As an engineering student, I had a degree and three good job offers.I couldn’t help trembling when I heard about studies which showed that women are at a(n) 1 when it comes to math.However, I discovered:just because a subject is 2 to learn, it does not show you are not good at it.You just have to grit your teeth and work harder to get good at it. 3 you do, there’s a(an) 4 chance you will enjoy it more than anything else.
In eighth grade I took algebra(代数).On one test I got only 36 percent of the 5 answers.I failed the next one, too.I started to 6 maybe I’m just not good at this.I was lucky enough to have a teacher who didn’t take my bad grades as a judgment of my 7 , but 8 as an indication that I should study more.He 9 me aside and told me he knew I could do better.Success grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties.I 10 the following tests, and pulled my grade up to an A.
I studied a lot in college, too.I had moments of fear while sitting below the fluorescent lights in the 11 library on Saturday afternoons, when I 12 that the estrogen(雌性激素)in my body was 13 me from understanding thermodynamics(热动力学).But the 14 in my class had to work just as hard, and I knew that I couldn’t 15 to lose confidence in myself.I didn’t want to choose between my femininity(女人气)and a good career. 16 I reminded myself that those 17 , the ones that say math comes more naturally to men, are faulty.
Here’s a secret:math and science don’t go 18 to most people.No one was 19 born knowing calculus(微积分).But as a famous saying goes:Y nothing is difficult if you put your heart into it.A woman can learn anything a man can, but first she needs to know that she can do it, and then takes a leap of 20 .