I used to have little passion (激情) in my life. But what happened the other day changed my mind. It was then that I learned how important it was to have passion in life.

That day I went home from school in Mom’s car. When Mom stopped at a red light, someone on the side of the road attracted (吸引) me. It was a man dressed in rags (衣衫褛褛的). He was homeless. That didn’t interest me because I had seen many people like him before. Those people usually looked unhappy and hopeless.

But this man was different in some way. He was not sitting down with a sad expression. Instead, he had a radio in his hand and was dancing happily to the music. The radio seemed to be the most precious (宝贵的) thing he had. “Mom, why does the homeless man have a radio?” I asked.

“He bought it,” she replied. “But why doesn’t he use the money to buy food or clothes? He paid for something that he didn’t need?”

“Well, Sarah, sometimes food and clothes aren’t the most important.”

That man must have loved music so much that he bought a radio instead of food or clothes. I soon realized that passion is the key to life.

Meals, clothes and something like these things are only parts of life. We all need a joy, a light in a dark day. We all need passion to keep going no matter what situation we are in.

Here’s a story: A man sees a butterfly. The butterfly tries to get out of its chrysalis（蛹）. Feeling sorry for it, the man decides to help it. He cuts the chrysalis and the butterfly comes out easily. Surprisingly enough, the butterfly is unable to fly. If the butterfly doesn’t try hard to leave the chrysalis, it can’t fly! The difficulties develop the power in the butterfly which makes it fly. Similarly, the challenges of life bring out the best in young people and make them fly.

When people are young, meeting and overcoming challenges will make them strong and ready to face life. When we look at successful people, we see that the most successful ones of them are those who have had to face the difficulties. One famous businessman who now owns many big supermarkets, used to carry clothes on his back and sell them from door to door when he was young. Another successful man is Dennis. His father died when he was only twenty. His father’s death made him mature fast. He had to bring up a family of nine people. Ho took up the challenges and overcame them. Today his brothers and sisters are leading successful lives.

Sometimes challenges do not appear to us because we keep away from them. So some parents and teachers actively encourage young people to face challenges. They might organize some activities for young people which provide them with challenges, like rock climbing, camping, volunteer work and so on. However, just passing exams will not prepare a person for life. We must meet and overcome challenges. The young people of today will become the leaders of tomorrow. For countries to continue to be powerful, it is important that the young people learn to meet challenges and overcome them.

In a small village, there was a wise old man named Ryan. One day, his young nephew（侄子）Keith came to visit him. During their talk, Keith said he was sad and worried about his little progress（进步）in learning the guitar. He tried hard, but he just couldn’t improve much.

Keith asked his uncle for advice. “Follow me.” said Ryan, and he led Keith up to the high hills around the village. This road was long and difficult, but Keith followed the old man. As they got higher, Ryan said that he needed to go to the top of the highest hill where he had never been to. Keith was surprised but decided to help his uncle.

With great difficulty, Keith helped his uncle climb the hill. Sometimes he even carried the old man on his back. At the top, he put his uncle back on the ground and laughed with joy.

“Do you remember the times when you were a little boy? Sometimes you returned home with tears in your eyes,” said Ryan. “The other children laughed at you. Do you remember why?”

Keith remembered that as a child he often played on the hills with other children. They called this hill Mount Impossible, because small children couldn’t reach its top. “At that time I couldn’t get here. The bigger kids had no problem.” said Keith.

“And today, you not only climbed here, but also helped me climb up.” said Ryan.

“I became bigger and stronger.”

“Instead of climbing Mount Impossible every day, you played on the smaller hills and became better at climbing. You became stronger.” said Ryan. “Mount Impossible became possible for you to climb while you didn’t even think about it.”