Once there lived a girl named Melanie. The little girl was living with a dream. She wanted to be a ballet dancer. Her body was very flexible and she had a strong will power. Melanie’s parents never knew of the great dancing skills their daughter had until one day, they saw the little girl dancing with the beautiful steps of a ballerina.

“Isn’t it strange? Melanie is dancing so well without any formal training!” the mother said.

“We must give her ballet lessons to help her improve her skills,” her father said.

The following day, Melanie’s parents took her to a local dance training school. The teacher asked Melanie to dance. The little girl was happy and showed some of her favorite dance steps. However, the teacher didn’t seem interested in her performance.

“That’s OK. You can leave now!”the teacher said.

Melanie was shocked to hear this. So were her parents. They couldn’t believe their ears.

“The girl is common. She does not have the possibility to become a ballerina, ”the dance teacher said. “Don’t let her waste her time dreaming of becoming a dancer.”

Disappointed, Melanie and her parents returned home. Tears rolled down Melanie’s face. Her dreams were broken within a matter of minutes. Without confidence, Melanie never attempted to dance again. She completed her studies and went on to become a teacher in school.Life was good and she kept herself busy with family and work. However, whenever she happened to pass the school’s ballet room, memories of childhood dreams danced before her eyes.

Sally had longed to become a dancer since three. However, a terrible car accident made that ambition nearly come to an end overnight in 2011. Sally, then a 15-year-old high school student in California was injured severely in the accident that left her paralyzed(瘫痪的) from the waist down. For most people, that would have dashed any hope of a dancing career. But for Sally, it was just the beginning of new life. Instead of being a barrier, her wheelchair made her more courageous. “I wanted to prove to my community and to myself that I was still‘normal’,”she said with a determined look,“Whatever normal meant.”

In her eyes, Normal meant dancing, so Sally did it in her wheelchair right alongside her nondisabled high school dance team. “Half of my body was taken away from me, and I have to move it with my hands,” Sally said. “It definitely took a lot of learning and patience.”

After graduation, Sally expanded her dance network to include women who had the same situation as her. She met people online who had suffered various spinal cord injuries (脊髓损伤), and invited them to dance with her by sharing her determination. “It was such an amazing experience.” Hoping to reach more people in a larger city, Sally moved to Los Angeles in 2016 and formed a team of dancers with disabilities called DREAM. “I want to show that dance is dance, whether you’re walking or you’re rolling.”

In Sally’s dancing team, there was a girl Ella aged 12, who had been feeling depressed since the terrible accident. Having known about the girl’s situation, Sally made efforts to seek every chance to help the little girl find back the confidence to live. Thanks to Sally’s continuous efforts, the little girl recovered physically and mentally day by day. The other day, an invitation to a national dancing competition arrived. After a heated discussion, they reached an agreement that they would recommend Ella to the competition on behalf of the team.

On hearing the decision, Ella felt more than worried.

The audience stood up and clapped for Ella’s excellent performance.

Years ago, in a small fishing village in Holland, a young boy taught the world about the rewards of unselfish service．

Because the entire village lived on fishing, a volunteer rescue team was needed in case of emergency. One night, the winds screaming, a fishing boat was turned over by a strong storm at sea．The crew(全体船 员) in trouble sent out the S.O.S signals．The captain of the rescue rowboat team sounded the alarm(警报) and the villagers gathered in the town square overlooking the sea．When the team got on their rescue boat and   fought their   way   through the   wild   waves,   the   villagers waited   nervously on   the   beach, holding lamps(灯) to light the way back．

An hour later, the rescue boat reappeared through the fog( 雾 ) and the cheering villagers ran to greet them．Falling exhausted(精疲力竭的) on the sand, the volunteers reported that the rescue boat could not hold any more passengers and they had to leave one man behind ．Even one more passenger would have surely overturned the rescue boat and all the people on board would have been lost．

Anxiously, the captain called for another volunteer team to look for the survivor ．Sixteen-year-old Hans stepped forward ． His   mother held   his   arm,   crying,   “please don't go ． Your father died   in   a shipwreck(船只失事)10 years ago and your elder brother, Paul, has been lost at sea for three weeks．Hans, you are all I have left．”