Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were the first people to climb the West Face of the Siula Grande in the Andes mountains. They reached the top1 but on their way back conditions were very 2.

    Joe fell and broke his leg. They both knew that if Simon 3 alone, he would probably get back4. But Simon decided to risk his5and try to lower Joe down the mountain on a rope（绳）.

    As they went down, the weather got worse. Then another troubled 6.They couldn't see or hear each other and, by mistake, Simon lowered his friend over the edge of a precipice（峭壁）. It was impossible for Joe to climb back or for Simon to pull him up. Joe's 7 was pulling Simon slowly towards the precipice.8, after more than an hour in the dark and the icy cold, Simon had to9. In tears, he cut the rope. Joe10into a large crevasse（裂缝）in the ice below. He had no food or water and he was in terrible pain. He couldn't walk, but he11 to get out of the crevasse and started to move towards their camp, nearly ten kilometers12.

    Simon had returned to the camp at the foot of the mountain. He thought that Joe must be13, but he didn't want to leave 14. Three days later, in the middle of the night, he heard Joe's voice. He couldn't 15 it. Joe was there, a few meters from their tent, still alive.

    I do not know why I came to the decision to become a loser, but I know I made the choice at a young age. Sometime in the middle of fourth grade, I stopped 1. By the time I was in seventh grade, I was your2degenerate (颓废): lazy, rebellious, and disrespectful. I had lost all social 3 I terminally (不可救药的) followed, what was fashionable.

    Not long after that, I dropped out of school and 4 my downward spiral. Hard physical labor was the5for the choices I made as an adolescent. At the age of twenty-one, I was6 lost and using drugs as a way to deal with the fact that I was uneducated and7 in a dead-end job carrying roof materials up a ladder all day.

    But now I believe in do-overs, in the8 to do it all again. And I believe that do-overs can be made at any point in your life, if you have the right 9 Mine came from a10source.

    It was September 21, 2002, when my son Blake was born. It's funny that after a life of 11responsibility, now I was in charge of something so 12Over the years, as I grew into the title of Dad, I began to learn something about myself13 Blake and I were both learning to walk, talk, work, and play for the first time. I began my do-over.

    It took me almost three years to learn 14to read. I started with my son's books. Over and over, I practiced reading books to him15 I remembered all the words in every one of them. I began to wonder if it was possible for me to go back to school. I knew I wanted to be a good role model,16 after a year-and-a-half and a lot of hard work, I passed my GED test on my son's fourth birthday. This may not sound like 17and I am not trying to get praise for doing something that should have been done in the first place, but all things considered it was one of the18days in my life. Today, I am a full-time college student, studying to become a sociologist.

    Growing up, I19 heard these great turn-around stories of triumph over shortcomings. But I never thought they applied to me. Now I believe it is a (an)20anyone can make: To do it all over again.

    In the clinic, I asked if Michael could be retested, so the specialist tested him again. To my 1, it was the same score.

    Later that evening, I2 told Frank what I had learned that day. After talking it over, we agree that we knew our 3 much better than an IQ test. We 4 that Michael's score must have been a 5 and we should treat him 6as usual.

    We moved to Indiana in 1962, and Michael studied at Concordia High School in the same year. He got 7 grades in the school, especially 8 biology and chemistry, which was a great comfort.

    Michael 9 Indiana University in 1965 as a pre-medical student, soon afterwards, his teachers permitted him to take more courses than 10. In 1968, he was accepted by the School of Medicine, Yale University.

    On graduation day in 1972, Frank and I 11 the ceremony at Yale. After the ceremony, we told Michael about the 12 IQ score he got when he was six. Since that day, Michael sometimes would look at us and say 13, “My dear mom and dad never told me that I couldn't be a doctor, not until after I graduated from medical school!” It is his special way of thanking us for the 14 we had in him.

    Interestingly, Michael then 15 another IQ test. We went to the same clinic where he had 16 the test eighteen years before. This time Michael scored 126, an increase of 36 points. A result like that was supposed to be 17.

    Children often do as 18 as what adults, particularly parents and teachers, 19 of them. That is, tell a child he is “ 20”, and he may play the role of a foolish child.

    The LEGO story started in a Danish woodworking shop. At the time, Ole Kirk Christiansen was just a(n)1 carpenter working in a local shop. But he always had big dreams. As a young man, Christiansen turned　his love of playing with wood into a 2 and, in 1916, he opened his own shop.

    At first, his shop produced furniture like ladders, stools and ironing boards. But in 1924, his sons 3set a pile of wood chips in the shop on fire, 4 the entire building and the family's home.

    Despite a total 5, Christiansen saw the fire as an excuse to simply 6 a larger workshop. Tragedy (悲剧) continued to 7, however. In 1929, the American economic depression broke out, and his wife died in 1932. Affected by 8 and financial disaster, Christiansen unemployed many of his workers　and 9 to make ends meet. 10 did he know that those tragedies would be of importance for his business to 11.

    Since times were so 12, Christiansen made the hard decision to use his wood to create 13goods that might actually sell. The decision didn't pay off at first. But his love of toys pushed the company ahead, even when it was 14 the toughest times.

    It turned out he was a brilliant toymaker. Soon, his wonderful models of cars and animals and his adorable pull toys gained a national popularity. His bestseller, a wooden duck15 mouth opens and closes when pulled, is now still a hot hit. By 1949, his company created a plastic product called the Automatic Binding Brick. And their toys became more and more popular as the years passed.

    When my son Zac was six months old, I noticed something wasn't right. He would1with toys with his left arm, 2 his right side wasn't there. When I3 him to see the baby nurse, she did her best to hide her 4 but suggested I see a doctor as soon as possible.

    For the next four months, Zac and I paid 5visits to the doctors. Then, at ten months, Zach had a CT scan. The scan results showed that my boy had hemiplegic cerebral palsy(偏瘫性脑麻痹). I was 6.

    Soon, his doctor put us in touch with an organization that7children's disability and develo-pment services. So years of treatment 8.

    Gradually, Zac began to set his own 9. When he was 11 months old, he began to crawl(爬) with his right leg dragging behind. He10at 19 or 20 months, and even though one foot was turned, it never 11him doing anything.

    He played football when he was eight, 12starting athletics at 11, where he found his 13. As a para-athlete(残疾运动员), he has even represented his state six times at a 14 level. Then in 2011, he became the Australian long jump 15holder in the under-13 group. Today Zac's favorite sport is16and he is training with the South Australian para-cycling team for the 2020 Paralympics in Japan. If I had been too 17 to let him play sport, he would never have had the 18 to travel, compete and meet amazing people from all over the world.

    My parenting journey with Zac wasn't what I 19, but I am so 20 he chose me to be his mum. He is my most precious gift.

I often wondered what it would be like to have cancer.

I didn't expect to find out, though, at last not for decades. I have always been healthy and strong; I regularly do hot yoga and swim two kilometers in a bay near my home in Sydney.

But now I know: it felt as if I was carrying a baby. Tumors (肿瘤) that silently grew inside me suddenly became bigger one weekend.

Then, one Saturday in June, I was struck with sharp pain and ended up in the hospital.

My doctor said it might be very serious. I spent two weeks waiting for the operation, not knowing if I'd live to the end of the year.

In the days before the operation, I turned off my phone and computer. I prayed so hard that I grew unnaturally calm.

The operation lasted five hours. The mass was fully removed, but it was unexpectedly complicated. I was in special care for eight days, in the wires, machines, with pipes in my lungs and liver.

Luckily, the operation was very successful and I am slowly growing stronger. I am walking upright again and waking without great pain. I can now drive, and am preparing to return to work. My prognosis (预后) is good, but I will need to live with the fear of return.

Everyone suddenly seems consumed with foolish worries. I have a different idea about the complaints posted by some Internet users who had the flu, were upset by the upcoming exams or burdened by work. I want to scream: BUT YOU ARE ALIVE! Alive! Each day is a gift, especially if you are upright and able to move with ease, without pain.

I'm still struggling with what all of this means. But in this short time, a truth became even clearer to me.

We should not have to move to the woods like Henry David Thoreau to "live meaningfully". It would be impossible and frankly tiring to live each day as if it were your last. My doctor asked me a few days ago how I became so calm before the operation. I told her: I prayed; I locked out negativity and drew my family and friends near; I tried to live meaningfully.

She said, "Actually you should do that for the rest of your life."