After thirty years in the classroom, I have come to realize that teacher's behavior can make a world of difference for a child. This is one such1.

    While I was attending a party being2at a high school one evening, I looked around and noticed a young girl who looks a little familiar. I thought she had been a 3of mine. I tried to remember her name but I couldn't. I didn't feel 4 with myself, as I have always been able to5 the students that I knew in the past.

    Her eyes met mine and she threw her 6 around me and said, “Mrs. G, it's me, Sarah, and I'm still writing!” The memories 7 . I felt something different in my heart. You see, Sarah was 8 a student in my classroom. Sarah's mother had gone to a big city and had remarried. And her father had 9 her. She was sent to live with her grandparents the year I met her. Sarah was 10, often in trouble and often in the office.

    It was during one of those office visits that I first met her. She was writing. I introduced myself to her and asked her 11 she was writing. Sarah shared her story with me. I knew it was a way for her to get away from her pain. So she always put her 12on paper. Every morning before school she would come into my classroom and we would work on her 13skills.

    Our conversation that evening was filled with hope. She expected to go to college. Driving home, I 14 the influence for both good and bad that teachers have put upon their students. Taking the time to 15 with a child has the power to change that child's life. That's why I teach.

    One day a small boy was walking along the street in London. His name was Tom. It was a cold winter day in 1900.1he could have no breakfast 2lunch. He wanted to buy bread, but he didn't3any money.

    His father4when he was very young. His mother was often very ill, so she could not5Tom and his brother, Mike.6had to work to help their 7 mother.

    He was small but his dream was very big. His wish was8 a great man in the world of film. So he worked very hard9 singing and dancing. Then,a man came to him and asked,"10 for my film?" "Cetrainly." He answered. And he did his11 in it. Many people asid,"We have never seen 12interesting film."

    Thirty years 13 ,this same boy was 14 the most famous people in the world. He made many good films. A lot of people liked 15 .

    When I was twelve years old, my family lived next to a forest. Every evening, mockingbirds(知更鸟) would come and rest in the trees and sing. I enjoyed 1singing so much that I decided to catch a young bird. In this way, I 2 hear it sing for me every day.

    I finally managed3 one and put it in a cage. At first, the bird was very frightened, so it fluttered(扑腾)in4 new home all the time. Several days later, it was used 5 in this new home.

    The next day, the little bird's mother flew to the cage with 6food in her mouth. The baby bird looked very happy and ate everything 7the mother brought to it. I was so happy to see this, for the mother knew how to take care of her baby8than me.

    But9the bird morning, I found it died. I was terribly10and cried at once. I didn't know 11happened.

    Arthur Wayne, my father's friend, was a famous ornithologist(鸟类学家). She 12my father at that time.13she knew the whole thing, she explained to me," If a mother mockingbird finds her baby14in a cage, she will bring it poisonous berries(毒梅).She thinks it's better for her baby to die than to lose freedom."

Since then I 15any living animal in a cage. All living things have a right to live free.

    When I was about 12 years old, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to tell me about my weak points. Week by week her list became1I was very short, I wasn't a good student, I talked too much, and so on. I tried to stand all of these as possible as I could. Finally, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.

    He listened to me2, and then asked, "Are the things that she said true or not? Jane, have you ever3what you're really like? Now you have that girl's ideas. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things that she said. "

    I did as he told me. To my great4, I found that about half of the things were true. Some of them I couldn't change, like being very short, but a great number of them I could. I wanted to change the bad things, and for the first time I knew something about myself in a very clear way.

    I brought the list back to my father. He refused to take it. "That's just for you," he said," you know better than5else the truth about yourself, but sometimes others' opinions are also important, so you have to learn how to6, and not just close your ears in anger and feel hurt. When something that is said about you is true, you'll find that it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think that they know you. Don't shut your ears. Listen to all of them, but hear the truth and do what you think is the right thing to do." I have remembered my father's advice at many important moments. I have never had a better piece of advice in my whole life.

    James Parker is a table tennis player. He can't walk, but he can move very fast in his wheelchair, and he's training to go much 1.

    James was in a bad car accident at the age of six. Now he 2 use his legs, and he has to use a wheelchair. James "drives" the chair 3 his arms. He plays video games, 4 he also plays basketball with his brothers.

    But his favorite 5 is at the table tennis table. James practices every day for an hour after school. "I want to 6 a gold medal," he says. "I'm sure I can do it. And I want other kids like me and think that 7 can win, too."

    James' house has a special ramp so that he can go in and out of the house easily. At Adams High School in Champaign, Illinois, James is a(n) 8 student. All the teachers and students like him. He works hard, 9 he has to sit at the back of the classroom because of his chair. He doesn't 10 that at all. "I like it back there," he says.