My mouth felt dry as I followed my mother into the doctor’s office and sank into a chair next to hers. This doctor had a room full of gadgets (小装置) and gizmos (小物件) to analyze the learning abilities of failing students. That day he had analyzed (分析) me. “I’m sorry to tell you this, Mrs. Dow, but Peter has dyslexia (阅读障碍). A fairly serious case.”

I swallowed and tried to breathe. The doctor went on. “He’ll never read above the fourth-grade level. Since he won’t be able to complete high school requirements, I suggest you enroll (使登记) him in a trade school (职校) where he can learn to work with his hands.” I didn’t want to go to trade school. I wanted to apply at Bible College in our town to be a preacher (牧师), like my dad. I forced my tears back. A twelve-year-old was too big to cry. “Thank you, Doctor.” We drove home.

Dyslexia? I’d never heard it before. Sure, I was always the slowest kid in my class. I had a special hiding place where I would cry because I couldn’t do my lessons however hard I tried. Of course, I never told my mom about that. I was too ashamed. I didn’t want to worry her, either. She had enough on her mind with teaching school full-time and taking care of Dad and me.

On reaching home, my mom looked into my eyes with tears running down her cheeks. Seeing her cry was too much for me. Before I knew what was happening, I was in her arms crying. A few minutes later she said, “Honey. I want to talk to you.” I waited, sniffling (抽泣). “You heard what the doctor said about your not finishing school. I don’t believe him.”

I stopped sniffling and looked at her. Her mild blue eyes smiled into mine. Behind them lay an iron will. “ We’ll have to work very hard, you and I, but I think we can do it. Now that I know what the problem is, we can try to overcome it. I’m going to hire a tutor who knows about dyslexia. I’ll work with you myself evenings and weekends.” Her eyebrows drew down as she peered at me. “Do you want to try, Peter?”

A ray (线) of hope shone through the uncertain future.

Eli looked up at the sky. It was bright blue, his favorite color. As he lay on his back, the soft green grass brushed against his arms and legs. The cool wind kept him at the perfect temperature, and the weather was just right for playing outside. Every summer vacation, he and his family drove to the small city of Ithaca to visit his mother’s family.

Just as Eli was starting to fall asleep in the backyard, his stomach growled (饥肠辘辘). “Time for dinner” he thought. So he stood up and began to walk back to the house. Suddenly he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. It was near the woods in the back yard. Then he heard some rustling (沙沙地响). So he went to check what it was. When he got closer, the object stopped moving. He walked over quietly until he could see something lying in the grass — it was a baby deer!

Even though Eli was standing very close to the animal, he found it strange that the baby deer didn’t try running away. Eli rushed into the house and told his mother what he had found. “Well, we should check if the deer is injured. If not, we shouldn’t do anything because its mother will come back and take care of it,” she told Eli. So the two of them walked to the baby animal. Eli’s mother walked very slowly and finally got close enough to the deer.

Eli watched his mother frow n as she examined the baby deer. She walked back to Eli. “I think its back le g is injured,” she said. “But we’ll wait for a few hours and see if the deer’s mother comes back for it. If we do anything now, we might scare it and hurt it more.” Eli wanted to help the baby, but he knew his mother was right. They went back into the house and had lunch. They both kept checking the clock.

As the sky was getting dark, the little deer was still lying there.

Twenty minutes later, a big rescue truck drove into their driveway.

Last October, I took an early morning hike in the MadisonValley in southwest Montana. Knowing that bears are common throughout the area and not wanting to surprise one, I cried out, “Hey, bear!” every 30 seconds.

About three miles in, I stepped out into a grassland and shouted again. A few more steps and I spotted a grizzly bear with her cubs(幼崽) on the track at the upper end of the grassland. The bear saw me right away, and they all ran up the track. But then she stopped, turned, and charged straight for me. I yelled so she would know I was human and hopefully turned back. No such luck. I gave her a full charge of bear spray at about 25 feet. Her rush carried her right through the orange mist and onto me.

I dived face-first into the dirt and wrapped my arms around the back of my neck for protection. She was on top of me, biting my arms, shoulders and backpack. The force of each bite was like a sledgehammer(大锤) with teeth. Over and over she bit me. After what felt like hours but was merely minutes, she disappeared.

Shocked, I carefully picked myself up. I was able to walk, so I half hiked and half jogged back down the track toward my truck, three miles below. I had numerous bleeding wounds on my arms and shoulders, but I knew I would survive.

About five or ten minutes down the track, I heard a sound and turned. It was the grizzly bear down at 30 feet. I was lucky after the first attack, but could I survive a second?

Again I protected the back of my neck with my arms and kept tight against the ground to protect my face and eyes. She struck violently down on top of me and bit my shoulders and arms. My hands instantly went numb, and the wrists and fingers were limp and unusable. The sudden pain made me draw back and breathe noisily.

I had to find the ways to defeat the bear.

I raised my head and looked around.