When Paul Jackson was a boy, he lived near an old copper smelter (冶炼厂) which polluted the environment seriously. A beautiful forest nearby was made into a wasteland. He vowed (发誓) that someday he would make the land green again.
While at college, he chose botany (植物学). He met a professor who was an expert in ecology (生态学). He told Paul it would take about twenty thousand years to make that wasteland green again.
Then Paul got married and had some kids. But his dream would not die. He kept thinking about it. One night he took some action. He sneaked out into the wasteland with a backpack full of seedlings and started planting. For seven hours, he planted the seedlings. Every week, he made his secret journey and did the same job, but most of them died. For fifteen years he did this.
Once, when all his young trees burned to the ground because of a careless sheepherder, Paul broke down and cried. Then he got up and kept planting. Freezing winds and terrible heat, landslides and floods and fires destroyed (毁坏) his work time and time again. However, he kept planting.
Very slowly, amazing things began to take place. Now the place is fourteen thousand acres of trees, grass and bushes. Many kinds of wildlife live here. Paul received many environmental awards. His hair turned white, but he managed to keep that impossible vow he made to himself as a child.
Just keep working, no matter who criticizes you, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many times you fall.
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