[1] I'm a 34-year-old man, married, lived in a nice house, and have a successful career. But my life was not always so great. I had a learning disability from an early age. I went to a special school where I got plenty of extra (额外的) help. Still, I suffered the rest of my school days in public schools.
[2] My life improved greatly when I discovered art. The art world gave me a chance to express myself without words. I went to a workshop and gradually became good at making things with clay. Here I learned my first important lesson: disabled as I was in language, I could still be smart and well express myself with clay. And my confidence（自信）came along.
[3] I got my next lesson from rock climbing. It was a fun thing but I was scared from the start. ⑶I soon noticed it wasn't a talent thing; it needed lots of practice. So I did it more. After about five years of climbing, I found myself in Yosemite Valley on a big wall. I learned that if you fall in love with something and do it all the time, you will get better at it.
[4] Later I decided to learn ⑷① to read and write. I practiced reading and ⑷② , which I used to avoid as much as possible. After two years, I was literate(有文化的).
[5] Through the long process with art, ⑷③ , and reading and writing, now I've got to a point in my life: I am smart enough to dive into (潜入) an area that is totally unknown, hard, but interesting.
