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Whether they are already household names or a hidden figure deserving of more recognition, the following ladies changed the world with their enormous contributions.
Ali Stroker
Ali Stroker took the theater world — and, indeed, the very Internet — by storm when, on June 9, 2019, she became the first performer in a wheelchair to take home a Tony Award. After becoming the first actor in a wheelchair in Broadway history in 2015, she won the award for her powerhouse performance in the revival of Oklahoma .
Junko Tabei
Twenty-two years after the first-ever successful mission to the top of Mount Everest, Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the peak. She led a team of 15 women, accompanied by six Sherpas （夏尔巴人），and reached the summit with one of the Sherpas on May 16, 1975.
Gertrude Ederle
The Queen of Waves, who also happened to be deaf, was the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Fighting through cold temperatures and strong tides that change direction every six hours for 22 miles, she clocked a time of 14 hours and 34 minutes.
Virginia Apgar
Generations of parents owe this American doctor a huge thank you, as she developed the Apgar Score, the first standardized system of tests to assess if newborn babies were healthy once they made their way from womb to world. Apgar, who was a gifted cellist and violinist in her spare time, also happens to hold the title of the first woman to be hired as a full professor at the medical school at Columbia University.
21. Whose story may inspire the disabled?
A. Stroker and Tabei.
B. Stroker and Ederle.
C. Ederle and Apgar.
D. Ederle and Tabei.
22. Why should Apgar be appreciated by parents?
A. She took home a big award.
B. She saved many babies' lives.
C. She developed the Apgar Score.
D. She became the first full professor.
23. Who won the title of the Queen of Waves?
A. Ali Stroker.
B. Junko Tabei.
C. Virginia Apgar.
D. Gertrude Ederle.
