Mary Verdi-Fletcher was born with spina bifida (脊柱裂), a disease that causes weakness in the legs and spine. Undiscouraged, she was not about to be told what she could or could not do. She believes that someone who is an artist is an artist from the day he or she is born. She dreamed of dancing and made up her mind to make her dream a reality. While still young, Verdi-Fletcher — dancing in her wheelchair — entered a dance competition with a friend. They won first prize. Later she won more competitions, refusing to listen to people who said to her “ You can’t dance if you’re in a wheelchair” or “ Dancing in a chair is not really dancing”.

However, Verdi-Fletcher was not pleased with personal success alone. She wanted to make dance available to others with disabilities. In 1980, she founded a dance company called Dancing Wheels Company. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Dancing Wheels Company performs all over the world. In productions like “ The Snowman”, sit-down dancers perform with stand-up dancers. Modern lighting designs, attractive sets (布景), wonderful music, and festive costuming draw audience into fairy tales and other stories.

In one show, a young stand-up dancer named Devin played “The Brother Who Cannot See” while a young sit-down dancer named Jenny performed the role of “ The Sister Who Cannot Walk” . It was a lovely way to express a theme Verdi-Fletcher has represented all through her life: We all have disabilities. Some disabilities may be more noticeable, but hard work and devotion to our dreams can make the seemingly impossible become a reality.

   Of course, she wasn’t really my aunt and, out of fear, I never called her that to her face. I only referred to her as “My Aunt Fannie” because the name always made my father laugh quietly and gave my mother cause to look strictly at both of us — at me for being disrespectful to my elder and at my father for encouraging my bad behavior. I enjoyed both reactions so I looked for every opportunity to work the name into as many conversations as possible.

As a young woman, my mother had worked in the kitchen of a large Victorian farmhouse. During those years my mother helped Aunt Fannie make the best blueberry jam ever tasted by anyone in Glenfield. She was well-known for her jam and for never sharing the recipe (食谱) with others. Even though my mother knew the recipe by heart, as long as Aunt Fannie was alive, she never made the jam without Aunt Fannie in our kitchen to direct the process and kept the secret.

Each August, my mother would prepare me for Aunt Fannie’s visit. One year, after I had helped with the jam process Aunt Fannie gave me a coin and then made me promise that I would never spend it. “Hold onto this coin,” she said, “and someday you will be rich. I still have my very first coin, given to me by my grandmother.” So I kept the coin in a small box and waited to become rich.

I now have the blueberry jam recipe and the coin from Aunt Fannie. In people’s eyes Aunt Fannie’s success resulted from that secret recipe. But to me, it was just a common recipe. Neither has made me become a rich person, but 1 keep them as reminders (提醒人的事物) to hold onto the valuable things in life. Money can make you feel rich for a while, but it is the relationships and the memories of time spent with friends and family that truly leave you wealthy. And that is a fortune that anyone can build.

   My kids and I were heading into the supermarket over the weekend. On the way, we spotted a man holding a piece of paper that said, “_______ my job. Family to Feed.”

At this store, a _______ like this is not normal. My 10-year-old noticed him and make a _________ on how bad it must be to have to stand _________ in the cold wind.

In the store, I asked each of my kids to _______ something they thought our “friend” there would _________. They got apples, a sandwich and a bottle of juice. Then my 17-year-old suggested giving him a _________. I thought about it. We were _______ on cash ourselves, but… well, sometimes _______ from our need instead of our abundance is ________ what we need to do! All the kids __________ something they could do away with for the week.

When we handed him the bag of ________, he lit up and thanked us with ________ eyes. When I handed him the gift card, saying he could use it for __________ his family might need, he burst into tears.

This has been a wonderful ________ for our family. For days the kids have been looking for others we can ________! Things would have played out so __________ if I had simply said, “No, we really don’t have __________ to give more.” Stepping out not only helped a brother in ________, it also gave my kids the __________ taste of helping others. It’ll go a long way with them.

   At the very beginning of this school year, I got myself into a regretful situation. It was a Wednesday _____ and I went to see a friend to watch the sunrise before school. It was about 4:30 am and we were _____ outside next to my car. To our _____, someone in a neighbouring house was in his _____ and showed his headlights on us, yelling at us to _____. As we got into my car, he had called the policeman. Since I had my _____ for only about six months and not a full year, I was fined for _____ a passenger.

This was the first time that I had ever got _____ For about two months, I was _____ and had no one to ______. I kept everything to myself because I was not ______ talking about everything that had ______. I didn’t even talk to my head teacher and lied to him by saying everything was ______ But my attendance (出席) and ______ became terrible. I was among the top 30% of my class ______ my rank had dropped by about 6 marks. I was under lots of stress and lacked ______ to do well in school. My biology teacher noticed I didn’t try my best and talked with me. She made me ______ the last two months was not me.

Now, my working habits have been much better and I know what I want to do with my ______. I plan to take courses in graphic design (平面设计) in university because I can express my thoughts in a (n) ______ way. I’ll work to my fullest potential (潜力). This is what I ______ and I know that now.

   Successful people are the center of any hot discussion. Actually any successful individual is flesh and blood just like you. 【小题1】 It's the small differences that help them stick out from the rest.

1.Ordinary people dream of a better future，while successful people create a better future.

We all want to live a better life: more happiness，more freedom and better health. 【小题2】 However，the average person will focus on dreaming，while the successful one spares no efforts to create that dreamy future.

2. 【小题3】

Everyone has doubts and negative thoughts once in a while. It's just human nature and the way our brains function. Many people accept these thoughts as truths and let them control their lives. On the contrary，great people are conscious of the impact their thoughts have，and try to influence their thinking to make it work for them.

3.Ordinary people prefer short-term satisfaction，while successful people choose long-term rewards.

Do you know anyone who hates to be rewarded？Neither do we. 【小题4】 In the era in which we are taught to praise comfort over anything else，it's easy to settle for instant pleasure. However，successful people recognize that oftentimes you need to wait to experience the true pleasure.

4.Ordinary people praise overabundance（过多），while successful people praise limitation（限制）.

A kind of person loves to gather wealth. 【小题5】 However，one of the features of truly successful people is that they can limit a lot of things in order to focus on the ones that are actually important.