题目：Depend on Yourself
要求：
1. “Depend on yourself” is what nature says to every man.
2. There have been many great men in history.
3. Today, however, some young men have no ambition to excel …
谢谢！

http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~aburton/hw/10.14.99.html

Depending on Yourself
A reflective essay by Andrew Burton

Have you ever been told something by somebody, acted upon what you were told, then found out what they told you was wrong? This just
goes to show that you should never rely on anybody else's word. I have always been told that attitute is everything. If you want to do
accomplish something, your attitute towards your goal is the most important factor in your success. However, my personal experiences say
otherwise. In seventh grade P.E. class, I had taken up the attitute that P.E. is a waste of time, and was not motivated to actively exert
effort in the class. This kept up throughout the year, and my grade at the end was a "B". The next year, I decided I had better change my
ways. I made sure to show enthusiasm and effort throughout the year. My final grade this time? Still a "B". This has forever disheartened me
from trying to get an A in P.E., since it seems that nothing you do can change your grade. Even if you change your attitute, the result can be
the same.
The necessity of self-reliance becomes more and more apparent if you start to search for examples. For instance, several of my
friends had a certain teacher for a physics class, who was often wrong in his teachings, but unwilling to admit to his mistakes. They had to
compare what he had taught them with information in other places, to make sure he wasn't teaching the lessons incorrectly. Due to his
mistakes, they had to rely on themselves, not the word of the teacher. My parents always tell me that if I don't want homework to be such a
chore, that I have to motivate myself. I took their advice with an open mind, and got myself motivated for a history essay. But when the time
came to write it, it was just as bad as any other. It did not seem to matter whether or not I was motivated in writing my essay, despite what
I was told by my parents. What people tell you to do, even if it may have worked for them, will not always work for you. It is a good practice
to base your decisions off of your own personal experiences instead of depending on other people's predictions.


This essay copyright 1999 by Andrew Burton.