Before I even started school, people felt that I was not going to amount to much. At the age of four, I started speech lessons because even I could not speak well enough to be understood.
First grade was a struggle. I not only had difficulty speaking, but I was expected to learn to read and I just couldn't do it. My parents grew more and more frustrated. They bought books and offered great rewards if I could read one of them from start to finish to them. Well, with my speech problems and now my reading problems, I did not like to do reading and so refused to do it whenever possible.
Second grade was not much better. It was in the second grade that the teacher decided that I needed special education. I remember the days of taking the physical exams. However, after all that, they decided that I did not qualify for special education.
It was in third grade that a new school was built close to where I lived. I remember going there with my parents and helping to get the school ready so that we could transfer(轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)). It was a happy day that we started school at Vandalia. However, things did not get better as my parent expected.
It was now time for fifth grade. Mrs. Wakefield was my teacher, and if ever there was a teacher that deserved a gold star, it was her. She did not make me feel upset. Instead, she helped me in so many ways and built my self-confidence so that I actually did believe that I could do something special. And that is just what I did.
For the past 22 years, I have been a fifth grade teacher. Because of Mrs. Wakefield's influence in my life, I am now encouraging students who have had difficulties in their lives to believe that they can overcome and become someone. I have won a large number of awards but I know that all of them belong to one fifth grade teacher who believed in me and challenged me to be all that I could be.
I still have a class picture of her with her fifth grade class hanging on the wall of my office, encouraging other teachers to reach out to their students.
【小題1】 What does the underlined phrase “amount to much” mean in Paragraph l?

When I was a girl of 10, I joined the school cross-country team and practiced twice a week, on the 1,8-km course I'd never really run before and I thought the course would be easy. It was a real shock I ran out of breathe(喘氣)within the first few minutes. I never realized how tiring running could be but I didn’t t think about give up.
Over time,I did get a little bit faster. However, I was really slow. In races, I would finish close to last. I'd always have to stop more than once, especially in the longer races, which were 2. 5 to 2. 8 km. After every race, I'd go home and cry. But 1 still didn't stop running, holding onto that picture of crossing the finishingline and finally doing well.  
Then one of my friends joined the team, too. She could run easily and even came in the 18^th in a big race! I felt so slow and my confidence(自信) was lower than ever. I became so nervous when I thought of the races that I wanted to give up badly.
Still. I refund to. Finally. 1 realized that the reason I was to nervous was that I was always worried that I wasn't ready for them. So a few weeks before the next 2. 8-km race. I practiced running almost 3 km every day. which helped me improve my pace(步伐).
When the time came for the big race, all that practicing really paid off. I stopped only once and my pace was so much better.
I realized that I’d finally gotten happiness with running. But the funny thing was. It didn't come from doing better, Instead, it came from the fact that I hid tried harder and never given up.
【小題1】 Before she took the 1.8-km course, the writer________.