The Most Influential Sentence--Students' Essays

What's the most influential sentence to you? The following are four essays by my students on this topic.


提示：在人生的過程中，你覺得影響你最深的一句話是什麼？請寫一篇短文，第一段說明你在什麼情況下從什麼人口中（或哪本書中）聽到這一句話？第二段描述這句話對你所產生的影響。
1.
One of the sentences that influenced me the most is “Failure is not an option.” This was a touching sentence which I first heard at NASA. One winter vacation, I participated in a space camp held by NASA. It was totally an amazing camp where you could meet those legendary people that you see on books. One day, an astronaut gave us a lecture, and shared his working experiences in outer space. He said that one of his unforgettable missions was on the moon. The mission was so tough because if he failed it would affect the earth. So, his superior told him, “Failure is not an option.” After hearing this, he made every effort to complete the mission. In the end, he succeeded.

The reason these words influenced me a lot was that the mission resembled the difficulties in our daily life. We should try our best to overcome them, and regard them as our last chance to succeed. I was so touched by this sentence that from then on whenever I faced difficulties I would think of the astronaut’s words and decide on solving the problems. The sentence “Failure is not an option” never fails to equip me with a strong will to get things done. (208 words) (31133)

2.
I used to feel bored when I was in class. The teacher sometimes repeated the same answer again and again. But one day, our homeroom teacher showed us a video. In the video, Steve Jobs was giving a speech on a college graduation ceremony. At the end of the speech, he mentioned, “Stay hungry; stay foolish.” This attracted me a lot. I was curious about why he said that.

From then on, I often thought about what the sentence means, but I still couldn’t get it. One day when I felt bored in class as usual, Steve Jobs’s sentence struck me. Then, I pretended that I was learning the lesson for the first time and concentrated on what the teacher was repeating. Amazingly, I found I learned something I hadn’t known before. I suddenly realized what Steve Jobs meant. Humans aren’t perfect. We have to keep learning at any time, and that is what most people, including me, need the most. I’ve never feel bored in class ever since. As long as I pay attention to anything the teacher says, I learn something new, not only knowledge, but also the attitude I used to lack. “Stay hungry; stay foolish.” I’ll remember it in my whole life. (205 words) (30308)


3.
Recently, I have been preparing for the college admission. As a result, I have gained much more access to many new things. Among the things I have read or watched, the most impressive was a sentence said the world-famous director, James Cameron. I watched the video on an inspiring website TED. In that video, James talked about his career and how he became who he is today. In addition, he also mentioned the obstacles that he was faced with during the time when he was shooting the brilliant sci-fi movie, Avatar. In the end, he said something really inspiring, “Failure is an option, but fear is not.”

After watching the video, I couldn’t but keep brooding over the sentence, and if finally dawned on me that by saying so, Cameron meant that we should always have faith in ourselves whenever we need to handle something that we are not so confident of. What he said left a great impression on me. It not only makes me realize that it is not necessary to worry or afraid of the coming challenge, but also strengthens my faith for the future. (188 words) (31105)

4.
Back to when I was a junior high school student, I worked so hard every day to prepare for my high school entrance exam. With time passing by, it became June, the season when we all said our goodbyes, without me even noticing it. I finally got the year book I’d long been waiting for, While leafing through it, the sentence next to my English teacher’s photo piqued my interest, which is “Winners never quit; quitters never win.”

The sentence has since had such a profound impact on me from time to time. I was an aimless girl at that time, having no idea about self-enhancement, or even my future. The only thing I’d been told to do was take the exam and score high. However, I failed to get in my dream high school with the score I got on the first entrance exam. Thus, I could only take the second one, and try to score higher. I was frustrated every time I received the result of the mock exam, which didn’t meet my expectation at all. And so I would be told that as long as I work hard, I would get whatever on my dream list. Nevertheless, reality doesn’t catch me that way. My teacher’s words reminded me that no matter what happened, I couldn’t just quit. I couldn’t be a quitter and simultaneously score high. Therefore, I kept the motto deep down in my heart. Eventually, it became a constant reminder: No matter where I am, what I’m doing, the goals I am after require my perseverance and a no-quitting attitude! (31116) (265 words)