, they made efforts to make ends meet (收支相抵) and do the right thing for their children. They often argued about what was wrong with their marriage and who was to blame (责备). They wanted to make changes.

    "You know, Jo Ann, I've got a magic chest (衣柜) of drawers. Every time I open them, they're full of clean clothes," Larry said. "I want to thank you for filling them all these years."

    Jo Ann stared at her husband and felt strange. This wasn't the first time Larry had done something strange recently, so Jo Ann forgot it quickly. But it happened again a few days later.

    "Jo Ann, that was a great dinner," Larry said one evening. "I appreciate all you have done in the past 15 years. You have cooked lots of delicious food for me and the kids. "

    Jo Ann was growing worried. "What's wrong with my husband?" she wondered.

    Day in and day out, Larry continued his praise.

    Over the weeks, Jo Ann grew more used to her husband's unusual behavior. Her step was now a little lighter and she didn't seem to get upset as often.

    Larry has never told Jo Ann the reason for his change in behavior. So it will likely remain one of life's mysteries. But it's one I'm thankful to live with.

    You see, I am Jo Ann.

    Little Peter is a boy of nine. He began to go to school when he was six, and now he is in Grade Three. He lives not far from the school, but he is often late for class. He likes watching TV in the evening and goes to bed late, so he can't get up on time in the morning.

    This term, Mrs. Black, Peter's aunt, teaches music in Peter's school. She is strict (严格的) with Peter and often tells the boy to obey the school rules and come to school on time. Yesterday morning, Peter got up late. When he hurried to school, it was a quarter past eight. His aunt was waiting for him at the school gate.

    "You are ten minutes late for the first class, Peter," Mrs. Black said angrily. "Why are you often late for class?" "Every time, when I get to the street corner, I always see a guidepost (路标). It says 'SCHOOL—GO SLOWLY'!".

    Now many boys wear the same(同样的)clothes as girls, and some of them have long hair. So sometimes it's difficult to tell whether(是否)they are boys or girls.

    One Sunday morning, I go for a walk with my grandfather in the park near my house. After a while, my grandfather is tired, so he sits down on a bench(长椅)near the pool.

    "Oh," my grandfather says to the person with long curly hair next to him on the bench. "Can you see the person with long hair on the other side of the pool? Is it a boy or a girl?"

    "Which one?" asks the person with long curly hair.

    "The one who is eating a hamburger near the pool," says my grandfather.

    "He's a boy," says the person, "he's my son, Li Yu."

    "Oh," my grandfather says, "I'm sorry. I don't know you are his mother. "

    "No, I'm not his mother. I'm his father. "

    Life is full of surprises and you never know how things will turn out.

    Sir John Gurdon is a good example of this. As a boy, he was told he was hopeless at science and was at bottom of his class. Now, aged 79, the very same Gurdon shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Japanese stem cell (干细胞) researcher Shinya Yamanaka.

    Like so many scientists, Gurdon shows us where the power of curiosity and perseverance(坚持) can lead.

    When he was 15 in 1948, Gurdon ranked last out of the 250 boys at his high school in biology and every other science subject. Gurdon's high school science teacher even said that his dream of becoming a scientist was "quite ridiculous".

    In spite of his teacher's criticisms(批评), Gurdon followed his curiosity and kept working hard. He went to the lab early and left later than anyone else. He experienced thousands of failures.

    "My own belief is that we will, in the end, understand everything about how cells actually work," Gurdon said.

    In 1962, Gurdon took a cell from an adult frog and moved its genetic (基因的) information into an egg cell. The egg cell then grew into a clone of the adult frog. This technique later helped to create the sheep Dolly in 1996，the first cloned mammal(哺乳动物) in the world.

    In 2006, Gurdon's work was developed by Yamanaka to show that a sample(样本) of a person's skin can be used to create stem cells. Using this technique, doctors can repair a patient's heart after a heart attack.

    "Luck favors the prepared mind," Gurdon told the Nobel Prize Organization. "Ninety percent of the time things don't work, but when they do, you have to seize(抓住) the chance."