Success in the Face of Hardship
Stephen Hawking was one of the world's leading scientists.He was intelligent and curious from a young age.Hawking's life changed forever when,just before his twenty-first birthday,he discovered he was suffering from a disease that affects the brain and nerves. Wanting to make the most of the time he had left,he devoted himself to his research.As the disease progressed,Hawking continued with his work,achieving awards and changing forever the way we think about the universe.When his book A Brief History of Time was published in 1988,it became a best-seller.Hawking's success has shown how perseverance and willpower can overcome even the greatest of challenges.
When Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013 at the age of 95,he was mourned the world over.He had gone through extreme hardship for what he believed in:equality for all the people of South Africa.He fought passionately against the all-white government's system of racial separation.His activities led to him spending 27 years in prison.His eventual release was celebrated by millions across the world.Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and a year later became the first black president of South Africa,proving that the qualities of determination,patience and leadership can lead to great things.
Xu Beihong was born in 1895 in Yixing,Jiangsu Province.His father was a local portrait painter and taught his son art.The family was poor and,at the age of thirteen,young Xu had to leave home with his father and sell paintings to make a living.After several years, Xu achieved local success and recognition,but his father developed a serious illness and died shortly afterwards.Xu's early experiences of hardship and loss became the basis of the realism in his art.After many struggles,he was able to spend eight years studying art in Europe.He then returned to China to teach.His experiences drove his desire to create a new form of national art that combined traditional Chinese painting techniques with Western composition,to reflect a modern China.His talent and hard work led to the development of a new style of Chinese painting and an approach to art that is still taken by art institutions across China today.
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