Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. Aldous Huxley
What if at age 46 you were burned beyond recognition in a terrible motorcycle accident, and then four years later were paralyzed from the waist down in an airplane crash? Then, can you imagine yourself becoming a millionaire, a respected public speaker, a happy newlywed and a successful business person? Can you see yourself going white water rafting? Sky diving? Running for political office?
W. Mitchell has done all these things and more after two horrible accidents left his face a quilt of multicoloredskin grafts, his hands fingerless and his legs thin and motionless in a wheelchair.
The 16 surgeries Mitchell endured after the motorcycle accident burned more than 65 percent of his body, left him unable to pick up a fork, dial a telephone or go to the bathroom without help. But Mitchell, a formerMarine, never believed he was defeated. "I am in charge of my own spaceship," he said. "It's my up, my down. I could choose to see this situation as a setback or a starting point." Six moths later he was piloting a plane again.
Mitchell bought himself a Victorian home in Colorado, some real estate, a plane and a bar. Later he teamed up with two friends and co-founded a wood burning stove company that grew to be Vermont's second largest private employer.
Then four years after the motorcycle accident, the plane Mitchell was piloting crashed back onto the runway during takeoff, crushing Mitchell's 12thoracic vertebrasand permanently paralyzing him from the waist down. "I wondered what the hell was happening to me. What did I do to deserve this?"
Undaunted, Mitchell worked day and night to regain as much independence as possible. He was elected Mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado, to save the town from mineral mining that would ruin its beauty and environment. Mitchell later ran for Congress, turning his odd appearance into an asset with slogans such as, "Not just another pretty face."
Despite his initially shocking looks and physical challenges, Mitchell began white water rafting, he fell in love and married, earned a master's degree in public administration and continued flying, environmental activism and public speaking.
Mitchell's unshakable Positive Mental Attitude has earned him appearances on the "Today Show" and "Good Morning America" as well as feature articles in parade, Time, The New York Times and other publications.
"Before I was paralyzed, there were 10,000 I could do," Mitchell says. "Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left. I tell people that I have had two big bumps in my life. If I have chosen not of the experiences you are having which are pulling you back can be put into a new perspective. You can step back, take a wider view and have a chance to say, "Maybe that isn't such a big deal after all."
Remember: "It's not what happens to you, it's what you do about it."
--Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen
Questions:
1.What happened to Mitchell when he was 46?
2.Is he married?
牛津实用英语语法:220 条件完成时
牛津实用英语语法:177用来叙述过去发生的事件
牛津实用英语语法:196 过去完成时在间接引语中的用法
牛津实用英语语法:201 will+动词原形表示做出决断时的意图
牛津实用英语语法:234 shall用于第二、第三人称
牛津实用英语语法:219 条件现在时
牛津实用英语语法:192 现在完成时的一般式与进行式的比较
牛津实用英语语法:228 if only
牛津实用英语语法:169 feel,look,smell和taste
牛津实用英语语法:218 从句时态的呼应
牛津实用英语语法:187与for和since连用
牛津实用英语语法:235 某些动词之后的that…should结构
牛津实用英语语法:247 用to代表的不定式
牛津实用英语语法:211 将来进行时
牛津实用英语语法:172一般现在时形式
牛津实用英语语法:222 条件句类型2
牛津实用英语语法:162 used
牛津实用英语语法:225 if + were以及主语和助动词的倒装
牛津实用英语语法:199 一般现在时用来表示将来
牛津实用英语语法:203 be going to形式
牛津实用英语语法:216 将来完成时和将来完成进行时
牛津实用英语语法:174其他用法
牛津实用英语语法:244 动词+宾语之后的不定式
牛津实用英语语法:168 通常不用于进行时的动词
牛津实用英语语法:204 be going to形式
牛津实用英语语法:180过去式其他用法
牛津实用英语语法:190 现在完成进行时形式
牛津实用英语语法:212 将来进行时用做一般的进行时态
牛津实用英语语法:194 过去完成时形式和用法
牛津实用英语语法:170 see和 hear
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