On the morning of 4th July,1952,the sea was as cold as ice.When Florence looked forward,she saw nothing but thick fog(雾).She was very tired.She had been swimming for 16 hours.Her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.
Her mother and trainer encouraged her.They told her it wasn't much farther.But all she could see was fog.They asked her not to stop.She tried hard,but at last she gave up only half a mile away from the coast.
Later,she told a reporter,“Look,I'm not excusing myself,but if I had seen land,I might have made it.” It was not her tiredness or even the cold water that defeated her.It was the fog.She couldn't see her goal.
Two months later,she tried again.This time,though there was still fog; she swam with her goal in her mind.She knew that somewhere behind the fog was land.This time she succeeded!