She lifted her head from her hands and told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she really wanted to play for a good college，if she truly wanted a scholarship，that nothing could stop her except one thing her own attitude. He told her again，“If the dream is big enough，the facts don’t count. ”
The next year，as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game，she was seen by a college recruiter. She was indeed offered a scholarship，a full ride，to a Division I，NCAA women’s basketball team. She was going to get the college education that she had dreamed of and worked toward for all those years.
It’s true: If the dream is big enough，the facts don’t count.
心中有目标，风雨不折腰
杰克·盖茨
我以前常常从厨房的窗户看到她穿梭于操场上的一群男孩子中间，她显得那么矮小。学校在我家的街对面，我可以经常看到孩子们在下课时间打球。操场上有很多孩子，但在我眼里，她依然显得与众人不同。
我记得第一天看到她打篮球的情景。看着她在其他孩子旁边兜来转去，我感到十分惊奇。她总是尽力地跳起投篮，球恰好越过那些孩子的头顶飞入篮筐。那些男孩总是拼命地阻止她，但没有人可以做得到。
我开始注意到她有时候一个人打球。她一遍遍地练习运球和投篮，有时直到天黑。有一天我问她为什么这么刻苦地练习。她直视着我的眼睛，不假思索地说：“我想上大学。只有获得奖学金我才能上大学。我喜欢打篮球。我想只要我打得好，我就能获得奖学金。我要到大学去打篮球。我想成为最棒的球员。我爸爸告诉我说，心中有目标，风雨不折腰。”说完她笑了笑，跑向篮球场，又开始我之前见过的一遍又一遍的练习。
嘿，我服了她了——她是下定了决心了。我看着她这些年从初中升到高中。每个星期，她带领的学校篮球代表队都能够获胜。
高中时的某一天，我看见她坐在草地上，头埋在臂弯里。我穿过街道，坐到她旁边的草地上。我轻轻地问出什么事了。“哦，没什么，”她轻声回答，“只是我太矮了。”原来篮球教练告诉她，以五英尺五英寸的身材，她几乎是没有机会到一流的球队去打球的——更不用说会获得奖学金了——所以她应该放弃上大学的梦想。
她很伤心，我也觉得喉咙发紧，因为她的那种失望我也能感同身受。我问她是否与她的爸爸谈过这件事。
她从臂弯里抬起头，告诉我，她爸爸说那些教练错了。他们根本不懂得梦想的力量。他告诉她，如果真的想到一个好的大学去打篮球，如果她真的想获得奖学金，任何东西都不能阻止她，除非她自己不愿意。他又一次跟她说：“心中有目标，风雨不折腰。”
第二年，当她和她的球队去参加北加利福尼亚州冠军赛时，她被一位大学的招生人员看中了。她真的获得了奖学金，而且还是全额奖学金，并且进入了全国大学体育协会中的一队——女子甲组篮球队。在那里，她将开始她曾梦想并为之奋斗多年的大学生活。
是的，心中有目标，风雨不折腰。
实战提升篇
核心单词
recess [ri5ses] n. 休息；休会；学校的假期
recap [5ri:kAp] n. 重述要点 v. 扼要重述;概括
routine [ru:5ti:n] n. 例行公事;惯例
varsity [5vB:siti] n. 大学;大学代表队
attitude [5Atitju:d] n. 态度,意见,看法
实用句型
I am going to play college basketball. 我要到大学去打篮球。
①用“be going to”表示将来上大学是经过事先考虑好的。
②play basketball 打篮球；类似的表达还有 play volleyball 排球；play table tennis乒乓球；play hockey曲棍球；play tennis网球；play badminton羽毛球；但在乐器前要加the，如play the piano弹钢琴。
翻译行不行
1.天安门广场上人山人海。（a sea of）
2.他们毫不犹豫地就同意了。（without a moment of hesitation）
3.孩子们好奇地盯着魔术师。（in wonder）
第一章 The Master of Investment: Warren Buffett
·Alfred ·
For someone who is such an extraordinarily successful investor，Warren Buffett comes off as a pretty ordinary guy. Born and bred in Omaha，Nebraska，for more than 40 years Buffett has lived in the same gray stucco house on Farnam Street that he bought for 31，500. He wears rumpled，nondescript suits，drives his own car，drinks Cherry Coke，and is more likely to be found in a Dairy Queen than a four-star restaurant.
But the 68-year-old Omaha native has led an extraordinary life. Looking back on his childhood，one can see the budding of a savvy businessman. Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30，1930，the middle child of three. His father，Howard Buffett，came from a family of grocers but himself became a stockbroker and later a U. S. congressman.
Even as a young child，Buffett was pretty serious about making money. He used to go door-to-door and sell soda pop. He and a friend used math to develop a system for picking winners in horseracing and started selling their“Stable-Boy Selections”tip sheets until they were shut down for not having a license. Later，he also worked at his grandfather’s grocery store. At the ripe age of 11，Buffett bought his first stock.
When his family moved to Washington D. C. ，Buffett became a paperboy for The Washington Post and its rival the Times-Herald. Buffett ran his five paper routes like an assembly line and even added magazines to round out his product offerings. While still in school，he was making 175 a month，a full-time wage for many young men.
When he was 14，Buffett spent 1，200 on 40 acres of farmland in Nebraska and soon began collecting rent from a tenant farmer. He and a friend also made 50 a week by placing pinball machines in barber shops. They called their venture Wilson Coin Operated Machine Co.
Already a successful albeit small-time businessman，Buffett wasn’t keen on going to college but ended up at Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania—his father encouraged him to go. After two years at Wharton，Buffett transferred to his parents’alma mater，the University of Nebraska in Lincoln，for his final year of college. There Buffett took a job with the Lincoln Journal supervising 50 paper boys in six rural counties.
Buffett applied to Harvard Business School but was turned down in what had to be one of the worst admissions decisions in Harvard history. The outcome ended up profoundly affecting Buffett’s life，for he ended up attending Columbia Business School，where he studied under revered mentor Benjamin Graham，the father of securities analysis who provided the foundation for Buffett’s investment strategy.