Another person's enthusiasm was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved. That person was my stepmother.
I was nine years old when she entered our home in rural Virginia. My father1me to her with these words: “I would like you to meet the fellow who is2for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no 3than tomorrow morning.”
My stepmother walked over to me, 4my head slightly upward, and looked me right in the eye. Then she looked at my father and replied, “You are 5. This is not the worst boy at all, 6the smartest one who hasn't yet found an outlet（释放的途径）for his enthusiasm.”
That statement began a(n)7between us. No one had ever called me smart, My family and neighbors had built me up in my 8as a bad boy. My stepmother changed all that.
She changed many things. She 9my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors. She moved our family into the county seat, where my father's career could be more 10and my brother and I could be better11.
When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand12and told me that she believed that I could become a writer. I knew her enthusiasm, I13it and I saw it had already improved our lives. I accepted her 14and began to write for local newspapers. I was doing the same kind of15that great day I went to interview Andrew Carnegie and received the task which became my life's work later. I wasn't the 16beneficiary (受益者). My father became the 17man in town. My brother and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president.
What power 18has! When that power is released to support the certainty of one's purpose and is 19strengthened by faith, it becomes an irresistible（不可抗拒的）force which poverty and temporary defeat can never 20.
You can communicate that power to anyone who needs it. This is probably the greatest work you can do with your enthusiasm.
