In the United States there was an unusual tale telling of the daughter of a mechanic（技工）. One day while walking along the bank of a lake, the girl 1 to see 20 eggs laid by a wild goose. After some time the girl 2 the mother would not return to her eggs and she 3 to take them home. There she carefully 4 the eggs in the heat of a lamp. Several days 5 the eggs broke and the baby geese came into the 6.

    Geese are known to take the first living thing they see as their mother. 7, to these young geese, the girl was their mother.

    As they 8, the girl was able to 9 her birds to run across the grass, but she could not teach them to 10. The girl became increasingly worried about this, both when 11 and in her dreams. Later, she had a(n) 12: She would pilot a plane to guide them in 13. She asked her father for a plane and he assembled（组装）a small aircraft for her.

    Caring about 14 safety, the father decided to pilot the plane himself. However, the birds did not 15 or follow him, and 16 slept in the grass.

    One day, the girl 17 into the plane, started it and soon left the 18. Seeing their mother take to the air, the birds 19 flapped（拍打）their wings and 20. She flew the plane freely in the sky, her young birds following.

    As everyone grows, they realize there will always be someone who is better. I learned this1in the second year in high school. The shock this experience brought was so great that I felt my2was left on the side of the road for dead. That was all it took: one year and one person3everything.

    Her name is Jenny. She was the girl who4raised her hand and had useful comments about everything. When teachers needed challenging problems answered, they 5 her. And if students needed6,they went looking for her. I didn't 7her, but I admit her presence annoyed me. In the first year, as a model student, I was the person everyone 8and all the teachers trusted. Then she came out of9! We also had two classes 10.There I got to see what everybody thought of her. When an exam finished, it became a11that she got the top grade and it didn't 12to my classmates whether I was right there,13I also got excellent grades. They would cross a desert and14her! I was left being denied my presence.15.I felt like not trying anymore.

    I stopped trying to put on a show because no one was16 anymore. Later, I volunteered at the graduation ceremony. She was called to make a(n)17and discussed their difficulties. I realized all her hard work got her there, not her desire to 18 It finally hit me that Jenny19the attention she got. She showed me how big the world is and how20a world I used to live in. I'll do my best because I know it will pay off.

    On July 24, 1916, a natural gas explosion trapped 32 men working in a tunnel 250 feet below Lake Erie. The first rescuers who entered the tunnel were 1 by gas, and for hours no one else dared to enter the suffocating (窒息的)2 deathtrap.

    Then, late that night, someone had an idea3 Garrett Morgan and his new invention. Garrett Morgan was a successful 4 owner in Cleveland. The son of freed slaves and the seventh of 11 children, mechanically minded Morgan had opened his own sewing machine shop, which he soon 5 to a tailoring factory with 32 employees.

    In the early 1900s, factory buildings were crowded and untidy. They were often6 of wood, with no fire escapes. Fire could cause serious7 Concerned about his employees, Morgan 8 with a “safety hood” (头罩) that would allow the wearer to9 despite a fire's poisonous smoke.

    Morgan knew smoke rises during a fire10 he created a heat-resistant hood with a long tube reaching to the floor. Wearing Morgan's hood, a firefighter could breathe the 11 air near the 12 Morgan lined the breathing tube with a sponge-like material that was wetted before use to13 the air. A second tube was designed to14 exhaled (呼出的) air.

    Called to the scene on the night of the tunnel explosion, Garrett arrived with samples of his safety hood. Still in their nightwear, he and his brother Frank put on the hoods and 15 entered the tunnel. It was a dangerous 16 of the invention, but they saved two lives and 17four bodies before officials closed the18Morgan knew that more lives might have been saved if he had been called sooner.

    The daring19 made Morgan famous and brought requests for safety hoods from fire departments around the country. But his greatest20 was knowing that his invention would now save more people.

    No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own 1.

    I learned this lesson from a(n) 2 many years ago. I took the head 3 job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

    It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the 4 team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn't even practice to 5 the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn't 6 I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to 7 that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were 8 me. I had to change my 9about their ability and potential.

    I started doing anything I could to help them build a little 10. Most important, I began to treat them like 11. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their 12, we met every day and 13passing and kicking the football.

    Six months after suffering our 14on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to 15. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a16for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn't what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest 17of my life!

    From the experience I learnt a lot about how the attitude of the leader can 18 the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and19them. I helped them to see themselves 20, and they built themselves into winners.

    Winners are made, not born.

    "What kind of stuff do you write?'' one student asked on my first day at the University of Massachusetts. After a decade away from the classroom, I was back to1.

    "I write creative nonfiction," I said, "as you'll be doing.”

    It was a2. I couldn't remember when I'd last written a3essay. But it must have been before my mother fell ill, leaving me feeling my family story wouldn't end4. It seemed that nothing I wrote could change that.5I couldn't write my own stories, I could6my students to tell theirs. "You're going to keep a7in this class, and I want you to tell your stories like they8."

    "Why do they matter? ^" a boy named Michael asked. Looking out at the roomful of students, I9. No one said a word. Many of them, I learned, worked while in school. Most didn't know their stories did matter. They didn't even realize their stories were as10as their own lives.

    Finally, I looked at Michael. "They matter because they're what you have. Stories allow us to make meaning of what we've11I said. Michael didn't look12, but he didn't challenge me, either.

    In his first essay, Michael wrote about how his high school English teacher seeing his13and helped him fill out a college14. I had Michael read his essay out loud. After he finished, the class went so15that we could hear the sound of each other's16. I looked at him and saw a small17in his dark eyes. Then, I said, "That's why you tell your stories."

    I went home that night and18my journal from where it lay, dusty and19. For the first time in months, I had to20.