For Liang Shi, a 55-year-old man who sat the exam or the 26th time this year, gaokao is more like a strong interest that never fades.

Liang, who was a native of Meihan, Southwest China’s Sichuan province fist took the gaokao in 1983 when he was 16. But his score was not good enough for him to be accepted by any college. In the following two years, he also failed the exam.

In 1986, he was admitted to a technical school, but he soon dropped out, believing he deserved to go to a university. In the following several years, he worked part-time while preparing for the exam.

In 1991, Liang became a fulltime worker of a timber(木材) company and he married in the same year. But he continued to apply for the gaokao. That year, Liang was 24. Due to the age limit of gaokao, it was his last chance to sit the test, but he failed once again.

He tried his hands in various enterprises(企业) in the following years and started selling building materials in 1995 from which he made a good fortune. Despite his success in business, his zeal for higher education stuck with him.

In 2001, China canceled the age limit on gaokao candidates(25yearsod), and Liang’s college dream was reignited(再点燃) .

Since then, Liang has been taking part in the exam every year except for a few years when he was too busy to sit for the exam.

Liang once scored marks good enough to be accepted by a university, but he gave up the opportunities offered because he aimed higher: he wanted to study at the famous Sichuan University.

This year. Lang has taken the national college entrance exam for the 26th time. This time, Liang took the test as a liberal arts student instead of a science student, believing that would help him perform better. Some netizens questioned his motivations and believed Liang is taking the exam only to become famous. But Liang has dismissed the distractions (干扰)and focused on reaching his goal.

“Though I am more than 50 years old now, I still feel like I am a middle school student,” he said. “I am confident that this year I will achieve a good result”

“Mom, I don’t like you; you’re not pretty now,” my five - year - old son said to me one day, Being a mother of two kids under three has certainly kept me busy. In prioritizing my family’s needs, my own needs are always postponed.

By the end of the day, when I finally have time to think about doing something for myself, I’m too tired. I reach for a glass of wine and sink down into the sofa to watch some mindless TV entertainment. I escape. I let myself daydream.

With each passing day, I lose myself just a little bit more. Long ago, I waved goodbye to the fun - loving person I once was and saw the dull version of my new self.

But something changed on the day my son told me I wasn’t pretty. That night, in the mirror I noticed the light had gone out of my eyes. My kids had magical eyes. They shone with wonder, hope, and adventure. Contrarily, my eyes were dull. I once had light and a journal full of adventures.

Then, I decided to bring light back to my eyes. I listed new things to try before I turned forty years old. The first thing was participating in a Polar Plunge to raise money for the Special Olympics. I live in Minnesota and jumping into the middle of a frozen lake seems very appealing. On the morning of the Polar Plunge, I changed into my 1980s workout gear (健身装备). My son said, “Mom, you look pretty. ”

But I hesitated when approaching the platform to take the leap into the frozen lake. Finally, I let go of my fear and got ready to embrace the challenge. I felt happy and proud of myself as I came up from the lake. I kept screaming, “I did it!”

Everyone who participated in the Polar Plunge received a blue T - shirt. Whenever I wear that shirt, my sons stated, “Mommy, you’re great. We want to do that, too”. It makes me proud.

Slowly, I am returning. I am showing my family it’s important to dream and achieve it. I reach out to my friends and family. I am rebuilding myself.

One year, a college in the United States announced that it would offer a lot of money for the pure white marigold (金盏花). The high reward attracted so many people, but in the nature, besides golden, the marigold is brown, and it is not easy to get the white one. So after they were excited for a time, many people had forgotten the announcement.

One normal day after 20 years, the college received a letter and 100 seeds of pure white marigold. It was an old woman of over 70 years old. Some experts in the college doubted it, but in order not to let her down, those seeds finally took root (根) in the earth. The miracle appeared after one year; the field was covered by pure white marigold.

Therefore, the old woman who was always unknown to the public became a new focus.

The old woman was a flower-lover. When she read the announcement 20 years ago, she got very excited like others. But her eight children were totally against her decision. After all, a woman who never knew the seed genetics (遗传学) couldn’t complete what the experts could never do, so her thought was only a day dream.

Still, the old woman didn’t change her mind and went on working. She planted some of the most common seeds and took good care of them. A year later, when the marigold came out, she chose one faintest (最暗淡的) from those golden and brown flowers and got the best seed. The next year, she again grew them and chose ... Day after day, year after year, through many seasons, the old woman’s husband died, her children flew far, a lot of things happened in her life, but only the wish to grow the pure white marigold took root in her heart.

Finally, after 20 years on the day we all know, in the garden she saw a marigold, which was nearly white, but as white as silver or snow.

A problem even experts couldn’t deal with was solved by an old woman who didn’t understand genetics. Was it a miracle (奇迹)?

To take root in the heart, even the most common seed can grow into a miracle!