Q: When it came to role models, Diana Ortiz said her mother, Marcia Dominguez, was the "hero". Ms. Dominguez came to the United States from Cuba in 1979. She went to college and got a job as a social worker --- all the while raising three children in America mostly on her own.

"It was always school first," Diana said, "My mom had us in a straight line. If we got out of line, she corrected us. She was a perfect woman. She was beautiful, she had the education and she had everything --- but the illness took over. When I was 11, it frightened me to see how quickly my mother's health was ruined by cancer. A week before I turned 14, my mother died at age 50. I had tried to prepare myself, but on the first morning I woke up without my mother, the sense of loss was painful."

Diana had not seen her father for five years, who refused to provide for her. Diana then entered the city's foster care system. She has spent about four years in foster homes.

Despite Diana's hard teenage years, the values her mother had planted in her mind inspired her to go after higher education. Since August 2010, she has been a fulltime student majoring in law. A public organization offers her tuition but she has part-time jobs to help people like her and earn more life experience. Her goal is a job in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

For now, Diana works 20 hours a week as a cashier at Marshalls, earning $7.25 an hour. In November, she moved into her own public housing studio apartment on the Lower East Side. She pays $236 a month in rent. Although she is out of foster care, Diana has been speaking at workshops for foster youths. She emphasizes that nothing should get in the way of their success, not the trials of their lives or what they may have lost.

"I tell the young who have the similar experience like me, 'Why are you going to let what happened to you affect you in the long run?' " Diana said. " 'Why are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself? You're wasting precious time.' It is a message my mother would approve of. My mom taught me that everything is not given to you. You have to go out and get it."

1. Diana's mother
2. 50
3. Cuba
4. she went to foster care
5. four years
6. Her father refused her
7. five years ago
8. work for Federal Bureau of Investigation
9. works as a cashier
10. Marshalls
11. the Lower East Side
12. no
13. an apartment
14. speaks at workshops

Numbered questions:
1. Who died young?
2. How old was she?
3. Where did she come from?
4. What happened to the girl?
5. For how long?
6. Why?
7. When had she last seen him?
8. What is her goal?
9. What does she do for now?
10. Where?
11. Where does she live?
12. Does she have a house?
13. Where?
14. What else does she do?

Q: TWO deer jumped out in front of 16-year-old Amanda Floyd's car. She stepped on the brakes . and stopped just in time.

But then she started texting. Distracted , Amanda turned left and right, then crashed into another car.

Luckily she wasn't in a real car. She was in a driving simulator at Roosevelt High School, Ohio, US."I never really realized you swerve that much," Amanda, a junior, said. She added that she doesn't text while driving any more. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and State Highway Patrol brought the simulator to the school. They said they wanted to help students learn about the dangers of driving drunk, while texting, or while talking on the phone.

Last year, state authorities reported 39 fatalities , 454 serious injuries and 12,410 crashes caused by distracted driving. Experts said that real numbers are probably higher.

The simulator is basically a computer game. Like many computer games, it was a hit with the students. They lined up and crowded around to watch each other take turns. The simulator has a steering wheel , brake and gas pedals . It is made up of three large computer screens on a table.

Students choose a distraction, for example driving drunk or driving while texting. They always crash, of course. Then they are pulled over by police, and learn the bad results of their driving: how much damage they've caused, what their fine is, if anyone died in the accident, and if they're going to go to prison.

"It teaches how to drive without being on the road," said Shante Thompson, 16. She had just crashed into a deer.

ODOT spokesman Justin Chesnic said hundreds of kids have gone behind the wheel so far. He said even more have benefited from watching their classmates.

"Driving is such a major responsibility, so take it seriously," he said. "Put away your cell phone. Don't put your makeup on. Don't be eating or playing with the radio.

"A lot of the accidents out there are because of distracted driving. It cannot only change your life, but it can change someone else's life forever. The results are serious."MCT

1. TWO deer
2. She stepped on the brakes
3. she started texting
4. she crashed into another car
5. 16
6. no
7. a simulator
8. at Roosevelt High School
9. Ohio
10. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and State Highway Patrol
11. they wanted students to learn about the dangers of driving drunk, while texting, or while talking on the phone
12. 12,410
13. yes
14. a steering wheel , brake and gas pedals
15. three large computer screens on a table.

Numbered questions:
1. What jumped in front of Amanda's car?
2. What did she do when they jumped in front of her car?
3. What did she do after that?
4. What happened while she was doing that?
5. How old is she?
6. Was she in a real car?
7. What was it?
8. Where was it located?
9. What state is it located in?
10. Who brought the simulator to school?
11. Why did they bring it?
12. How many crashes are caused by distracted driving?
13. Was the simulator popular with students?
14. What does it consist of?
15. What else?

Q: In modern society, receiving systematic college education seems a necessary way for success as a graduate from first-class university may always get more opportunities than others. However, if it is gold, it will shine one day. In this article, we will get to know three most successful people in U.S. who never finished their college education. Following experiences of these successful _ s may give you some inspiration. 1. Bill Gates Harvard's campus paper "Harvard Crimson" called Bill Gates "Harvard's most successful dropout," while the rest of the world preferred to name him "the world's richest man" for more than a decade. Now, even not on the top, he is still among the list of the world's wealthiest people.Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973. Two years later, he dropped out to found Microsoft with friend Paul Allen. And in 2007, he finally received an honorary doctorate from Harvard. 2. Steve Jobs The iPad, even Buzz Lightyear probably wouldn't have existed if Steve Jobs stayed in school. Because his family couldn't afford his college education, Jobs had to drop out of Reed College just after entering for 6 months. Then he found Apple, NeXT Computer and Pixar, which had made great influences on development of modern technique and culture. However, this wizard thought that his brief college education was not worthless. 3. Frank Lloyd Wright As the America's most celebrated architect, Wright spent more time on designing colleges rather than attending classes in them. Once spent one year in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then he left for Chicago and started to learn from Louis Sullivan, the "father of modernism." Wright' s splendid resume included more than 500 works, most famous of which are Fallingwater and New York City's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

1. Bill Gates
2. Apple
3. yes
4. Steve Jobs
5. Frank Lloyd Wright
6. one year
7. University of Wisconsin-Madison
8. 500
9. three
10. two years
11. 6 months

Numbered questions:
1. who is one of people mentioned in the article?
2. what company did he found?
3. did he drop out of school?
4. who founded Apple?
5. what famous architect dropped out of school?
6. how long had he been in school?
7. where?
8. how many works has he designed over his career?
9. how many successful people are discussed?
10. how long did it take Bill Gates to drop out?
11. and Steve Jobs?