LifebecamehardwhenIwas14.MymotherandImovedtoNewYorkto36myfather,who’dmovedtheretofind 37 workwhenIwasthreeyearsold.Hehadajobatarestaurantandonlyvisitedus 38 everycoupleofyears.
BeforeImoved,IknewthatpeopleintheUSspokeEnglish.Buthonestly,Ididn’tstoptoanalyzethe 39 whenIwas 40 toleave.JustlikeIassumedIcouldeasilybecomeadoctororalawyer.IassumedthatIhadtheskillstolearnEnglishinafewweeks. 
WhenI 41 intheUSandstarted8thgradeatDitmasMiddleSchoolinBrooklyn,everyonewasspeakinga(n) 42 languageIcouldn’tunderstand.I 43 thatlifehadsubtitles,likeinforeignmovies.Schoolwassuchaseriousplacehere.SometimesIfeltlikeIwasinageek（呆子）class.Theteacherswerealways 44 mymovessoIcouldn’teventhrowapaperballataclassmate’shead.Andtheworstthingwashavingtoread 45
46 afteralmostsevenmonthsofcomplainingabouteverything,Irealizedthatcomplainingdidn’tchangethings. 47 justmademylifeworse.IfIwasgoingto 48  inthisnewconcretejungle,Ihadto 49 .IbegantolearnEnglishbyreadingnewspapersonmyown 50 school.Afteraboutfourmonths,Istartedenjoyingreadingthecrimeandsportsstories.Aftersixmonthsofstudying,myteachers 51 myimprovementandmovedmeintoamore 52 Englishclass.IcouldgotothestoreandaskforthingsthatIwantedtobuywithout 53 frustration.ForthefirsttimeIfeltlikeIwaslivingonearthagain 54 .Ididn’thearforeigntalk.I 55 understandpeople.