My father woke me 【小题1】 early in summer morning when I was fourteen and announced: “Get up. You’re going to with me to cut the grass.”

The idea 【小题2】 my father actually thought I was big enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and 【小题3】 (excite). From sunup to sundown my father, my young brother and I worked in the large yards in a rich part of Atlanta, Georgia. By the end of the day I was tired out, 【小题4】 I felt good. I had put in a hard day’s labor and had earned $6.

One day my father found some leaves I’d missed and pull me aside. “Clear away these 【小题5】(leaf) ,” he said firmly, “and don’t make me have to tell you to do it again.” The message was clear. Today I value the importance of doing a job right the first time. It will never fail to impress the person you are working 【小题6】.

After two years my father told my brother and me that he felt that we were old enough to do lawns on our 【小题7】. Every Saturday during our last two years of high school, we set out early in the morning with the same desire and drive we had gained while 【小题8】 (work) under our father.

Taking care of lawns was not exciting or high-paying, but that didn’t matter. It taught me that any job is a good job and that whatever I was paid was 【小题9】 than I had before.

In every job I’ve held — from doing lawns to 【小题10】 (wash) dishes — I have learned something that helped me in my next job. If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.

Poet William Stafford once said that we are defined more by the detours (绕行路) in life than by the narrow road toward goals. I like this image. But it was quite by accident【小题1】 I discovered the deep meaning of his words.

For years we made the long drive【小题2】 our home in Seattle to my parents’ home in Boise in nine hours. We travelled the way most people do: the fastest, shortest, easiest road, especially when I was alone with four noisy, restless kids who hate confinement (限制) and have strong opinions about everything.

Road trips felt risky, so I would drive fast,【小题3】(stop) only when I had to. We would stick to the freeways and arrive tired.

But then Banner, our lamb, was born. He【小题4】(reject) by his mama days before our planned trip to Boise. I had two choices: leave Banner with my husband, or take him with me. My husband made the decision for me.

That is how I found myself on the road with four kids, a baby lamb and nothing but my everlasting optimism to see me through. We took the country roads out of necessity. We had to stop every hour, let Banner shake out his legs and feed him. The kids chased him and one another. They’d get back in the car breathless and energized,【小题5】(smell) fresh from the cold air.

We explored side roads, catching grasshoppers in waist-high grass.【小题6】 we simply looked out of the car window, at baby pigs following their mother, or fish leaping out of the water, it was better than the best ride down the freeway. Here was life. And new horizons. We eventually arrived at my parents’ doorstep astonishingly fresh and full of stories.

I grew brave with the trip back home and creative with my disciplining technique. On an empty section of road, everyone started quarrelling. I stopped the car, ordered all kids out and told them to meet me up ahead. I parked my car half a mile away and read my book in sweet silence.

Some road trips are by necessity fast and straight. But that trip with Banner opened our eyes to a world available to anyone adventurous enough【小题7】(wander) around and made me realize that a detour 【小题8】 uncover the best part of a journey-and the best part of yourself.

As 【小题1】(teenager), you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize, or they can be small, for example, you may just want to become the best student in your class. Once (一旦) you find a dream, what do you do with it? Have you ever tried 【小题2】(make) your dream come true?

Andrew Mathews, 【小题3】Australian writer, tells us that making our dreams come true is the 【小题4】(big) challenge (挑战) in our life. You may think you’re not very good【小题5】 some school subjects or it is impossible for you to become a writer. These kinds of thoughts (想法) stop you 【小题6】(realize) your dreams. In fact, everyone can realize his dream. Keep telling yourself 【小题7】 you want. Do this step by step and your dream will come true earlier because a big dream 【小题8】(make) up of many small dreams.

You must never give up (放弃) your dreams too. There will be many 【小题9】(difficulty) on the road to your dreams. But the biggest one comes from 【小题10】(you). You need to decide what is the most important.