Most mornings, Marcus Jackson is up by 6∶15.A fourteen-year old in Harry Potter-style glasses, he wastes little 1 before rushing down the stairs of his home.As Mom 2 breakfast, he heads straight for a kitchen drawer and 3 out a Ping-pong paddle and ball.For the next five minutes, Marcus practices serves off the refrigerator.
“I can hit the ball really 4 so that the other person hardly even sees it fly 5 the table,” he says.He's so good at his game that he holds the number-one ranking in table tennis for boys under 15 in 6 .
He 7 his success to a set of practice that goes 8 morning contests with his parents' Kenmore refrigerator.Since he was six-and-a-half years old, Marcus has spent two hours a day, six days a week, 9 with his dad, Morris, who won the national table-tennis 10 in 1988.He also receives lessons from Cheng Yinghua and Jack Huang, two former Chinese National Team members.
When Marcus was eight, he 11 himself to be a force in the sport by winning the United States Table Tennis Association National Championships(Under-ten).Since then, his talent has led him all over the country for competitions.Along the way, he has learned how to deal with 12 as well.“I know when to step back if I get 13 ,”Marcus says.He's also 14 a bit of the true spirit of sports.During a match last year, when he was up 8 to 0, his dad flashed him a 15 -a quick move of his thumb over the shoulder-to let Marcus know he 16 allow his opponent(对手)to score 17 once.At 10 to 0, Marcus finally gave 18 a score.He took the next point, for an 11-to-1 victory.
Apart from table tennis, Marcus enjoys Game Boy, basketball and swimming.The straight-A student hopes to study electrical engineering at an Ivy League college when he gets 19 .In the meantime he has two athletic goals:“ 20 in the 2008 Olympics in China and beating my dad on a regular basis.”
Perhaps the most interesting person I have ever met in my life is an Italian professor of philosophy who teaches at the University of Pisa. 1 I last met this man eight years ago, I have not forgotten his 2 qualities.First of all, I respected his 3 to teaching.Because his lectures were always well-prepared and clearly delivered, students crowded into his classroom.His followers liked the fact that he 4 what he taught.Furthermore, he could be counted on to explain his ideas in an 5 way, introducing such aids to 6 as oil paintings, music, and guest lecturers.Once he 7 sang a song in class in order to make a point clear. 8 , I admired the fact that he would talk to students outside the classroom or talk with them 9 the telephone.Drinking coffee in the café, he would easily make friends with students.Sometimes he would 10 a student to a game of chess. 11 , he would join student groups to discuss a variety of 12 : agriculture, diving and mathematics and so on.Many young people visited him in his office for 13 on their studies; others came to his home for social evenings.Finally, I was 14 by his lively sense of humor.He believed that no lesson is a success 15 , during it, the students and the professor 16 at least one loud 17 .Through his sense of humor, he made learning more 18 and more lasting.If it is 19 that life makes a wise man smile and a foolish man cry, 20 my friend is indeed a wise man.