Some students often complain about learning English. The subject, they say, takes up too much of their time. They have to read many passages, look up new words in the dictionary and do lots of exercises. Although they work hard, they still can't get good scores on tests. "Why?" they ask. "How can I enjoy success?"

The story of Chinese astronaut Deng Qingming might help to answer their questions. Deng was chosen as an astronaut trainee (接受培训者) in 1998. That was long ago—you readers hadn't even been born yet. Since that day, he had spent almost all of his time training hard to become an astronaut. Over the years, Deng has seen other trainees with him go into space one after another. However, he was always a.backup (后备人员). He often felt sad. Sometimes, he even cried.

But Deng never gave up. Although he is now in his fifties, he keeps training hard. "I must be ready whenever the chance comes to me," he once said. Finally, on the night of November 29, 2022, he and two other astronauts boarded the Shenzhou 15 spaceship and flew into space. Deng had waited 24 years for this very moment.

So, if you want to give up learning English (or something else), think about Deng's story. Your efforts might not pay off immediately. Be patient, though. Try to improve your methods and keep going. One day, success will knock at your door. Being different from Deng, you probably won't even have to wait 24 years for that moment!

Pyramid Surprise

Linda and I were born only a few days apart, so every year we plan a birthday party together. This year, our birthday theme (主题) was "Discover the Pyramids".

"What about inviting Mary?" Linda asked.

Mary was lonely, and hadn't made many friends, but she was better at math than anyone else in class.

"Hmm, she wears the same old trousers every day. How could she even afford a party dress?"

After school the next day, Linda handed me a box. "What's that?" I asked.

"My birthday gift from my aunt. I thought it would be nice to give this to Mary," Linda said.

I opened the box. Inside was a gift certificate (礼品券) for our favorite clothes store.

"Wow," I gasped. We both knew how many cute clothes that would buy.

"So, are we going to just hand it to her?"

"How embarrassing that would be!" Linda answered.

She was right. Mary would be totally embarrassed if we gave her money for clothes.

"What if we ask our teacher…"

"Wait a second. I have an idea." Linda said.

"What? What?"

"I'm not going to tell you!"

On the day of our party, Mary arrived, with—no surprise—the very old brown trousers.

We sang, danced and ate biscuits. "And now for the big prize game," Linda said. Big prize? My mouth dropped. This was not in the plan.

"The big prize game is like this: Tom and Sam were building pyramids... If their pyramids had to be 60 feet high, who would finish first?"

A math game. Of course! Linda winked (眨眼示意) at me. No one was surprised when Mary came up with the answer before anyone else and walked off with the box.

The next week, Mary wore a new pair of trousers, and even a new dress. The whole time she had a big smile on her face.

And so did we.

That morning Sean checked the email as usual. Then he found an unexpected email. Could he realize his dream late? Sean was now nearly 40, alone and poor. He dreamed of being. a police officer for a long time but never made it. Was it possibly different this time? .

When Sean was only 5, his uncle Paul once drove the little boy home in his police car. Sean was interested in the car, the lights and the uniform. He decided to be a hero like Paul.

However, when Sean graduated from high school, he followed his teacher's advice and finally became a reporter for a newspaper and then married. During the years, he changed several jobs but nothing made him really happy. Actually he had never really given up his childhood dream to become a policeman. His wife could not bear this and left him. Sean was forced to move back to St Ignace, where his dad lived. "I feel like a failure. "Sean says.

When his father encouraged him to search for a new. job, the opportunity came. Phoenix was in great need of police officers and one of Sean's old friends emailed him, "Do you still want to be a police officer? " Phoenix was a world away — 2,100 miles from St Ignace, but Sean knew it was his last chance and he decided to catch it.

In order to pass the test to get the job, Sean immediately began training, running a mile and a half every day. Three weeks later when he arrived in Phoenix, Sean was a man physically and emotionally (心理上) changed and finally passed the test. The following year, Sean got a prize because of his excellent job. "It took me 35 years. But a promise is a promise. How many people can say they live their life's dream? "Sean says. "I did it. It just proves that it's never too late. "