Eleven-year-old Angela was stricken with a debilitating(使人虚弱的) disease involving her nervous system(神经系统). She was unable to walk and her movement was restricted(受限制的) in other ways as well. The doctors did not hold out much hope of her ever recovering from this illness. They predicted she’d spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. They said that few, if any were able to come back to normal after contracting(染上) this disease. The little girl was undaunted(顽强无畏的). There, lying in her hospital bed, she would vow to anyone who’d listen that she was definitely going to be walking again someday.
She was transferred to a specialized(专门的) rehabilitation hospital(复健医院) in the San Francisco Bay area. Whatever therapies(疗法) could be applied to her case were used. The therapists(治疗专家) were charmed by her undefeatable spirit. They taught her about imaging—about seeing herself walking. If it would do nothing else, it would at least give her hope and something positive to do in the long waking hours in her bed. Angela would work as hard as possible in physical therapy, in whirlpools(漩涡) and in exercise sessions. But she worked just as hard lying there faithfully doing her imaging, visualizing herself moving, moving, moving!
One day, as she was straining with all her might(力量) to imagine her legs moving again, it seemed as though a miracle happened: The bed moved! It began to move around the room! She screamed out, “Look what I’m doing! Look! Look! I can do it! I moved, I moved!”
Of course, at this very moment everyone else in the hospital was screaming, too, and running for cover(躲避处). People were screaming, equipment was falling and glass was breaking. You see, it was the recent San Francisco earthquake. But don’t tell that to Angela. She’s convinced(深信不疑的) that she did it. And now only a few years later, she’s back in school. On her own two legs. No crutches, no wheelchair. You see, anyone who can shake the earth between San Francisco and Oakland can conquer a piddling(微不足道的) little disease, can’t they?