Complete the text with the words from the box. Then press "Check" to mark your answers.
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The essence of heroism is self-sacrifice for others. Of course, there can be no heroism without courage, but courage is characteristic of many kinds of people who by no means heroes, such as pirates, robbers, and blood-thirsty raiders. Nevertheless, any man or woman who risks or loses their life for the sake of some cause, or to save a fellow being from death, suffering, or ruin, is a hero. Therefore, the title must be denied to great conquerors like Alexander the or Napoleon Buonaparte, for they were essentially self-seeking. They did not sacrifice themselves for others, but sacrificed the lives and happiness of thousands to their selfish ambition for and power. The martyr who gives his body to the flames for what he believes to be the truth, the man who loses or risks his to save a brother from death, the woman who dies to save her child, the man who suffers injustice in silence to expose the true perpetrator, and who quietly give up dear ambitions to care for the poor and the suffering—these are heroes.
A few years ago, in a colliery explosion in South Wales, imprisoned miners were reached after hours by a rescue party, but it was found that only one could be raised to the surface at a time. One was a man and the other a bachelor, and the latter said, "You go, Jack; you've got the wife and children to think of." But before the could be let down again, a fall of rock imprisoned the other heroic miner in a living grave. "There is no greater love than this, that a lay down his life for his friend."
The storey of Grace Darling is a storey of heroism. She was the daughter of a lighthouse keeper in the of England at the beginning of the 19th century. A ship was wrecked on the rocks nearby in a fearful storm, and this young girl rowed the mountainous waves in an open boat by herself and rescued the sailors from the wreck, risking her own life over and over again.
The of Charles Lamb, the English essayist, a humble clerk in India House, was a life of quiet, cheerful heroism. When his sister was attacked by insanity, he refused to marry, and his life to caring for her poor, suffering sister till she died. These examples show that we can find heroism among the great and on the and humble people and everyday life.