Unit 8
The Great Mind
Text A
Pre-reading Questions
1. Can you imagine a life without limbs?
2. Who will flash into your mind when it comes to disabled heroes? What qualities appeal to you most?
Life Without Limits
Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability to dance, walk, run, or even stand on two feet. Now put both of those scenarios together: no arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that affect your everyday life?
Born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, without any medical explanation or warning, Nicholas Vujicic came into the world with neither arms nor legs. Having had an uneventful pregnancy and no family history to expect this condition, imagine the shock his parents felt when they say their first born, brand new baby boy, only to find he was what the world would consider imperfect and abnormal. How would their son live a normal, happy life? What could he ever do or become when living with what the world would see as such a massive disability? Little did they know that this beautiful limbless baby would one day be someone who would inspire and motivate people from all walks of life, touching lives all over the world.
As Nick grew up, he learned to deal with his disability and started to be able to do more and more things on his own. He adapted to heis situation and found ways to accomplish tasks that most people could only do by using their limbs, such as cleaning teeth, brushing hair, typing on a computer, swimming ,plying sports, and much more. As time went by, Nick began to embrace his situation and achieve greater things. In grade seven Nick was elected captain of his school and worked with the student council on various fund-raising events for local charities and disability campaigns.
After school Nick went on with further study and obtained a double bachelor degree majoring in accounting and financial planning. By the age of 19, Nick had started to fulfill his dream of encouraging others by sharing his story through motivational speaking. He found the purpose of his existence, and also the purpose in his circumstance. Nick wholeheartedly believes that there is a purpose in each of the struggles we encounter in our live and that our attitude towards those struggles can be the single most effective factor in overcoming them.
Now at 27 years old, this limbless young man has accomplished more than most people even twice his age. Nick recently made the massive move from Brisbane, Australia to California, USA, where he is the president of an international non- profit organization, and also has his own motivational speaking company, Attitude Is Altitude. Since his first motivational speaking engagement back when he was 19, Nick has traveled around the world, sharing his story with millions of people, speaking to a range of different groups such as students, teachers, youth, business men and women, entrepreneurs, and church congregations of all sizes. People ask Nick, “How can you smile?” Then they realize there`
s got to be something more to life than meets the eye if a guy without arms ans legs is living a fuller life.
uneventful
Nick shares with his audiences the importance of vision and dreaming big. Using his own experiences in worldwide outreach as examples, he challenges others to examine their perspective and look beyond their circumstances. He shares his vies of ceasing to see obstacles as problems, and instead begin to see them as opportunities to grow and reach out to others. He stresses the importance of how attitude can be the most powerful tool we have at our disposal and illustrates how the choices we make can have a profound effect on our lives and the lives of those around us. Nick shows through his own life that the major keys to fulfilling our biggest dreams are persistence and choosing to embrace failure as a learning experience, rather than allowing the guilt and fear of failure to paralyze us.
How does Nick Vujicic feel about his disability now? He accepts it, embraces it and oftentimes pokes fun at his own circumstance as he shows off his many tricks. He meets challenges with his special blend of humor, perseverance and faith, always encouraging th
ose around him to examine their perspective as they develop and define their vision. Using those new definition he challenges each person he meets to make changes in their lives so that they can begin the path to fulfilling their biggest dreams. Through his amazing ability to connect with people from all walks of life and his incredible sense of humor he captivates children, teens and adults alike. Nick is a true inspirational and motivational speaker.
Text B
Pre-reading Questions
1. What factors do you think contribute to success?
2. Can you figure out what reasons account for Steve Jobs` success?
An Unwanted Baby, Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is a man who has great courage and dares to take risks. He may not be perfect but he pulled together the most fantastic act by overcoming Microsoft, the movie industry a
nd the music business. Jobs followed his dream and led a revolution in the computing world.
Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California. His biological mother was an unwed graduate student named Joanne Simpson and decided to put him up for adoption. Joanne had a college education, and she insisted that the future parents of her boy be just as well educated. Unfortunately, the candidates, Paul and Clara Jobs, did not meet her expectations: Clara didn`t graduate from college and Paul only attended high school. When she found out that both his future parents had never graduated from college, she refused to sign the adoption papers. She only relented a few months later and agreed to have baby adopted by them, under the firm condition that they would send him to college.

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