João Carlos Martins, the 80-year-old Brazilian classical pianist, had lost the ability to play for almost 20 years due to a series of unfortunate events in his life. But everything changed thanks to a pair of special bionic (仿生的) gloves.

He is one of the best pianists alive today. He had already won a contest playing Bach when he was only 8 years old. Then at the peak of his skills, he could play 21 notes per second. However, luck wasn’t always on his side. At 24 years old, he suffered an accident that caused nerve damage to his arm, atrophying (使萎缩) three of his fingers. Then when he was 55, an accidental brain injury completely paralyzed (使瘫痪) his arm.

João went through 24 surgeries, but nothing could help his hands, forcing him to stop playing the piano, seemingly for good.

However, João didn’t give up on his musical career. He became a conductor in 2003. He couldn’t turn the pages in the score, so instead, he just tried his best to memorize every score, note by note. He still played the piano sometimes, but extremely slow, since he could play only one note per second.

That might have been his life, were it not for an engineer who saw the pianist playing live and decided to work out something to help him. After a concert, he approached João with the first pair of special bionic gloves. Yet, they didn’t work. When the engineer first showed João the gloves, he joked that they were for boxing, not to play the piano.

But neither of them gave up, and after testing out several models, the perfect match was created. The gloves provide the necessary support for each finger and can even “tune” to what he plays.

João knows that he might never recover his speed of the past. But he’s starting over, as though he were an 8-year-old again. João says, it can take years, but he will keep pushing. He won’t give up.

The morning had been a disaster. My tooth was aching, and I’d been in an argument with a friend. Her words still hurt: “The trouble with you is that you won’t put yourself in my place. Can’t you see things from my point of view?” I shook my head stubbornly — and felt the ache in my tooth. I’d thought I could hold out till my dentist came back from holiday, but the pain was really unbearable. I started calling the dentists in the phone book, but no one could see me immediately. Finally, at about lunchtime, I got lucky.

“If you come by right now,” the receptionist said, “the dentist will fit you in.”

I took my purse and keys and rushed to my car. But suddenly I began to doubt about the dentist. What kind of dentist would be so eager to treat someone at such short notice? Why wasn’t he as busy as the others?

In the dentist’s office, I sat down and looked around. I saw nothing but the bare walls and I became even more worried. The assistant noticed my nervousness and placed her warm hand over my ice-cold one.

When I told her my fears, she laughed and said, “Don’t worry. The dentist is very good.”

“How long do I have to wait for him?” I asked impatiently.

“Come on, he is coming. Just lie down and relax. And enjoy the artwork,” the assistant said.

“The artwork?” I was puzzled.

The chair went back. Suddenly I smiled. There was a beautiful picture, right where I could enjoy it: on the ceiling. How considerate the dentist was! At that moment, I began to understand what my friend meant by her words.

What a relief!