people are like tea bags—you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are." i can still remember the words that dad said to me years ago.

　　when i was young, i used to be very naughty. life then was like a glaball ,shining with bright colours. i had once gone down to the river bank, catching a great many worms and was afterwards punished by mum. i had ever cut the pillow towel into pieces in order to make clothes for my dolls. similarly, i was then blamed seriously. once i even put the hot iron on the floor which immediately burnt a big hole on the carpet. although i had done so many annoying things, my childhood seemed to be rather colourful. however, i had never had a clear definition about myself. but then something happened. it had made a great difference to my life and made who i am now.

　　i had always been afraid of having the intravenous drop in hospital. the first time i was taken to have the drop, i cried for almost half an hour and finally gave off at father"s severe scolding. watching the cold needle stabbing into my skin, i cried even more loudly. at that time, i never dared to take a glance at my hand and always needed my mother to stay with me at my side. even if mum had told me many times," honey, there’s nothing to be scared of. just close your eyes and sleep." i would still keep my eyes wide open, watching the liquid flow through the bottle and never slept.

　　nevertheless, things just happened in a casual way. when i caught a high fever again when young, mum had to send for the doctor home to treat me. i was so sick that i became quite drowsy and then slept. when i suddenly woke up in the afternoon, i found the liquid in the bottle had already flown over ,while mum and dad were not around. i yelled, but finally found it was of no use. so i jumped out of the bed and pulled up the tubule. in the nature of things, the blood came out and dropped along the way i went downstairs. things became different at the time i went down alone. i discovered that i could be independent. i was much stronger than i had thought. looking back on the girl who cried all day, i came to understand suddenly that the strong part of the inner myself had been existing all the time. seeing the anxious mum, i revealed a big smile to her. i could see that mum was trying to hold her tears back and scrubbed my blood on the hand. she didn"t know that her little girl had stealthily grown up.

　　since then, i became stronger. as you see now, standing in front of you is a confident and sunny girl. in my grown-up life, i"ve never cried for being injured no matter how serious it is. i can even go to the hospital alone when mum and dad are on business. i came acroso many difficulties in life, while i"ve never thought of giving up. thanks to that extraordinary experience at my age of ten, i discovered a person inside myself who has been so important and unique to me. just like what dad had told me before, "people are like tea bags—you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are."