The average person would rather leave their dreams unfulfilled than risk everything in an attempt to achieve the seemingly impossible. A select few, however, are willing to take that risk. According to the best-selling Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, these few are alchemists: people who have the courage to follow their dreams and change their ordinary livessintossomething extraordinary.

　　Paulo Coelho himself was once on a conventional path in life. He was following his parents' wishes and studying law in school-but he dreamed of traveling and of being a writer. With the arrival of the hippie era and its spirit of changing accepted values, Coelho found the nerve to abandon his studies and live the life he had dreamed of.

　　Coelho took a pilgrimage, and the journey eventually inspired him to fulfill his dream of writing and publishing books. Of these, it is perhaps Coelho's second, The Alchemist, which best shows the power of dreams to transform people's lives.

　　More Information 仅供参考，不须强记

　　1. select adj.优秀的；精选的

　　2. alchemist n.炼金士

　　3. hippie era n.嬉皮时代

　　4. pilgrimage n.朝圣




巴西小说家保罗-科尔贺的奇幻之旅
　　一般人宁愿空留余梦，也不愿冒一切风险去实现一个看似不可能的梦想。然而极少数人却愿意冒这个险。在巴西畅销小说家保罗-科尔贺的笔下，这些少数人是炼金士，他们满怀勇气去追寻自己的梦想，把自己平凡的生活变得有声有色。

　　保罗-科尔贺自己曾在人生中走过一段传统的道路。他遵从父母的愿望在学校学习法律，其实他梦想的是四处旅行并成为作家。随着嬉皮时代的到来及其改变公认价值观精神的影响，科尔贺鼓起勇气放弃学业，过自己梦想中的生活。

　　科尔贺开始了朝圣之旅，而这次旅行最后启发他实现自己写作和出书的梦想。在科尔贺的著作中，或许第二本小说《牧羊少年的奇幻之旅》，最好地展现了梦想的力量改变了人们的生活。