Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs except a degraded limb which he refers to‘chicken drumstick’. Because of this, many classmates regard him as a weirdoand tend to keep away from him, making he feel depressed. However, after aninjury of his ‘leg’, which he used for many things like typing, writing andmoving around, he realized that he needs to focus on his abilities rather thanhis disabilities. He then tried to ignore others’ derision and paid moreattention to good aspects of his life. He found surprisingly that he canactually do lots of things that previously seem impossible for him to achieve,for example, swimming. He started to deliver speeches about his faith andovercoming adversities when he was seventeen, and his story encouraged andinspired myriad children and youngsters. Now he is estimable and renowned.
The heroine of Homeless to Harvard, Liz is one of the two daughters of an extremely dysfunctional family. During herchildhood, she lives with her drug-addicted mother and her father, who isintelligent, but has AIDS and lacks social skills. At first she is unwilling toattend school, but after a sequence of misfortunes, including the eviction dueto not paying the rent, and her mother’s death of drug abuse, she begins herwork to finish high school, which she amazingly completed in two years ratherthan the usual four. She becomes a star student and earns scholarship toHarvard University.
Kodak is an American technology company focused on image solutions and is best knownfor its photographic film product. During the 20th century, Kodakheld a dominant position in the film industry. The company’s ubiquity was suchthat its slogan ‘Kodak moment’ entered the common lexicon o describe a personalevent that demanded to be recorded for posterity. However, Kodak companyrefused to transit to the digital photography, which began to replace the oldfilm products and was widely adopted by similar companies such as Canon andSony in the 21th century. Since then, the company had beenstruggling financially as a result of the decline of sales and finally, in2012, Kodak company bankrupted.
Nelson Mandela, who is often described as the father of South Africa, dedicated his life intofighting against racism and inequality. Initially, he worked as a lawyer, andonly committed to non-violent protest against the apartheid government.However, after having been arrested repeatedly for seditious activities, herealized that the government would not do anything except enacting laws thatfurther fostered racism. He said:”The last 30 years saw the greatest numbers oflaws that stopped our right and progress, until today we have reached a stagewhere we have no right at all. Only then did we decide to answer violence withviolence.” In 1961, he led a subversive campaign against the government.Although he was arrested a year later, he was released due to an internationalcampaign lobbying for him, and succeeded in establishing a government thatabolished apartheid and adopted multiracial election.
Sanlu wasa Chinese dairy product company which owned one of the oldest and most popularbrands of infant milk powder. That its products provide abundant nutrition forinfants was suggested by its slogan, and trusted by myriad parents. However, in2008, the company was involved in the scandal of adulterated milk, whichaffected tens of thousands of Chinese infants and killed six. In order to makelarger profits, the company secretly adulterated its baby milk powder withmelamine, which can cause kidney stones and other complications. The companybankrupted and several of its top managers were sentenced to long prison terms.
Even by the modern standards, the Titanic is a colossal ship. At the timeshe was still afloat, however, she was not only the largest ship ever built,but also the symbol of the most advanced engineering technology. Unfortunately,this huge success made people become so confident about the ship that theyasserted that it was practicallyunsinkable. Despite some of the ‘alarmists’ warning’, the crew of Titanic wasreluctant to furnish it with life boats. It is the cocksureness and remissnessof the crew that ultimately led to one of the deadliest peace time maritimedisasters and the worldwide shock and outrage at the huge loss of life.
Titanic was one of the greatest liners that sank after colliding with an iceberg during hermaiden voyage. The sinking of Titanic is one of the deadliest peace timemaritime disasters that was greeted with worldwide shock and outrage at the hugeloss of life and the regularity and operational errors that had led to it. Asthe public dissatisfaction and criticism began to accumulate, both the UK andthe US governments felt obligated to improve the maritime safety. Oneof their most important improvements was the establishment in 1914 of theInternational Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which stillgoverns maritime safety today. Additionally, several new wireless regulationswere passed around the world in an effort to learn from the many lapses inwireless communications—which could have saved many more passengers.
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist and biologist, who is bestknown for his contributions to evolutionary theory. Darwin published his theoryin his book On the Origin of Species, which aroused international controversy. Criticsdrew caricatures that depict him as an ape, theologians attacking the theory asheresy, and even some of his close friends and tutors dismissed the idea. ButDarwin was not one to quit. He eagerly scrutinized thescientific response, commented on criticisms, satires and caricatures, andcorresponded on it with colleagues worldwide. Though his illness, he insistedon participating public debates. The most famous confrontation was atthe public 1860 Oxford evolution debate during a meeting, where the Bishop of Oxfordargued against Darwin's explanation and human descent from apes. Darwin’slegendary retort, that he would rather be descended from an ape than a man whomisused his gifts, symbolized a triumph of science over religion.
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