It was the day of the big cross-country run. Students from seven different primary schools in and around the small town were warming up and walking the route(路线)through thick evergreen forest.

I looked around and finally spotted David, who was standing by himself off to the side by a fence. He was small for ten years old. His usual big toothy smile was absent today. I walked over and asked him why he wasn’t with the other children. He hesitated and then said he had decided not to run.

What was wrong? He had worked so hard for this event!

I quickly searched the crowd for the school’s coach and asked him what had happened. “I was afraid that kids from other schools would laugh at him,” he explained uncomfortably. “I gave him the choice to run or not, and let him decide.”

I bit back my frustration(懊恼). I knew the coach meant well—he thought he was doing the right thing. After making sure that David could run if he wanted, I turned to find him coming towards me, his small body rocking from side to side as he swung his feet forward.

David had a brain disease which prevented him from walking or running like other children, but at school his classmates thought of him as a regular kid. He always participated to the best of his ability in whatever they were doing. That was why none of the children thought it unusual that David had decided to join the cross-country team. It just took him longer—that’s all. David had not missed a single practice, and although he always finished his run long after the other children, he did always finish. As a special education teacher at the school, I was familiar with the challenges David faced and was proud of his strong determination.

3 . The day I met Hani Irmawati, she was a shy, 17-year-old girl standing alone in the parking lot of the international school in Indonesia, where I teach English. She asked if I could help her improve her English. I could ______ it took immense courage for the young Indonesian girl to ______ me and ask for help.

“I want to go to a US university,” she said with confidence. I was surprised.

I agreed to work with her ______ a volunteer basis. For several months, Hani woke each morning at five and caught the city bus to her public high school. During the one-hour ______, she studied for her regular classes and finished the English ______ I had given her. At four o’clock in the afternoon, she arrived at my classroom, ______ but ready to work.

When I met Hani’s family at their ______ little house, I realized they would never be able to afford the expenses of a US university. Hani’s enthusiasm was ______ with her language ability, but I was becoming more and more discouraged.

One day I received the announcement of a(n) ______ opportunity for a major US university. After reading the requirements, I knew Hani couldn’t meet the qualifications. I told her that there was only a ______ chance of her getting the scholarship and encouraged her to be more “realistic” about her dream. But she remained ______.

“Will you send in my name?” she asked.

I couldn’t ______ her down. I completed the application, with the painful truth about her academic life, but also with my ______ of her courage and perseverance.

Three weeks later, just before Hani went to Jakarta to take the Test of English Fluency, she received a letter from the scholarship association. She had been ______.

I leaped around the room, overjoyed and shocked. Hani stood by, smiling. I realized that it was I who had learned something Hani had known from the beginning: It is not intelligence alone that brings success, but also the ______ to succeed, the commitment to work hard and the courage to believe in yourself.

5 . Alice Moore is a teenager entrepreneur(创业者), who in May 2015 set up her business AilieCandy. By the time she was 13, her company was worth millions of dollars with the invention of a super-sweet treat that could save kids’ teeth, instead of destroying them.

It all began when Moore visited a bank with her dad. On the outing, she was offered a candy bar. However, her dad reminded her that sugary treats were bad for her teeth. But Moore was sick of missing out on candies. So she desired to get round the warning, “Why can’t I make a healthy candy that’s good for my teeth so that my parents can’t say no to it?” With that in mind, Moore asked her dad if she could start her own candy company. He recommended that she do some research and talk to dentists about what a healthier candy would contain.

With her dad’s permission, she spent the next two years researching online and conducting trials to get a recipe that was both tasty and tooth-friendly. She also approached dentists to learn more about teeth cleaning. Consequently, she succeeded in making a kind of candy only using natural sweeteners, which can reduce oral bacteria.

Moore then used her savings to get her business off the ground. Afterwards, she and her father secured their first business meeting with a supermarket owner, who finally agreed to sell Moore’s product—CanCandy.

As CanCandy’s success grows, so does Moore’s credibility as a young entrepreneur. Moore is enthusiastic about the candy she created, and she’s also positive about what the future might bring. She hopes that every kid can have a clean mouth and a broad smile.

Meanwhile, with her parents’ help, Moore is generally able to live a normal teenage life. Although she founded her company early on in life, she wasn’t driven primarily by profit. Moore wants to use her unique talent to help others find their smiles. She donates 10% of AilicCandy’s profits to Big Smiles. With her talent and determination, it appears that the sky could be the limit for Alice Moore.

Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food. As they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks.

One day, Ali took Zahra's shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it a secret. Zahra agreed and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra's school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.

Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city.When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.

The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞) with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.

Ali looked up and saw the other boys rushing ahead.

Filled with delight, Ali walked home quickly.

It was a dream born in fire. Andrea Peterson was 5 when she was trapped on the ledge (窗台) of a burning building.

“Throw the kid down!” said one of the firemen below, whose eyes are firm and courageous, along with professional rescue techniques. Seeing this, little Andrea jumped into lifesaving arms and a life-long ambition: She wanted to fight fires as her rescuers did.

She told that to the men who had saved her, and they laughed naturally the way grown-ups do when a kid says he wants to be an astronaut or a sports star. But this was back in a time when little girls weren’t even allowed to fantasize (幻想) about such grand goals.

“You’ll be a good mommy,” the firemen told her. “You’ll be a good teacher, maybe you’ll be a nurse, but you can never be a fireman.”

Indeed, life sidelined her ambitious dream. She was studying for a degree in aviation technology (航空科技) and that’s where she met her husband, Dennis. Unfortunately, Dennis was diagnosed with cancer. Peterson spent 31 years caring for the man she loved, and in 2007, when Dennis was about to leave, he was at peace but worried for her. “But what are you going to do?” “I’ll be fine,” she told him.

At 61, she attended a course for emergencies. She went on an ambulance ride-along from time to time. It turned out to be a life-and-death situation, which reminded her of the childhood experience back in the fire. But every time she saw people who were in need were successfully rescued, Peterson felt that long-ago childhood calling. She earned her emergency medical technician license and responded to fire calls with the ambulance. She found that her years of tending to Dennis had prepared her for dealing with the variety of hurts and ills. The inside calling echoed increasingly stronger.