The adolescent girl from Tennessee is standing on the stage of a drama summer camp in upstate New York. It’s a beautiful day. But the girl doesn’t feel beautiful. She’s not the leggy, glamorous Hollywood type. In fact, she describes herself as dorky。

Since she was six years old, Reese Witherspoon has wanted to be a country singer. And Dolly Parton is her idol. But this flat-chested wisp of a girl is no Dolly Parton.Nevertheless, all of this summer she’s been acting, dancing and singing---giving it her best。

Play to your strengths. If you’re going to make it in this business, it’s not going to be on sexy—that’s not who you are. Better focus on what you’re good at. Celebrate yourself。

Despite three years of lessons, at the end of camp her coaches tell her to forget about singing. They suggest she think about another career. If Reese did have talent, it was hiding under her skinny, mousy frame and her Coke-bottle glasses。

Still, she takes their words to heart. After all, why shouldn’t she believe the professionals?

But back at home in Nashville, her mother — a funny, happy, upbeatperson — wouldn’t let her mope. Her father, a physician, encouraged her to achieve in school. So she worked hard at everything and was accepted at Stanford University。

And at age 19, she got a part in a low-budget movie called Freeway. That led to a substantial role in the movie Pleasantville. But her big break came with Legally Blonde。

Well, she decided, "if you can’t sing and you aren’t glamorous, play to your strengths. If you’re going to make it in this business, it’s not going to be on sexy — that’s not who you are. Better focus on what you’ve good at. Celebrate yourself." And then came the offer that took her back to her Nashville roots — playing the wife of tormented country star Johnny Cash. A singing role。

All of a sudden the old fears were back. She was so nervous on the set, a reporter wrote, she "kept a sick bucket" nearby and admitted she "would go backstage after a singing scene and shake." But she didn’t give up on the movie or herself。

The humor and drive she learned at home overcame the self-doubt learned on that summer stage. She spent 6 months taking singing lessons again. She learned to play the Autoharp. And the hard work built up her confidence。

Last March, Reese Witherspoon walked up on another stage, the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and accepted the Oscar as Best Actress for her heartbreaking, heartwarming singing role as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line。

Finally, as you read thse accounts of Reese Witherspoon, consider the obstacles she met. The lesson of the strory, I suppose, is that instead of making dozen excuses why you can not realize your dreams, think about this story, just hold to your dream and never give up。

【中文譯文】：

一名少女由田納西州來到紐約北部，她站在戲劇夏令營的舞臺上，雖然天氣是那么好，她的心情卻一點也不好。因為她不是那種身材頎長、豐腴美艷的好萊塢式美女，實際上她形容自己是“土里土氣，還有點傻”。

從六歲開始，里斯?威瑟斯龐就夢想著成為一名鄉村歌手，多莉?帕頓是她心中的偶像。但她可一點都不像多莉?帕頓，她胸部扁平，身材纖細。然而，整個夏天她都在盡全力地表演，跳舞和唱歌。

發揮長處。如果想在這一行發展，不要走自己不擅長的性感路線。更好地專注于自己的特長，為自己喝彩。

她已經上了三年的聲樂課程，但夏令營結束時，老師們還是告訴她應該忘掉唱歌這件事兒，另謀出路。如果里斯確實有天分的話，那也是給她纖細的身材和厚如可樂瓶底兒的眼鏡遮蓋住了。

雖然心有不甘，可她還是聽從了建議，畢竟，她有什么理由懷疑專業人士呢?

但回到位于納什維爾的家里，她的媽媽—— 一名風趣、快樂、樂觀的兒科護士——可不會讓里斯感到絲毫的沮喪。她的爸爸是一名醫生，他鼓勵女兒在學業上有所成就。于是，她凡事努力，終于被斯坦福大學錄取。

19歲那年，她出演了一部低成本電影《極速驚魂》。這為她后來在《歡樂谷》中爭取到真正重要的角色奠定了基礎。而她真正的破冰之作是影片《律政俏佳人》。

她暗下決心：“既然自己沒有歌唱天分，又不是光彩照人，那就盡力演出。要想在這行做下去，就不要在性感上做文章了——自己不是那種類型的。最好在自己擅長 的方面下功夫。要展示自己。”這時，她接到片約，邀她出演約翰尼?卡什——一個飽受折磨的鄉村歌手——的妻子，這是個需要演員有唱功的角色，該片約又把她 帶回到納什維爾的家鄉。

突然，舊時所有的恐懼感又回來了，一名記者報道說，她在臺上實在是太緊張了，甚至在一邊“準備了嘔吐時要用的痰盂”，她自己也承認“每唱完一幕回到后臺，自己都在發抖”。但她沒放棄那部電影，也沒放棄自己。

她用六個月的時間重新開始學習聲樂。她還學會了演奏豎琴。不懈的努力讓她重拾信心。

2006年3月，里斯?威瑟斯龐走上了另一個舞臺——好萊塢的柯達劇院。憑借在影片《一往無前》里飾演的瓊?卡特?卡什這一歌唱角色，她獲得了奧斯卡最佳女演員獎，她在片中飾演的角色令人心碎，但也讓人心暖。

最后，當你讀瑞茜威瑟彭斯的故事時，想想她遇到的挫折。我認為，這個故事告訴我們，與其找借口解釋夢想為什么不能實現，不如想想這個故事，堅持你的夢想，永不放棄。