I can never forget the summer in 1996. I went through an extremity of despair due to my failure in the National College Entrance Examination. It seemed that my dream of being a university student would never come true. One evening my father came and told me the story of Steven Callahan, who was crossing the Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. It was a miracle that he survived and was found 76 days later(the longest anyone has survived a shipwreck on a life raft alone). Later in his narrative he wrote these sentences “I tell myself I can handle it .Compared to what others have been through I’m fortunate”.
Hearing these sentences I felt something important struck me. I belived my life would mot be that bad and it was proved to be true. Later during my study in the university I always told myself “I can handle it” when my own goals seemed far off or when my problems seemed too overwhelming and every time I said it ,I always came back to my senses.
Now I work as an English teacher in a middle school. Whenever my students complain about their difficulties in study or want to give up, I will tell the same story of Callahan to them. I just want to make them believe they can handle their difficulties because their circumstances are only bad compared to something better. But others have been through much worse. Then they will build up fortitude.
So here, coming to us from the extreme edge of survival, are words that can give us strength. Whatever you’re going through, tell yourself you can handle it. Compared to what others have been through, you’re fortunate. Tell this to yourself over and over, and it will help you get through the rough spots with little more fortitude.
我永生难忘1996年的夏天。由于我在高考中的失利，我感到了极度的失望，我要成为一名大学生的梦想似乎是无法实现了。一天傍晚，我的父亲来给我讲了一个关于史蒂文·卡拉汉的故事，史蒂文独自驾驶着帆船横渡大西洋，途中船遇难下沉，但是他却活了下来并在76天后被人发现。（他是世界上遇海滩在救生艇中存活最长时间的人了）。后来卡拉汉在他的叙述中写到“我告诉自己一定可以挺过去的，跟别人的遭遇相比，我已经算是幸运的了”。
听了这些话，我被深深地震撼了，我相信我的生活不会太差而事实也证明了这一点，后来我得到了进入大学学习的机会，在大学学习期间，当我觉得自己的目标似乎遥不可及或者我遇到了似乎无法解决的问题时，我就勉励自己说“我能挺过去的”而每每念及这句话，我总能有所醒悟。
现在我在一所中学教英语，每当学生们报怨学习的困难或是想放弃时，我就给他们讲卡拉汉的故事，我就是想让他们相信他们可以从困难中挺过去的，因为困境都是相对而言的，有些人比我们更不幸，然后他们就会在自己心中建立起永不放弃的信念。
从这个大难不死的故事中，我们学到了能给予我们勇气与力量的话语，无论你遭遇了什么，都要对你自己说：一定能挺过去的。与其他人的不幸相比，你已经算是很幸运了，要一遍一遍地用此话鼓励自己，这个信念会使你更有信心渡过难关。
