A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. While creating roads in the soft sand, he   36  a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.
The boy   37  around the rock, managing to move it out from the dirt. With much   38 , he tried to push the rock out of the sandbox. When the boy got the rock to the edge(邊緣) of the sandbox,   39 , he found that he couldn’t   40  it up and over the little wall. The rock was too   41  for his small body.
As he   42  to accept his failure, the little boy dug, pushed, and pried(撬動), but every time he thought he had made some   43 , the rock rolled and then fell back into the sandbox. The little boy   44  again and again, but the only   45  was to have the rock roll back.
  46 , he burst into tears. All this time the boy’s father   47  him from his living room. The moment the tears fell, a   48  voice rose above the boy’s head. It was his father.  49 , but firmly(堅定地) he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the   50  that you had? The boy replied with tears, “But I did, Daddy, I did! I   51  all that I had!” “No, son, you didn’t,”  52  the father kindly. “You didn’t   53  me to help you.” With that the father picked up the rock and   54  it out of the sandbox.
Are you discovering that you don’t have the strength to move your “rocks” away? There is ONE who is always willing to   55  you with the strength you need. We also need that strength, especially in our daily life.

When I was a little girl, I found love in a box all because of a class assignment. On a Friday night I   36  at dinner table, “My teacher said we have to bring a box, a special box, for our valentines (情人節(jié)) on Monday”.
Mother said, “We’ll see,” and she continued eating.
What did “We’ll see” mean? I had to have that box   37  my second grade Valentine’s Day would be a disaster. Maybe they didn’t love me enough to help me with my   38 .
All Saturday I waited   39  and with Sunday arriving, my concern increased, but I   40  an enquiry（詢問）about the box might   41  anger or loud voice, for in my house children only asked once. More than that   42  trouble.
Late Sunday afternoon, my father called me into the kitchen. The table was covered with colorful   43  of different kinds. A (n)   44  shoebox rested on top of it.   45  flooded through me when Daddy said, “Let’s get started   46  your project.”
In the next hour my father   47  the shoebox into impressive valentine box. Colorful paper covered the ugly cardboard with red hearts   48  to what I considered all the right places. He sang while he worked. When he finished, he was so delighted that a   49 smile spread over his face. “What do you think of that?” he asked.I answered him with a hug.
But inside,   50  danced all the way to my heart. It was the first time that my father devoted so much   51  to me, for his world consisted of work only.
The holiday party arrived, and my classmates put cards, and presents into the valentine boxes. Laughter filled our classroom until dismissal time   52 .
On the way home, I held out my valentine box for the world to   53 . The love that filled it meant more to me than all the valentines inside. The valentine box became a symbol of his love that   54  through decades of other Valentine’s Days. He gave me other gifts through the years, but none   55  compared with the love I felt within the limits of the old, empty shoebox.

The first day of university our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a  11  ,little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that  12 her entire being.
She said, “Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?” I laughed and enthusiastically  13  , “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant  14 . “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.
She  15  replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…”
“No seriously,” I asked. I was  16   what may have motivated her to be taking on this  17  at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a   18   and now I’m getting one!” she told me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she  19  made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she enjoyed the attention bestowed upon her from the other   20  . She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow    21   because we stop playing.
There are only four  22  to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your  23 ,you die.
Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or  24  . The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in  25 . Have no regrets.”

One day my 5-year-old daughter, Mini, ran to the window crying: “A Cabuliwallah! A Cabuliwallah（從喀布爾來的水果商販）!” In the street below was a Cbuliwallah,1 slowly along. Mini called him loudly but when he looked at her，she ran away,  2 . Shortly after this, the two became friends. They started to 3  together, laughing and talking. Mini’s new friend would give her sweets and nuts, 4 the little money he had on her.The Cabuliwallah, called Rahmum, would joke: “Well, little one, when are you going to the father-in-law’s house?” Mini did not understand this and was 5 .
One morning, I heard noise in the street, and saw Rahmum being led 6 by the police. There were bloodstains on his clothes. I gathered that a neighbor had 7 Rahmum money for a shawl (披肩)but had falsely 8 having bought it, and that in the course of the quarrel Rahmum had struck him. On a charge of murderous attack, Rahmum was 9 to jail.
Time passed, and he was not remembered. Mini grew up and we were making  10  for her wedding. I was sitting in my study when someone entered. It was Rahmum, 11 from prison.12  recognizable now, he asked to see Mini and said that all those years ago she had 13 him of his own daughter in Kabul. It was his belief that Mini was still the same. He had 14 her running to him calling “Cabuliwallah!”. He had imagined that they would laugh and talk together. In fact, he had brought her,15 in paper, a few nuts and grapes. The two were 16 but Mini had grown up. She now understood the meaning of the word “father-in-law,” and when he made this joke once more she was 17 in the face at the question. He could not revive(還原) their old friendship.
When Rahmum left, I gave him a bank note, saying:“Go back to your own daughter, and 18 the happiness of your meeting bring good fortune to my child! ”
Having made this present, I had to 19 the electric lights and the military band I had 20  for the wedding and the ladies in the house were disappointed. But to me the wedding feast was all the brighter for the thought that in a distant land a long-lost father met again with his child.

Even though it was only October, my students were already whispering about Christmas Plans. With each day passing, everyone became more __1___ waiting for the final school bell. Upon its ___2___ everyone would run for their coats and go home, everyone except David.
David was a small boy in ragged clothes. I had often ___3___ what kind of home life David had, and what kind of mother could send her son to school dressed so __4__ for the cold winter months, without a coat, boots, or gloves. But something made David __5___. I can still remember he was always _6__ a smile and willing to help. He always __7__ after school to straighten chairs and mop the floor. We never talked much. He ___8___ just simply smile and ask what else he could do, then thank me for letting him stay and slowly __9__ home.
Weeks passed and the __10__ over the coming Christmas grew into restlessness until the last day of __11__ before the holiday break. I smiled in __12__ as the last of them hurried out the door. Turning around I saw David __13__ standing by my desk.
“ I have something for you,” he said and __14__ from behind his back a small box __15__ it to me, he said anxiously, “open it.” I took the box from him, thanked him and slowly unwrapped it. I lifted the lid and to my __16__ saw nothing. I looked at David’s smiling face and back into the box and said, “The box is nice, David, but it’s __17__.”
“Oh no it isn’t,” said David. “It’s full of love. My mum told me before she died that love was something you couldn’t see or touch unless you know it’s there.”
Tears filled my eyes__18__ I looked at the proud dirty face that I had rarely given __19__ to. After that Christmas, David and I became good friends and I never forgot the meaning __20__ the little empty box set on my desk.

About ten years ago, I was on a plane going west, and a young woman boarded and sat across the aisle (過道) from me. I ___21____ her for two reasons. She was very attractive, and she was holding a teddy bear about half her ____22____. I teased her by asking if she had a ___23___ for the bear. She laughed and said no.
About halfway through the flight she ___24____ over and told me she was going to Tucson to enter rehab (進行康復(fù)治療). She ___25___ to share her life story with me. She had been working as a dancer in a nightclub. That ___26____ had led her down a dark ____27____ to drugs and alcohol. As I listened to her story. I was ____28____ at all she had gone through. I listened to all she shared and told her I was sure she was going to ____29___ it. At the end of the flight, she ___30____ me for listening to her.
A few years later, I got a ___31____ in the mail saying, “Wow, it’s been years since we met on that plane. It is ___32____ how you touched my life.” She went on to tell me that she had ____33____ to stay away from drugs, and had been working for a radio station. She felt she had achieved things she could not have ____34___ that day on the plane. We agreed to set up a time to get ___35___.
When I saw her, she was ____36____ the attractive young woman I remembered. She told me that that little ___37___ we had had turned her life around. She had boarded the plane ___38___ anything would work in her life, and my affirmation (肯定) of her as a person and of her ___39___ had given her the last bit of ___40___ she needed to work through her problems.
The young woman taught me it’s never too late to make a new start in life.

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college, for many months he had  31  a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and  32  his father could well  33  it, he told him that was all he wanted.
On the morning of his graduation day his father called him into his own study and told him how  34  he was to have such a fine son. He handed his son a beautiful gift box.  35  but slightly disappointed, the young man  36  the box and found a lovely book.  37  , he raised his voice at his father and said, “ 38  all your money you give me a book?” And rushed out of the house  39  the book in the study.He did not contact（聯(lián)系）his father for a whole year  40  one day he saw in the street an old man who looked like his father. He  41  he had to go back home and see his father. When he arrived at his father's house, he was told that his father had been in hospital for a week. The moment he was about to  42  the hospital, he saw on the desk the  43   new book, just as he had left it one  44  ago. He opened it and began to  45  the pages. Suddenly, a car key  46  from an envelope taped behind the book. It had a tag (標簽) with the dealer’s name, the       47  dealer who had the sports car he had  48 . On the tag was the  49  of his graduation, and the  50  PAID IN FULL.

One of my fondest memories as a child is going by the river and sitting idly on the bank．There I would   36  the peace and quiet, watch the water rush   37  and listen to the singing of birds and the rustling of   38  in the trees．I would also watch the bamboo trees   39  under pressure from the wind and watch them   40  gracefully to their original position after the wind had   41  ．
When I think about the bamboo tree's ability to bounce back to its original position, the word "resilience" comes to mind．When used in   42  to a person, this word means the ability to readily   43  from shock, depression or any other situation that stretches the limits of a person's   44  ．
Have you ever felt like you are at your   45  point? Thankfully, you have survived the experience to live to talk about it．
During the   46  you probably felt a mix of emotions that threatened your health．You felt emotionally drained（枯竭）,   47  exhausted and you most likely stood   48   physical symptoms．
Life is a   49  of good times and bad times, happy moments and unhappy moments．The next time you are experiencing one of those bad times or unhappy   50   that take you close to your breaking point, bend,   51  don't break．Try your best not to let the situation get the best of you．
A measure of hope will take you   52  the unpleasant ordeal （考驗）．With   53   for a better tomorrow or a better situation, things may not be as bad as they seem to be．The unpleasant ordeal may be easier to   54  if the final result is worth having．
If life gets   55  and you are at your breaking point, show resilience．Like the bamboo tree, bend, but don't break!

“Down-to-earth” means someone or something that is honest, practical and easy to deal with. It is   36  to find someone who is down-to-earth. A person who is down-to-earth is easy to talk to and   37  other people as equals. A down-to-earth person is just the   38  of someone who acts important and proud.
Down-to-earth persons   39  be important members of society, of course.   40  they do not let their importance “go to their heads”. They do not   41  themselves to be better persons than others of less importance. Someone who is filled with his own importance and pride, often without cause, is   42  to have “his nose in the air”. There is   43  way a person with his nose in the air can be down-to-earth.
Americans   44  another expression that means almost the same as “down-to-earth”. The expression is “both-feet-on-the-ground”. Someone with both-feet-on-the-ground is a person with a good   45  of reality. He   46  what is called “common sense”. He may have   47 , but he does not allow them to   48  his knowledge of what is real.
The opposite kind of   49  is one who has his “head-in-the-clouds”. A man with his-head-in-the-clouds is a dreamer whose   50  is not in the real world.
  51 , such a dreamer can be brought back to earth.   52  words from a teacher can usually bring a day-dreaming student down-to-earth.
Usually, the person who is down-to-earth is very   53  to have both feet on-the –ground.  54  we have both our feet on-the –ground, when we are down-to-earth, we act   55  and openly towards others. Our lives are like the ground below us, solid and strong.

Many Tuesday mornings. I have coffee with my father. Although my father is a man of few words, I really   1 the time along with him.
One recent Tuesday, I found it a bit  2 when I rang the doorbell, no one seemed to be home. I climbed in through the window, noticing the lights that shone from the kitchen, and  3 that my dad must be there, but he wasn’t. I  4 through his home, checking every room. I tried not to   5 . Yet, upstairs, downstairs, no Dad anywhere.
I was worried .   6 , my father was seventy-one years old. Anything could have happened to him. Then, I got in my car and drove to my mother’s aerobics（有氧運動）class.
On the drive, I thought a lot about my father and our  7 together. Suddenly, I was three years old and he was   8 me up to the living room window to see the Christmas lights. In his  9 , I was safe and secure. At age ten, he used to wake me up with warm breakfast in bed. Then I was twelve and my dad was   10 all the kids at my birthday party with his magic tricks. I was so   11 of my father for being so  12 and talented. He’d made my party a  13 .
As I entered my mother’s class. I was nervous. My mom looked at me in   14.
“Mom, where’s Dad?” I asked, “He’s working in the   15 on the side of the house!” she answered.
And I hurried to my car and   16 back to the yard. “Hey, Dad!” I yelled out and told him about my fears of the last half hour. My dad  17 laughing his typical laugh that was always  18 . I was so thankful that I still had my daddy. And so , as I  19 the door to my father’s house, we went inside for our usual cup of coffee.
Thanks, Daddy, for all the   20 and more importantly, for all your love.