普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语选修7Unit 1 Living well-ReadingMARTYSSTORYHi, my name is Marry Fielding and I guess you could say that I am one in a million. In other words, there are not many people like me. You see, I have a muscle disease which makes me very weak, so I cant run or climb stairs as quickly as other people. In addition, sometimes I am very clumsy and drop things or bump into furniture. Unfortunately, the doctors dont know how to make me better, but I am very outgoing and have learned to adapt to my disability. My motto is: live One day at a time.Until I was ten years old I was the same as everyone else. I used to climb trees, swim and play football. In fact, I used to dream about playing professional football and possibly representing my country in the World Cup. Then I started to get weaker and weaker, until I could only enjoy football from a bench at the stadium. In the end I went into hospital for medical tests. I stayedthere for nearly three months. I think I had at least a billion tests, including one in which they cut out a piece of muscle from my leg and looked at it under a microscope. Even after all that, no one could give my disease a name and it is difficult to know what the future holds.One problem is that I dont look any different from other people. So sometimes some children in my primary school would laugh, when I got out of breath after running a short way or had to stop and rest halfway up the stairs. Sometimes, too, I was too weak to go to school so my education suffered. Every time I returned after an absence, I felt stupid because I was behind the others.My life is a lot easier at high school because my fellow students have accepted me. The few who cannot see the real person inside my body do not make me annoyed, and I just ignore them. All in all I have a good life. I am happy to have found many things I can do, like writing and computer programming. My ambition is to work for a firm that develops computer software when I grow up. Last year invented a computer football game and a big company has decided to buy it from me. I have a very busy life with no time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. As well as going to the movies and football matches with my friends, I spend a lot of time with my pets. I have two rabbits, a parrot, a tank full of fish and a tortoise. To look after my pets properly takes a lot of time but I find it worthwhile. I also have to do a lot of work, especially if I have been away for a while. In many ways my disability has helped me grow stronger psychologically and become more independent. I have to work hard to live a normal life but it has been worth it. If I had a chance to say one thing to healthy children, it would be this: having a disability does not mean your life is not satisfying. So dont feel sorry for the disabled or make fun of them, and dont ignore them either. Just accept them for who they are, and give them encouragement to live as rich and full a life as you do.Thank you for reading my story.普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语选修7 Unit 1 Living well - Reading and writing task At the age of 25, Zhang Yuncheng achieved his ambition to write and publish a book. Having a book published is a great achievement for anyone, but Zhang Yunchengs success is particularly special. Yuncheng went to school for only one day and he did not start learning to read until he was 12 years old. Even more amazing, every character the young author writes causes him pain.Yuncheng has a disease which affects the muscles in his body. His parents first noticed there was something wrong with their son when he was just three years old. By the time he was seven, the boy could neither run nor jump. He could only walk. On his first day of school, Yuncheng had to watch the other students as they ran around at lunchtime. That day he caught a cold and his parents decided not to send him back to school. So Yuncheng stayed at home and over the years his condition got worse and worse. By the time he was 16 he could not walk at all, by 18 he couldnt get out of bed without help, and by the time he was 20 he could not lift his arms above his head. Yunchengs whole world became his family and what he could see out of the window near his bed. Every movement he made caused him pain.However, Yunchengs condition has not stopped him making the most of his life. When, at the age of 12, he became interested in learning to read, his brother showed him some characters. Within a few years he had taught himself thousands of Chinese characters. Yuncheng also taught himself to write and when he was 17 he wrote a letter to a newspaper describing his situation and his dream of a better life. The letter was read by Zhang Danuo, an editor at the newspaper, who was inspired by Yunchengs spirit. The two began writing to one another and soon became friends.Zhang Danuo offered to help Yuncheng achie