A Person Who Has Influenced My Life

    There is always a time in one's life when a hero comes along. Someone who has inspired you can really help you learn what life is about.

    I 1 it as if it was yesterday. I was fifteen years old that year. It was around eight o'clock one evening when my mother 2 a phone call from her brother-in-law, who told us my aunt was in hospital and that the doctor 3 them she would need an operation immediately. My family became very 4about my aunt's situation.

    While my aunt was in the hospital with special 5 , my cousin Mark, who is mentally disabled, spent time with my family. Mark was seventeen at the time, and had been born with severe mental disorders, which 6 a wide range of social and physical problems for him throughout everyday life. He never had any true friend 7 no one could relate to him. I must 8 that at the beginning I was filled with uncertainty as to how much of a 9 my cousin would bring on my family. Now looking back it saddens me to see the 10 I once showed.

    Over the two weeks when Mark lived with my family, I probably 11 more about life and its meanings. Thinking back, I took 12 in daily life for granted, believing it would always be there. I never even thought about being able to do things like walking, brushing my teeth, or going to the bathroom on my own. Now I see how 13 I am to be able to do these things independently.

    Mark was seventeen, but learned on a nine-year-old 14. Although his learning ability was slower than most, he could still learn. He explored 15 to do most of the things everyone else did. 16 he did pretty well and succeeded in almost everything he tried to do. He 17 his illness and showed an ambition to love life. To him, having a successful life means achieving goals on his own terms and at his own 18.

    Mark is my hero, for his disability has forever 19 my viewpoint on life. It seems like a well-deserved life when you're fifteen, and it is amazing how in a period of time your point of view can change so 20 .

    At a battle, we walked slowly through the wet grass, our eyes searching for the enemy. 1, machine gun fire broke the 2. We hit the ground,3from the shots by a low stone wall a few feet ahead.

    My radioman called the commander to  4as I ordered two soldiers to help me locate and knock out the 5. While I crouched( 屈 膝 ) on one knee to talk to my guys, I heard an explosion — and then I was on my6.

    ＂Jack! Jack! You've been  7!＂ the radioman shouted.

    Two rescuers tied me to a stretcher (担架). In an aid station, a doctor put a bandage (绷带) over my8 knee. Some time later came a nurse's shout, ＂Wake up, Jack! You've got to get on a9— you're flying to a hospital in England!＂

    I became  10 . All my possessions lay in a11pile of equipment. I could12everything after the war except the photo of my new bride, Ellen, which I13carried with me.

    ＂I'm not going until I14my wife's picture again, ＂ I said. ＂It's in the gas mask cover you15 from me.＂

    I knew the nurse could 16me go, but instead she said, ＂OK, I'll see if I can find it,＂ then17out to search through the piles. Finally she came running 18back. ＂I've  got it!＂ she shouted,  waving  the picture in her hand.

    How she found it I'll never 19, but I'm glad she did. That photograph comforted me through20 times. Now, 69 years later, it sits on my bedside table.

    A gentle breeze blew through Jennifer's hair.The golden red sun was1.She was on the beach,looking up at the fiery（火似的）ball.She was2by its color,deep red in the middle,softly fading into yellow.She could hear nothing but the3and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.

    The atmosphere4her.After all she had been through,this was what she needed.“It's getting5,”she thought, “I must go home.My6will be wondering where I am.”She wondered how they would7,when she got home after the three days she was8.She kept on walking,9herself to the bungalow where she spent every summer holiday.The road was deserted.She walked slowly and10.Just in a few hundred meters she would be safe in her house.

    It was really getting dark now.The sun had set a few minutes before and it was getting cold,too.She11she had her favorite sweater on—it kept her really warm.She imagined having it12her.This thought disappeared when she finally saw her front door.It seemed13.The outside garden seemed14.She was shocked: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy.

    She entered the house.First,she went into the kitchen where she saw a15written by her father.It said, “Ellen, there is some coffee16.

    I went looking.”Ellen was her mother but—where was she? She entered her parent's home.Then she saw her. Her mother,lying on the bed,17.Jennifer would have wanted to wake her up but she looked too tired.So Jennifer just fell asleep beside her.When Jennifer woke up,something was different.She was in her cozy18in her pajamas（睡衣）.

    It felt so good being back home.19she heard a voice,“Are you feeling better now?You know you got us very, very20.”

    Having been walking in the snow for 2 hours, Little Buddy was really tired and frustrated. The way home seemed 1 each step a struggle. For all every little distance that Buddy gained, he seemed to fall back even further, pushed by the rising wind and his own 2. When Buddy had to go uphill, he looked with 3 at the long distance remaining and thought he wasn't going to make it. His legs had been 4 through almost-waist-high snow for hours, and all the wanted to do was to 5 this terrible journey and close his eyes.

    Suddenly, there was someone 6 him. A large man was looking down at Buddy, smiling at him.7Buddy should have heard the sound of the man's boots crunching（使……发出嘎吱嘎吱声）the snow 8 he'd walked up from behind. But, there hadn't been a 9.

    Buddy 10 the stranger. Who was he? There was a scarf hiding most of his face, but 11 Buddy felt no fear of him. The man said nothing. He 12 picked Buddy up, lifted him over his head, set Buddy on his 13 and began to walk.

    As they 14the house where Buddy lived, the stranger 15 and looked Buddy in the eye. Buddy 16and the man silently lowered his head and helped Buddy 17 of his shoulders. Buddy was so happy that he immediately knocked at the door. When Buddy 18 the man and wanted to thank him, he had already 19. Buddy could only see footprints in the snow and a dim（模糊的）20 of his back.

    Susan, a classical dancer from India, had to have her right leg cut after a car accident. She was also 1on her career（事业）road.

    Though the accident brought her bright career to a 2 , she didn't give up. In the  3 months that followed, Susan met a doctor who developed an artificial (人造的)4made from rubber filled with sponge (海绵). So5she wanted to go back to 6after she had been fitted with an artificial leg. Susan knew that she believed in  7and could realize her dream, 8she began her courageous journey back to the world of dancing — 9to balance, bend, stretch, walk, turn, twist and twirl.

    After every public performance (表演), she 10ask her dad about her performance. “You 11have a long way to go” was the answer she used to get12. In January 1984, Susan made an important13by giving a public performance in Bombay. She performed so greatly that it14everyone to tears and this15pushed her to the number one position again. That evening when she asked her dad the16question, he didn't say anything. He just touched her feet as a praise.

    Susan's comeback was 17moving that a film producer18to make the story into a hit film. When someone asked Susan how she had19to dance again, she said quite simply, “YOU DON'T NEED FEET TO DANCE.” 20is impossible in this world. If you have the will to win, you can achieve(实现) anything.

    It was early one hot morning in 2015 when, accompanied by my mother, I was 1 wheeled to the taxi stand. Three weeks earlier, I had 2 my left ankle at home. Now, I was on my way to being 3 for an operation at the Philippine General Hospital.

    I was feeling 4 as I'd never had surgery before and the thought of it 5 me. After waiting for 6 for more than 90 minutes, we were still standing there. It usually only takes a few minutes, but on this particular Sunday they would 7 us either already filled with passengers or 8 to take us. Perhaps they weren't 9 to carry my 10. My mother was starting to get frustrated as we were fast running out of time; our 11 was scheduled for 10:45am. Then a black SUV 12 and stopped in front of us. The driver, taking a look at us, said, “You two look like you could use a 13!” He told us he'd seen us earlier as he was taking his son to a 14 school activity. He was now returning home and saw that we were still there.

    With no questions asked, this good Samaritan welcomed us aboard and got us to the hospital. We arrived at 10:30 – just in time. He refused any 15, saying people should help one another. He left with a smile.

    I was finally 16. A long recovery process and physical therapy followed and now I am able to 17 again.

    To this day we have not 18 again this friendly driver who went out of his way, but his generosity towards us has 19 in our minds and taught me to keep watch for and help others 20.