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　　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