Characters: Evan, Mrs. Bordoni, Mr. Cortez, Rita. Marco. Tom

Setting: An elementary school

Mrs. Bordoni: (Stands at the school gate) Good morning! You need to go straight to your classrooms, children. (A shy boy walks up, with a red face.) What is your name?

Evan: (Looking at the ground) My name is Evan.

Mrs. Bordoni: Welcome to Northside. I'm the principal(校长), Mrs. Bordoni.

Evan: (Looks surprised) Oh! Good morning.

Mrs. Bordoni: I know you are new to our school, but you will like it here. I will take you to your classroom.

Evan: I didn't want to move… and leave my friends.

Mrs. Bordoni: You will have friends here. You'll see.

Mrs. Bordoni: Here's your room, 106.

Mr. Cortez: Welcome to our class! I'm Mr. Cortez.

Evan: (The class looks at him. He speaks softly.) Hello.

Mr. Cortez: We are talking about a story we just read. Who can tell Evan what it was about?

Rita: This family moves to a new state. Their story is both funny and sad.

Evan: (Cheering up) Did they like the new place?

Marco: Not at first. But they made lots of new friends.

Mr. Cortez: What happened to make them change their minds?

Tom: The girl from next door said she needed help. When they got to her house, a sign said, “Welcome”.

Marco: It was a surprise party for them. The whole family was laughing.

Mr. Cortez: The neighbors made the family feel welcome.

Mrs. Bordoni: (Stands in the doorway) Evan, it's time for lunch. (They enter the lunchroom. A sign says, “Welcome Evan”.) It is hard to change schools and leave old friends. Now, we are your friends.

Evan: (Smiles) I can't believe you did this for me.

Most of us have experienced unforgettable moments in our lives. The moment that I will never forget happened when I was fifteen.

For the first fifteen years of my life, I was the only child in my family. I didn't have any siblings. Luckily, I had always had my parents, who loved and cared about me a lot. They helped solve any problems I met and they did everything for me. What I had never really thought about was that, someday, one of them would no longer be there for me.

One day, I found out that my mother was pregnant(怀孕的), and it was big news in my family. Everyone was excited and happy, especially me. I imagined that I would have a baby brother, and I thought about playing and having fun with him. One day after school, when I ran to the hospital, my brother had already been born. But my mother was still inside the operating room, while my father waited worriedly outside. After waiting for a long time, the doctor came out and told us that they had stopped the bleeding(流血). He told us not to worry and my mother would be fine.

Many thoughts flashed through my mind. I could only imagine that my life would be full of darkness, sadness and hopelessness. I would never again have the chance to enjoy the love of my mother. During these fifteen years, my mother was always around like my dearest friend, watching over me, no matter what happened. I could not imagine how I was possibly going to live without her.

Today, my brother is almost two years old. On the day of his birthday, I always remember

this unforgettable event in my life. I think I'm a really lucky person, with great parents and a lovely brother.

At thirteen, I was diagnosed (诊断)with a kind of attention problems. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.

In my first literature class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, "Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it. "

She glanced down at me through her glasses, "You are no different from your classmates, young man. "

I tried, but I didn't finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.

In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn't get much education. But Louis didn't give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots (点) ,which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.

Wasn't I the "blind" in my class, being made to learn like the "sighted" students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was no different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up?

I didn't expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day--with an "A"on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words: "See what you can do when you keep trying?"