Hannibal was a general from Carthage, a city on the northern coast of Africa. He thought the ancient Romans and won great battles at a time when the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. His army was small, but it was made up of soldiers from many countries that didn't want to be ruled by the Romans.

Before Hannibal could fight the Romans always had thought would protect them from enemy armies. When winter came, the Romans did not think Hannibal could possibly cross the mountains. Hannibal surprised them. With some of his soldiers riding huge strong elephants—where no elephants had to walk slowly without resting through the mountain snow-storms and howling(怒号)winds. The enemies rolled rocks down to try to stop them. Even raging rivers couldn't stop them. Hannibal's soldiers built rafts(木排)strong enough to carry the elephants across. At last, half of them never reached the end of their journey. But the other half of the army and some of the elephants did finish the journey.

　      Perhaps the only test score that I remember is the 41. I was in high school. The test was the final for the class. It was a rather1test. I didn't know how2I had done but I knew there were things on3 that I didn't know.

         I remember 4 waiting for the result. When Mr. Bales5 my paper on my desk, I was 6.There in big 7 numbers, circled to draw attention, was my grade—41!I 8 my paper so that others couldn't see it. A 41 was not 9that you wanted your classmates to see. Finally, Mr. Bales stood behind the desk and10 the class. “The grades were not very good; 11of you passed，” he announced. “The highest grade in the class was a 41, so all of you failed.”

         A 41. That was me. Suddenly my dismal (阴沉的) face didn't look quite so bad. I had the highest grade. I felt a lot 12. As soon as I got home, my mother asked me, “How did you do on your test？” “I made a 41，” I said. My mother's 13  changed suddenly. “You failed.” “But I had the highest grade in the class！” I replied. “I don't 14what everyone else had. You failed. It doesn't matter if everyone else failed too; what matters is what you do，” my mother 15 answered.

         For years, I thought that was a harsh judgment. My mother was always that16. It didn't matter what the other kids did; it only mattered what I did and17 I did it excellently.

       We often don't understand the wisdom of good parents until we ourselves stand18 the parenting shoes. My mother's philosophy (人生态度) has  19me throughout life. The path of the crowd is wide but the path to pass the tests of life is20 and there are very few people on it.

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