When I was young, I went to a boarding（寄宿）school in Edinburgh. It was far from home because I1on an island in the north of Scotland.

    It was a music school, and I studied the violin. At the end of the term, we all packed our bags and our 2  to go home for the holidays. Most kids went by train or bus. Some were 3  by their parents. But I had to go home by ferry—14 hours overnight on the open sea.

    One summer, after packing my suitcase and violin, I said4to my friends. I took the train to the ferry terminal（渡船码头）and then got on the ferry. But when the ferry started moving, I realized a(n)5thing! I left my violin on the train!

    Oh no! What should I do? What would my dad say? He'd be really6! I got so scared（害怕）that I didn't sleep all night.

    The next morning, I7the ferry to meet my dad. After I told him everything, he laughed. I looked at him and couldn't believe it.8was he laughing?

    I always had a label（标签）in my violin case with my address and a telephone number. My dad told me, "A cleaner found your violin on the train and took it to the police. They  9 me and put it on a plane. It arrived an hour ago." 10, my violin was safe.  I was so happy!

    My parents used to tell me how important school was for me, but I didn't think so. I paid little attention to it. But one thing let me finally 1 what my parents meant.

    One day, when I walked 2a mobile phone store, I saw an advertisement on its door. It was hiring (雇用) new workers!

    "Sir, are you hiring people?" I went into the shop and asked. "Yes, but you should be the man 3 we need. " the manager answered. He looked at me for a few4 from head to foot. "Do you have a high school diploma(文凭)" 5 he, "Or you have any work experience.

    I felt so ashamed (羞愧)and uncomfortable that I didn't know what to 6 , so I just turned around and left.

    I could not fall asleep that night, and I thought a lot about my 7. "I must go to school or I can't do anything without a good 8 ." I said to myself silently. I never went back to the store again 9I finished my study and got a diploma.

    Everything looked the same when I returned to the10 , the same people and the same design. However, compared with last time, I had more 11. The manager told me they needed new 12so it was a great chance for me.

    I 13 my diploma to the manager. He looked at it and said, "Great, you are in."

    Now I am still working in the same store. With this experience, I always 14 people to attend school. Education helps you have a bright future. Now I am not 15 my future because I'm still learning in my spare time.

    In a far-away place, there was a village. The village was1 in potatoes than anywhere else in the country. At the end of every growing season, 2potatoes were dug out of the ground, and readied for market. In each home, men and women would3divide the potatoes into three groups, large, medium and small.

    One year, there was a young man4received his share of the potatoes. As the other villagers5, he walked around the village laughing and talking.6villagers thought he was lazy, and they worried that this man would never get7potatoes ready in time. When it was time for the villagers8to market, they were greatly surprised to find that the man's potatoes9perfectly into three groups.

    After 10the man how he did it, they understood he was not lazy, 11very clever. He had put all his potatoes in a cart and pulled it along the village's rough dirt road. As the cart moved up and down over the road, the potatoes moved12. The small potatoes moved to the bottom, the larger potatoes rose to the top and the medium potatoes rested13 the middle.

    Life14like this too. The rough roads we travel along can also15us.

    My father and I always had a bit of trouble in our relationship. It's not that we didn't love each other. It's just that we used to have 1 opinions. My dad is one of the most hard-working men I know, but I was a 2. I played sports as a kid, but 3 when I was making progress. Then I showed an   4 in music. My father got excited and 5 me a guitar when I was about eight. But I didn't like it until I was a teenager. During those teen years, I took up my guitar and 6 playing along.

Then I went to college. My father thought I should focus more on my 7 while I should have more fun playing music. I dreamed to be a musician. When I grew into a young man, I suddenly fell 8 ill one day and it was discovered that I had a terrible kidney(肾) disease. I had to accept treatments all my life, or get a transplant(移植).

    I felt like there was a heavy 9 on my shoulders. Life became hard for me. But I was lucky enough because of my loving parents who 10 me and took care of me. While trying to 11 just what to do with my life, my father got tested to see 12 he was the right man to give me his kidney. I tried to refuse, but he'd hear 13 of it. He saved my life at last.

    Two years ago, I 14 a band. He had always wanted to play in a band, but 15got the chance when he was young. It was one of the greatest gifts I could give to him.

    I did very1 at school. My headmaster thought I was simple and when I was 14, he said, "You are never going to be 2 but a failure."

    3 five years of low jobs, I fell in love with a very nice middle­class girl. It was the best 4 that could have happened to me. I decided I wanted 5 something positive with my life because I wanted to prove to 6 that what people said about me was 7, especially her mother, who had said to me, "You have 8 in everything you have ever done." So I 9 hard with my writing and went to college. My first novel came out while I was at college.

    After college I taught during the day in high schools and attended evening classes at London University. I became a lecturer at a college and was thinking of 10 that job to write full time at a university. I began to feel proud of myself.

    Now I am rich and famous. But what does it mean? I just wish all the people that have put me down had said, "I believe in you. You will succeed."