我有個朋友叫蒙提.羅伯茲，他在聖思多羅有座牧馬場。我常借用他寬敞的住宅舉辦募款活動，以便為幫助青少年的計劃籌備基金。
The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.”
上次活動時，他在致辭中提到：“我讓傑克借用住宅是有原因的。這故事跟壹個小男孩有關，他的父親是位馬術師，他從小就必須跟著父親東奔西跑，男孩的求學過程並不順利。高中時，有次老師叫全班同學寫報告，題目是長大後的誌願。”
That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.”
“那晚他洋洋灑灑地寫了七張紙，描述他的偉大誌願，那就是想擁有壹座屬於自己的牧馬農場，並且仔細畫了壹張200畝農場的設計圖，上面標有馬廄、跑道等的位置，然後在這壹大片農場中央，還要建造壹棟占地4,000平方英尺的巨宅。”
“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’”
“他花了好大心血把報告完成，第二天交給了老師。兩天後他拿回了報告，第壹頁上打了壹個又紅又大的F，旁邊還寫了壹行字：下課後來見我。”
“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive an F?’”
“腦中充滿幻想的他下課後帶著報告去找老師：‘為什麽給我不及格?’”
“The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’”
“老師回答道：‘妳年紀輕輕，不要老做白日夢。妳沒錢，沒家庭背景，什麽都沒有。蓋座農場可是個花錢的大工程；妳要花錢買地、花錢買純種馬匹、花錢照顧它們。妳別太好高騖遠了。’他接著又說：‘如果妳肯重寫壹個比較不離譜的誌願，我會重新給妳打分。’”
“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’”
“這男孩回家後反復思量了好幾次，然後征詢父親的意見。父親只是告訴他：‘兒子，這是非常重要的決定，妳必須自己拿定主意。’”
“Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, ‘You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.’”
“再三考慮好幾天後，他決定原稿交回，壹個字都不改。他告訴老師：‘即使不及格，我也不願放棄夢想。’