Michael Jordon is the greatest basketball player so far. Once he was making a television advertisement. All Michael needed to do in the advertisement was to miss a shot. For Michael, this was difficult. He always succeeded whenever he was throwing the ball. Every time he threw a basketball, it went in. Every time he tried to miss a shot, he failed. In total, it took him over 20 times before he missed a shot.

For Michael, success is a strong habit. He had formed a habit which was so strong that it took him a lot of time to break it and “fail”. Just like drinking, smoking and collecting things, success is also a habit. Like all habits, once it is established, it is difficult to break. Many people think that success is difficult to maintain（维持）. They feel that it will be hard work and will need too much action and focus. The truth is that it is simply a habit, and as easy to keep as any other habit.

Spend some time making success a habit in your life. Once you have developed it, it is not something you will want to change again. Then, the only thing you will fail is failing.

    You might think that Olympic athletes are the healthiest people in the world. It's true that many are. However, it's also true that many Olympic athletes had to overcome (克服) illness early in their lives.

    One excellent example is Wilma Rudolph. She competed in track-and-field (田径) events in the 1960s Olympics. She didn't win just one gold medal (奖章).She won three. At the time, people called her ”the fastest woman in the world”.

    Actually, as a young child, Wilma could not take part in sports. She had serious illnesses, and then, at the age of 4, she got polio (小儿麻痹症).She lost the function of her left leg, and the doctor said she could never walk again.

Wilma's family did everything they could to help her walk again. Wilma and her mother used to travel 100 miles to get treatments for her leg. Her brothers and sisters took turns to give her leg a daily massage (按摩).Four times a day, they helped her do special exercises for her leg. Amazingly, by the time Wilma was 9 years old, she was able to walk again. Before long, she started playing basketball and running. In high school, she was a track star and then she went to the Olympics.

    Wilma stopped being a runner when she was 22 years old. She then became a teacher and a track coach. Her story encouraged many people to work hard and to overcome difficulties.

B

    An old man went to live with his son, his daughter-in-law, and a four-year-old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was very poor, and he couldn't walk steadily(平稳地). The family ate together nightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and

    failing sight made eating rather difficult. Rice often dropped on the floor.

    The son and the daughter-in-law became angry with the old man, so they put a small table in the corner. There, the grandfather ate alone, while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the table. Since the grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.

    The four-year-old son watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with a piece of wood on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" The boy answered, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up." The four-year-old son smiled and went back to work. The words struck the parents so that they were in silence. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks(脍颊). Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

    I was born in a poor family, so I started working early. At the age of thirteen, I got my first job: working on a farm. I got up at 5:00 am and worked for 8 hours. After finishing a day's work, I was paid ＄2.4. Even though it was only a little money, this did not make me upset. I believed that I could make more money in the future.

    During High School, I was interested in sports. By playing different kinds of sports, I stayed healthy and have a strong body. And that was helpful for me to do more jobs.

    When I was 17, I had my first dream－buying myself a car. At that time, I was doing a part –time job at a car store .Sending things to gas station (加油站)every weekend. Later, I did a another part–time job after school on weekdays. And at the same time, I tried to save money.

    Finally, I bought my first car. When I was given the car key that day. I felt my dream was achieved and I was so proud. I was the only student in the school that had a car.

    Everyone wants to get the nice things in life, but are you willing to work for it? Just remember that in order to achieve your dream, you have to be positive and work hard?

    Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous scientists in this century. He was born in 1942. He's a world well-known on space and time. Stephen is researching some very big questions, such as: How did the universe begin? How will it end?

Stephen was a student at Oxford University. He studied math and science. Then, at the age of twenty, he became sick. He was so young, but the doctors said to his family, “He has only two more years to live.” As a matter of fact, the doctors were wrong—- he didn't die. He can't walk now but he uses a wheelchair(轮椅). He can't feed himself and get in or out of bed himself. But he refused to give in to the condition. He talks with the help of a computer. After Oxford, Stephen went to Cambridge University. Three years later, in 1965, he became a doctor of philosophy(哲学).

    Because of his serious health problems, it was difficult for him to draw diagrams(图表)or to write. So he started to think in pictures. With this new way of thinking, he became one of the most famous scientists in the world. In 1991, he met the Pope(教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1998, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages. He was once invited to China, he impressed us with his self-confidence, humorous and witty(风趣的) conversation.

    A few years ago national attention was fixed on a deep, dark cave in the mountains near where I live now. A team had entered the cave to do some research. Although every precaution had been taken to make it safe, one young man was separated from the team and lost in the depths of the cave.

    For several days a rescue team worked around the clock, searching almost everywhere in the underground cave. With each passing hour chance of finding the young man inside the cave became smaller, and people had a lot of guesses. Perhaps he had simply run away. Or maybe he had stumbled out some other entrance and was now lost in the mountains. Or perhaps he was already... well, nobody wanted to say it. But everybody thought it. Everybody, that is, except the young man's parents.

    "That wasn't a choice in our opinion," the young man's mother said." Finally we would find him—safe and alive. We were certain of that."

    There was little reason to those who were familiar with the cave said it had been completely searched-several times. Common sense suggested that time was running out and that other choices needed to be considered—like when to say "enough".

    But like Kris Kringle says in his famous book A Miracle on 34th Street, "Faith is believing in something even when common sense tells you not to do." And the young man's parents had faith. They wouldn't give up, and they wouldn't let anyone else give up, either. And sure enough, the young man was found—hungry, thirst and afraid, but healthy.

    How did the young man manage to stay a live in the cave?

    "I've never stopped believing that someone would find me," said the young man.