I never thought I would be a “runner”. I was the girl who 1 slowest in the PE class. A few years ago, I was walking with a group of 2  in the Race for the Cure, a 5km race designed to 3 money for the fight against breast cancer(癌), 4  one lady caught my 5 .

    She was one of the weakest-looking women I've ever seen. She must have been close to seventy years old, 6  a T-shirt with the word “Survivor”. She was so small that it seemed as if she could even be 7  by a strong wind. But, she was running. And she was 8  me and my group of friends. She ran slowly, but 9  —as if each step pushed her cancer further into her past. Right at that moment, I10  that in the next Race for the Cure, I'd be running along with her.

    A week later, I found myself in the 11 , running on the treadmill(跑步机). Three minutes after I started, my face was bright red. I felt like my lungs were going to burst. I 12  slow down to a walk. I thought of the 13  at the race. I kept it up. I was able to go a little 14  each time. Three and a half minutes. Four minutes. Five.

    A year later, I was 15  at the Race for the Cure, but this time, I 16  with the runners. When the race started, the other runners passed me by. I ran forward. I wondered if I'd be 17  to do it. But then, I remembered the brave woman. I ran as fast as I could until I finally crossed that finish line. I had just 18  my first race! I 19  down at my legs, amazed. They had done something I'd never thought 20 . I have never felt stronger than at that moment. And, I knew that I wanted to do it again.

    In the middle of a beautiful day, I was feeling lost, as if the world was crashing on me. didn't know which way to go, except to head out to the countryside. I went to the spot where I used to take my kids-when I still had kids. Now they had  1and were leaving.

I was sitting alone in my car when I saw a man in his seventies, whose problem appeared bigger than mine. He stood near the edge of the road,2a kite spindle(风筝线锭) in his hands. Apparently, lost in thought, he stared skyward. I 3my neck to see how successful he had been in 4 the clouds. Following his string with my eyes, I almost lost5 of the other end. Finally, the kite rested on what seemed to be the highest branch of the 6tree in the park.  Obviously,  that was his grandson's kite!  The kite was a replica (复制品) of a beautiful bald eagle, and its wings spread 70pen. Grandpa had only one 8to his problem: cut the string.

"You wanted it to fly as high as it could. Bill. didn't you?" "Yes, Grandpa,9 wanted to keep it forever. " "There just comes a time when the only thing you can do is to cut the string and let it go. Perhaps by doing that, when it flies very high like real eagles do, it will come back to us. " Grandpa said.

    I 10 how the old man cut the string to let fly the kite. As the two walked away, looked to the 11. There I saw my answer, too. Today I have to cut the final strings that kept my two boys 12my reach. Though I want to keep them forever, I have taught them to fly like an eagle. Maybe by doing this, when it's time to soar like real eagles do. one day they would come back to me.

Learn to Meet Challenges

    My classmates called me "the alien", and they avoided me like the  plague（瘟疫）. As a young boy, I1from a serious skin disease, which filled my arms with scars. The true2of my condition, however, was social: I lived a life of loneliness.

    Doctors predicted（预言）that I would never fully recover, but my parents encouraged me to hope for the future, teaching me that my difficulty could be overcome. I therefore took a/an 3 role in fighting against my disease, trying many medications and herbs, and my health 4 greatly before I graduated（毕业）. I realized that my personal5had led to this improvement. I regained self­confidence and made many friends at school.

    Years later, 6my personal battle against disease, I learned a great deal about7by overcoming difficulties.

    I joined the Culture Club as a Special Event Director. I8a group of six students in organizing various activities. I was the most advanced ESL student among the group. So I considered myself the most capable. But I quickly learned my9. While preparing for our first presentation, I was10with my team members and often rejected（拒绝）their11. I performed most of their tasks myself, allowing them to12me only with small details. As a result, the presentation was not very successful. The setback13me, and I spoke of it to the club's director. She responded that she14my ability to succeed in the future. This comment filled me with15, for I realized that I had never trusted my own team members. 16they were weak in English, they had many valuable talents. I immediately17my policy, allowing my team members to choose the tasks they desired and to complete them on their own. For our program, we had many meetings, which gave18to many good ideas. Most importantly, the atmosphere among us improved dramatically. We were19and eager to devote time to the program, and I learned what true leadership is.

    My experiences20improved my ability to handle challenging situations.

    As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her 1 face.

    Frustrated and wet, my husband gave up his attempt to hail a taxi. I knew the feeling. Just after her first birthday, we were told our daughter Katie has a 2 brain illness. Since that moment, Doug and I felt like 3 in a marathon race where the finish line kept disappearing. We knew Katie was running out of 4. It had taken months before we finally had a name for the 5, but we were told only a few specialists in the world knew how to 6 it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to 7 our girl, we were in a strange city in the cold rain.

    Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman 8 and said, "Pardon me? May I offer you a(n) 9?"

    Before we could say 10, she continued, "It's really no 11 for me. Just get in."

    It was then that I noticed her thick Irish 12 which 13 me up like hot soup. We 14 said, "Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital, please," as we got in her car for the ride.

    "Are you going for the baby?" she asked us.

    I nodded my head, holding back my 15.

    At the hospital we 16 her a dozen times for the ride. As the woman hugged me, I noticed her face was 17 with tears. She promised to pray for us before she left.

    After three more visits to New York and two more 18 surgeries (手术), Katie is cured. But the voice of the Irish Angel still rang as a constant 19 of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our 20 days.

    I believe in miracles(奇迹) because I've seen so many of them. One day, a patient was referred to me who was one hundred and two years old. "There's a1in my upper jaw," she said. "I told my own dentist it's nothing, but he 2I come to see you."

    Her eighty-year-old son accompanied(陪伴) her. He would3to add something, but she stopped him. She wanted to tell everything herself. I found a large cancer that spread over much of the 4of her mouth. A careful examination later 5that it was a particularly bad sort of cancer.

    During her next appointment, I explained to her the6of the problem She held my hand in hers and said, "I know you're worried about me, but I'm just7."

    I thought otherwise. After a great deal of 8on my part, and kindness on her part because she wanted to 9me, she agreed to have me refer her to a cancer surgeon. She saw him, but as I expected,10treatment.

    About six months later she returned to my office, still energetic and11.

    "How are you?" I asked.

    "I'm just fine, honey," she responded in 12 spirits. "When can I get started on fixing my dentures(假牙)?"

    Surprised to see her at all, I answered 13 ,"Let me take a look in your mouth and we'll see about it. "

    I couldn't believe my eyes. The cancer that had 14 nearly the entire roof of her mouth was gone—only one small area of redness 15.

    I had read of such things happening, but had 16seen them with my own eyes. That was my first miracle. Since then I've seen many others, because they keep getting 17to see. In fact, miracles are daily events for me now. And people are in miracle,18through them we have a chance to know ourselves and to19the miracles of one another.

    Since my first miracle, I've come to understand that a miracle is20we choose to find it.

    For more than 20 years I have been traveling the world, preferring often to spend a year or two in different countries 1 to just visit as a tourist. It has become a big part of my identity as an adult and shaped 2 I see the world and myself.

    My first 3 of this amazing life was when I was 19 years old. I was 4 among a small group of college classmates to spend a year abroad. This was long before people could travel the world 5 through social media like Facebook, Instagram and Weibo. In order to see a place, you had to go there and 6 it firsthand.

    Living abroad can be exciting. I thought it would be 7 because I spoke the language, but I enjoyed the little differences between the British and American culture and language. For instance, instead of 8 the British called it "rubbish" ; instead of favor they spelled it "favour" .

    But there were also 9 that year too. One of my classes was called "Europe Since 1870". In the U.S., I would have expected an introductory history class, but in England, I was 10 o have already known the history; now was the time to analyze it. That 11 I not only had to learn the history as I went along, but also I had to try to write a paper explaining why certain events happened as they did. I know now that I was thrown into the deep 12, in a completely different and far more challenging environment, and it was natural that I wouldn't understand everything easily. Despite this, I don't 13 anything about my time in London. Even 14 painful experiences, we learn to grow.

    15 the difficult times made me sad and homesick. But luckily that was not as important as the amazing experience I had getting to know people from all over the world. I met dozens of interesting people from places like France, Greece and Germany in Europe, to Rwanda. Palestine and Australia. Learning how to make friends with people from different cultures and backgrounds was really fun, and these new friends helped put a(n) 16 to the countries they represented (代表).

    As I finished the 17 year, I was torn inside about leaving London after such a life-changing experience.

    I learned so much about myself as a young woman and a(n) 18. When I 19 to my college for my final year, friends and professors saw a(n) 20 me. I had more maturity and self-awareness that I hadn't had before. It was just the beginning of a future of world travel and a love of different people and cultures.