Patty Zeitlin
Patty Zeitlin is a teacher, writer, singer and music composer. She started her career in Los Angeles as a teacher of young children. Her life journey has taken her into teaching and training early childhood teachers, writing and recording songs for children and adults, writing books, poetry and scripts, and even performing with a puppet troupe. She is a dedicated professional, and an accomplished musician and writer. She has utilized her knowledge and understanding of young children and her artistic abilities in unusual and creative ways.
星起星落
我很确定，当我站起来试演年度圣诞剧的主角时，初中话剧班上的每个人都看到了我手里拿着的剧本在发抖。我之所以参加了这次试演，并非出于自愿，而是因为老师希望我们每个人都去尝试一个角色。
与同龄人相比，那时我个头小，穿着旧衣服，动不动就哭。在学校，我经常被嘲笑，也没有任何朋友。当时我真想缩回到我的座位，成为隐形人。但是，我站在了舞台上。不一会儿，我就变得不再胆怯。我进入了一个虚构的美丽世界。我读着主角“小星”的台词。她和我一样，也是穷人家的孩子。但和我不同的是，她对生活抱着积极的态度。我念完了台词，赶紧回到了自己的座位上。当老师宣读演员表并叫我的名字时，我并没注意到，因为从来没人选我做任何事情。
“帕蒂，”她重复道，“你演小星。过来拿你的剧本。”
“那怎么可能！”虽然我很震惊，但是我非常开心。
我迫不及待地学习台词，希望自己能够做到最好。所以我每天都练习。起初，我很担心自己会忘记长独白的部分台词。但我设法记住了它。从那之后我更加自信了。
一天，在我们话剧课上课之前，几个同学站在黑板前，窃笑着看着我。当他们走开，我看见一幅像漫画一样的女孩画像，屁股硕大，嘴唇又大又丑。漫画的上面写着几个字，“陨落之星”。这真的伤了我的心。我太尴尬了，甚至都没哭。老师平静地将黑板上的漫画擦掉。“谁干的？”她问道。当然，没有人承认。
在我们开始排练，我念着台词，却总是心不在焉。下课时，老师把我叫到一边，告诉我不要理会那些愚蠢的行为，这些事情可能不会再发生了。但是她错了。从那之后的每一天，黑板上都会出现一幅“陨落之星”的画，画得一天比一天丑陋，一天比一天令人难堪。最后，我要求老师启用替补演员代替我，因为我觉得自己会一败涂地。老师却说：“你不会失败的，你能做到。我知道你能行，我会帮助你的。”
从那以后，我们每周都在下午放学后碰几次面。她教我如何使用声音表达自己当时体会到的感情，如何表演摔倒而避免自己受伤。我此生中从未那么努力地去做一件虽然令我觉得害怕却很有趣的事。演出非常完美。我带着无尽的喜悦飞扬着，舞动着。
在表演结束后，同学们跑上前来说：“你真的很不错。”甚至说我“棒极了”或者“了不起”。我感到无比快乐和幸福。尽管我是一颗一度陨落的星星，但是通过努力，终于冉冉升起并闪闪发光。
The text is a story about how a girl, who was poor and not very self-confident, worked hard and overcame all difficulties to make her show successful. In the story, Patty was chosen to play a main character named “Star” in the annual Christmas play. However, some classmates mocked her by drawing an ugly cartoon on the blackboard. She was really hurt and wanted to give up. However, with the help and encouragement of her teacher, the show finally turned out to be successful and she won praise from other students accordingly. From this story we can see that we should never give up even when we are in a very difficult situation. Only with our own efforts and hard work can we win respect from others.
(P140)II. Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the words in Column A of the above table.
（P141) V. Choose the best phrase for each sentence.
随堂练习
（P142) VII. Complete the following sentences by translating the Chinese given in brackets into English.
