When Gabe Adams, now 20, was born in Brazil, none of his limbs grew at all.Adopted by Janelle and Ron Adams, Gabe was brought to the US as a baby.Dad, Ron, said, “The biggest concern as a parent obviously was how we raise a son with no arms and no legs, to be independent.We worked hard to help him overcome different challenges.”

At school Gabe tried out for the dance team as a way of making friends—discovering he could use his limbless body to his advantage in the art of break dancing.He said, “When you are sitting in a wheelchair all day, it gets pretty boring.I needed a class where I could get out of the wheelchair and just be myself and have fun.Therefore, I took a dance class where I had a friend saying I should try out for the dance team.”

“I was just standing there in front of the judges and then I saw girls do the spins and I am like‘I can do that’, so I do the spins.But the next day I heard two girls talking behind me: ‘They are only gonna put him on the stage because he is handicapped.' I ran to the dance coach and she said,‘I would not put you or anybody else on the team because I felt sorry for them.' And that was just a huge opening moment for me to join them.”

Since becoming a part of his high school dance team, Gabe has gone on to compete in a dance competition placing second and even appeared on the Maury Show in the US.Andas his confidence as a dancer has grown, Gabe has started pursuing a career as a motivational speaker.

“I hated my parents for making me go through all that hard work, but now I look at them and celebrate that they pushed me to be independent and be the person that they knew I could be,” Gabe said.

Reading Check

1.What does the underlined word “l(fā)imbs” in the first paragraph mean?

A.Parents of a little baby.

B.Arms or legs of a person.

C.Large branches of a tree.

D.The height and weight of a baby.

2.Why did Gabe Adams take dance classes?

A.To kill time.

B.To defeat his friends.

C.To show off his potential.

D.To become a member of the dance team.

3.What contributed to Gabe Adams's success in his opinion?

A.Guidance from the coach.

B.Pressure from his parents.

C.His hatred for his parents.

D.His unique talent for dance.

Language Study

Sentence for writing

As his confidence as a dancer has grown, Gabe has started pursuing a career as a motivational speaker.

【信息提取】as引導(dǎo)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句，意義為“當(dāng)……的時(shí)候；隨著……”。

【句式仿寫(xiě)】隨著時(shí)間的推移，我們變得越來(lái)越聰明了。