【Theysayacathasninelives，andIthinkthatpossiblesinceIamnowlivingmythirdlifeandI'mnotevenacat．MyfatherdiedwhenIwas15，andwehadahardstruggletomakealiving．Andmymother，whowasseriouslyillinherlastyear】

　　They say a cat has nine lives，and I think that possible since I am now living my third life and I'm not even a cat．My father died when I was 15，and we had a hard struggle to make a living．And my mother，who was seriously ill in her last years，died while still in her 60s．My sister married soon after，and I_followed_her_example_within_the_year．

　　This was when I began to enjoy my first life．I was very happy，in excellent health．I had a good job in San Jose and a beautiful home up the peninsula（半岛） in San Carlos．Life was a pleasant dream．Then the dream ended．I became afflicted（使苦恼） with a slowly progressive disease of the motor nerves，affecting first my right arm and leg，and then my other side．Thus began my second life…In spite of my disease I still drove to and from work each day，with the aid of special equipment installed in my car．And I managed to keep my health and optimism，to a degree，because of 14steps．Crazy？Not at all．Our home was an affair with 14steps leading up from the garage to the kitchen door．Those steps were a standard measure of life．They were my yardstick，my challenge to continue living．I felt that if the day arrived when I was unable to lift one foot up one step and then drag the other painfully after it-repeating the process 14times，I would be through-I could then admit defeat and lie down and die．

　　Then on a dark night in August，1971，I began my third life．It was raining when I started home that night；strong winds and slashing rain beat down on the car as I drove slowly down one of the less traveled roads．Suddenly the steering wheel jerked（猝然一动）．In the same instant I heard the bang of a blowout．It was impossible for me to change that tire!Utterly impossible!

　　I started the engine and thumped slowly along until I came to the dirt road，where I turned in and where I found lighted windows welcomed me to a house and pulled into the driveway and honked the horn．

　　The door opened and a little girl stood there．When she knew w