My mother only had one eye. I hated her, as she was such an embarrassment (难堪）for me. She ran a small shop at a market, selling anything for the money we needed.

    One day, my mom came to my school. I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day, my classmates shouted, “Your mom only has one eye!" and they taunted me. My face turned red.

I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world, so I said to her, “Mom, why don't you have the other eye? You make me a laughingstock.” She didn't say anything. Maybe it was because my mom hadn't punished me, so I didn't think that I had hurt her feelings very badly. I decided to study hard so that I could leave her for the rest of my life. I made it at last. Now I'm living happily as a successful man in another country.

Many years later, I received a letter, which said, “I think my life has been long enough now， but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to visit me once in a while? I'm sorry that I am an embarrassment for you. You see, when you were very young, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye, so I gave you mine. I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never angry with you for anything you did. I miss the time when you were still young around me. You mean the world to me. I love you.” I can't help crying with the letter in my hand.

    Most people enjoy seeing a film because of its wonderful pictures and fantastic sounds. However, many years ago there were no sounds in the films. So actors had to act by using their body language. Everybody knows Charlie Chaplin, a world-famous funny actor. People everywhere have laughed at Charlie Chaplin's films until tears run down their faces. From his very first appearance they know what will happen. His body language makes people love his films.

    Charlie Chaplin was born in 1889 in London. When he was a child, his family was very poor in 1910, he went to the USA. In 1914 he made his first film. In this film he created the character of a little man who always faced difficulties. When Chaplin was rich, he opened his film company in 1918. He died in 1977.

    The poor man that Charlie Chaplin played in films makes all kinds of stupid mistakes. He is always in trouble, but he never gives up. He dreams of becoming a great man. Even people who don't understand English can enjoy Chaplin's films, because they are mostly silent. It isn't what he says that makes people laugh. His comedy (喜剧) doesn't depend on words. It depends on little actions which mean the same thing to people all over the world. This is the secret of Chaplin's huge success.

    In the 1950s, a female swimming athlete set a goal for herself. She decided to swim across the English Channel before she retired. If she could make it, she would be the first person in the world who did it.

    On that day, she jumped into the sea without any hesitation and swam towards the opposite bank.

    In the journey, she faced heavy fog, heavy rain and heavy waves. Though she was very tired, she carried on swimming.

    But in the end, she gave up. And what she didn't know at the moment she gave up was that the opposite bank was only 1 mile away.

    Later people asked her about the reason. And she said," The reason why I gave up is that I could not see the destination which I was so close to. "

    Too many stories about success have been lecturing us about courage and persistence(坚持). But they never told us where to find courage and persistence.

    You can have courage only when you know where your goal is. You can manage to persist only when you know where your goal is, and prepare yourself well mentally(心理上).

    Courage and persistence never fall from the sky. They come from weighing between input and output.

    A life without goals is like a ship without a compass. It goes nowhere. There is no courage or persistence in a life without goals.

In a village near a desert lived a young and successful businessman; named James But he often felt unhappy because of the endless challenges he faced. 

One day, a wise old man came to the village with 100 camels. James went to see him and said, "I always have business worries, family troubles and health problems. Please tell me how to make them disappear." The old man smiled and said, "I'll give you an answer tomorrow morning. But first, can you do a small thing for me?" James agreed. The old man asked him to take care of the 100 camels for the night, making sure that they all sat down and rested before he could go to sleep. 

The next morning, the old man asked James how his night went. James said sadly, "I didn't sleep at all. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get all the camels to sit together. Even if I managed to get some camels to sit on one side, a few others would stand on the other side."

"That's true. As noticed last night, some camels sat down on their own, while others required some effort, and yet many camels did not sit even after lots of effort. If you had come back later, you would have seen that some of the camels, even though they didn't sit at first, finally sat down on their own," the old man said. 

James nodded. The old man continued, "Problems are just like camels—some problems get solved by themselves, some get solved when you put in some effort, and some do not get solved even after you have tried your best. Leave such problems to time. At the right time, these problems themselves will come to an end. "

James felt a sense of understanding. It completely changed the way he saw life's challenges.

根据短文内容回答第3—5小题。

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch （牧场）. He has let me use his 1 to raise money for youth at risk programs. 

The last time I was there he told me his story. When he was young, his family is too 2 to have a house to live in. As a 3 , he had a poor childhood. When he was in high school, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up. That night he wrote a seven- page paper describing his goal of 4 a horse ranch. He also drew a picture to show a 4000- square- foot house that would sit on a beautiful farm. The next day he 5 it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F. Roberts asked, "Why did I 6 an F?" His teacher said, "This is a （an）7 dream for a young boy like you. A horse ranch requires a lot of money. " Then the teacher added, "If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic （现实的） goal, I will reconsider your grade. "

The boy went home and thought about it for a （an）8 and hard time. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, "Look, son, you have to have your own mind on this. " Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no 9 at all. He told his teacher, "You could keep the F and I still keep my dream. "

Monty tells me this story because I am sitting in his 4000- square- foot house in the middle of my 200- acre horse ranch. He said a lot of kids' dream can be stolen. Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what happens. 10 he had enough courage not to give up his dream.