Every school has rules for students to follow. However, some students may see the _________ as a way which teachers control them. Sometimes, they’re unhappy and even feel _________. Well, if you think your life is hard, you might think about the _________ in ancient times. For some of them, life was really hard.

In the old days, people believed that teachers had to be very _________ and had the right to punish the students. Parents didn’t mind if teachers punished their children when their children didn’t do what they were _________ to do. Often, the stricter a teacher was, the more parents thought he or she was a good teacher.

In fact, following school rules can be very important. For example, running in the hallways could cause a student to _________. It may hurt himself or another person. Following the rules can also help the students in the classroom to learn _________ difficulty. In class, a teacher may ask students to raise their hands _________ they speak. If someone speaks out of turn, other students might not be able to hear the teacher _________. School rules can help students prepare for their own futures as well. When they __________ and go out on their own, they’ll soon find that they still need to follow rules.

Rules make the world much better. If there are no rules, life will be meaningless and in disorder.

During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), there was an official named Zhang Guaiya who worked in Chongyang county (县) , in today’s Hubei. Theft was common, even money from the county’s vault (钱库) was stolen.

One day, Zhang saw a low-ranking official (小吏) come out of the vault in a panic (慌张) . Zhang stopped him and asked, “Why are you in such a hurry?” “No reason,” said the official.

Zhang remembered the things stolen from the vault. So he asked the guards to search the official. They found a copper (铜) coin in his headband (头巾) .

Zhang asked him how much more money he had stolen. The official refused to admit (承认) that he stole anything else. Zhang ordered the guards to beat him.

The official didn’t give in. He said, “I only stole a copper coin. You can’t kill me just because of that!”

Zhang was very angry. He wrote in a red pen, “If you steal a coin every day, there will be a thousand coins after a thousand days. Constant dripping wears away a stone (水滴石穿) .”

Each of us has dreams and goals for our future. What makes us study and make progress each day is closely connected with our personal dream and goal.

But why do you have dreams and goals, you still end up with nothing? What separates successful people from the dreamers is their persistent (锲而不舍的) action. When you learn your lessons in school, you must work hard and not give up. You will often find some of your lessons very hard. Try and keep trying, and you’ll be sure to successfully deal with any difficulty you meet with. If we have a hard lesson today, let us try our best to learn it well and then we shall be prepared for a harder one tomorrow.

This is the famous formula (公式) for success:

Dream > Believe > Achieve

Most people have what they want (Dream) and think they can realize their dreams (Believe). And then they do nothing. They just imagine their dreams can come true. When they get tired waiting and lose a lot, they get bored. They say angrily how terrible their life is.

I personally believe that if you really want to achieve your dreams and goals in life, you have to add one thing to your success formula:

Dream > Believe > Act > Achieve

For me, act is the most important thing for success and that’s to Take Persistent Action (Act). If you say, “I can’t do it” and give up, you can never do anything valuable. However, “I’ll try” creates wonders. Let’s remember that there will be obstacles in our life. We must face them bravely and solve them. Success is not something that falls down from the sky. Most successful people made their dreams come true because of their persistent action.

Please remember: Action is the bridge that connects our dreams and goals to reality.