I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn't like attention drawn to myself. And 1otherwise assigned（指定）a seat by the teacher, I always  2to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this 3after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy 4because I didn't have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the 5to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on my " 6for it", I wouldn't have decided to give it a try.

Getting up the courage to go to the tryouts was only the 7 of it! When I first started 8the practice sessions, I didn't even know the rules of the game, much 9what I was doing. Sometimes I'd get 10and take a shot at the wrong direction—which made me feel really stupid. 11, I wasn't the only one "new" at the game, so I decided to 12 on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn't 13"just yet".

I practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the 14and the "moves". Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive 15in me was winning over my lack of confidence. With time, I learned how to play and made friends in the 16 — friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much fun!

With my 17self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates. I have gone from " 18" in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, 19raising my hand— even when I sometimes wasn't and not 100 percent 20I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

    One fall, I took some time off and went to visit relatives by train. I was1out of school and had just begun working. On my return2, I noticed a couple — a serviceman and a3 — having a conversation.

    4, I realized they two weren't traveling5after all, but had just met on the train. The woman got off at Rochester, New York, leaving the soldier 6, I couldn't7 noticing his good looks out of the corner of my8.

    He asked if he could look at the train timetable I was holding, and then if he could sit9to me. He's a fast mover, I thought. I would 10watched out for this one.

    I invited him to11the too-large lunch, and we talked12to my stop in Oneida. We exchanged addresses and he said he would be in13.

    After a week, I still hadn't14him and thought he'd forgotten about me. Then, on Saturday, the phone rang and a 15voice asked if I would like to see a movie with him16evening. He'd come to Oneida, and we17seeing it at the cinema.

    We had several18dates during his army leave, and then he was sent overseas. For the next years, we wrote to each other and he 19me on other vacations. In 1957, we married.

    Before taking this trip of mine and all those years ago, I was warned never to speak to strangers on a train. I'm certainly 20 I didn't listen.

    I was wandering around to look for a cafe where I could sit and have something to drink on a cold day. When

    I saw one, I walked in, sat at a round table and asked for a coffee.

    While I was waiting for my 1 I realized that there were other people in the place2 I sensed loneliness. I saw their 3 but I couldn't feel their souls. That was because their souls 4 to the “Net”, instead of them.

    I stood up and walked 5 the tables. I asked a man a couple of times what his name was. “I'm Steve,” he 6 answered. “I can't talk with you I'm 7” he said.

    I was amazed to find he was 8online with somebody and, at the same time, he was 9 a computer game—Winner winner chicken dinner. I tried again to10 with him, but not a 11 came out of his mouth. I12 his shoulder, but there was no reaction. I was getting 13. I put my hand in front of the monitor, and he started to 14“Leave me alone!”

    I was 15 I wanted to look and see if all those people in the cafe were looking at me, so I 16 head, but there was nobody interested in what was happening. 17 was using the computers.

    At the moment, I 18 all of the people there were more interested in having the relationship with the computer, 19 Steve. I wouldn't want to imagine the future of the human beings if they 20 sharing their lives with machines instead of with people.

    While I was waiting to enter university, I saw in a newspaper a teaching job1at a school about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short of2and wanting to do something3I applied (申请),4as I did so, that without a degree and with no5of teaching my chances of getting the job were6.

    However, three days later, a letter arrived, calling me to Croydon for a meeting with the headmaster. It proved to be a7journey: a train to Croydon station, a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at8a quarter of a mile. As a result I arrived there, feeling too hot to be nervous. It was clearly the9himself that10the door. He was short and round.

    "The school," he said, "is made up of one11of twenty-four boys between seven and thirteen." I should have to teach all the subjects except art,12he taught himself. I should have to divide the class into13groups and teach them in turn at three different14 and I was15at the thought of teaching maths—a subject at which I wasn't very16at school. Worse perhaps was the idea of17to teach them on Saturday afternoon because most of my friends would be18themselves at that time.

    Before I had time to ask about my salary, he got up to his19 "Now" he said, you'd better meet my wife. She is the one who really20this school.

    One day, a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They waited anxiously at their desks for the test to begin. The professor1the question papers, with the text facing down as usual.2he handed them all out, he asked his students to3the page and begin. To everyone's surprise, there were no4, just a black dot (点）in the center of the page. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone's face, told them the following:

    "I want you to write what you5there."

    The students, thoroughly6,got started on the inexplicable (费解的）task At the end  of the class, the professor7all the answer papers and started reading each one of them aloud in front of all the students. All of them, with no8 ， described the black dot, trying to explain its position in the middle of the sheet, etc. After all had been9, the classroom was silent, the professor began to explain:

    "I'm not going to grade this. I10wanted to give you something to think about No one wrote about the11part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot, and the same happens in our12.We have a white paper to observe and13, but we always focus on the dark spots. Our life is a14given to us with love and care and we always15to celebrate: nature renewing itself every day, our friends around us, the job16our bread and butter and the miracles we see every day.17, we insist on focusing only on the dark spots: the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the18relationship with colleagues, the19with a friend, and etc.

    The dark spots are very20compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds.

    As she waited at the edge of the ice for her music to start, Peggy took a quick look at her father standing nearby with a group of parents and teachers. He smiled at her. Then she 1 out at the audience, 2 to see her mother. These two, Alvert and Doris Flemint, had 3 all the way from California more than 2,000 miles away, to see their 4 compete in this sports meet in Cleveland, Ohio.

    The music 5 and Peggy moved onto the ice, letting the music 6 her along into her turns, and she began skating with much 7 in herself. The cold fear she always had in the 8 seconds before skating onto the ice was9. She was feeling the movement of the 10 and letting it carry her. She skated easily, 11 did some jumps, a final turn and her performance was 12.

    The crowd loved it and cheered 13 she skated off the ice. “Nice job,” said one of the other 14. It was the remark that 15 came after a free-skating performance. But what should the 16 say? Standing beside her father, Peggy 17 for the scoring to be finished. On all sides were other young skaters, some waiting 18 alone, others with a parent. Shortly before 10 o'clock the results were 19. The new United States Women's Figure Skating Champion was Peggy Fleming of Passdena, 20.