In order to tell what I believe, I must briefly introduce some of my personal history.
The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and study music. My parents, sharing my love of music, _16_____ of it as a profession. This was understandable in view of the family __17____. My grandfather had taught music for nearly forty years and earned barely enough to __18____ for his large family. My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that helped the family live a life. As a(an) __19___ of this example in the family, my mention of music as a profession carried with it a picture of an existence with __20____ financial rewards. My parents insisted upon college instead of a conservatory of a career of music, and so finally I went to college quite happily.
Before my graduation from Columbia, the family met with severe financial problems and I felt it my duty to __21____ college and take a job. Thus was I started a business career – which I always think of as the wasted years.
Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point I is that it was not for me. I went into it for __22___, and apart from the satisfaction of being able to help the family, money is all I got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely dissatisfied I became really ___23___. I knew what I wanted is to save enough to __24____ and go to Europe to study ___25__. I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for “downtown”, disappointing my poor mother by eating a hurried breakfast at the last minute. I continued to make money, and finally, bit by bit, saved enough to __26____ me to go abroad. And, by now, the family didn’t need my help any longer. I ended my business career, feeling like a man released from prison, and sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than ever and ___27___ every minute of it.
“Enjoyed” is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a __28____ man and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do.
If I had stayed in business, I might be a __29____ man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those inner satisfactions, which money can never buy.
When I broken away from business, it was against the advice of all my friends and family. Most of us are so accustomed to the association of success with money__30___the thought of giving up a good income for an idea seemed rather crazy. If so, all I can say is “Ah! It’s great to be crazy.”

I'd been travelling for long hours on a lonely country road when I had a flat tire. So I had to stop and get the tools to  36 the problem. It certainly wasn’t  37 doing this with a white shirt and suit on.
Nightfall was approaching. Suddenly a car pulled  38 from behind me. A man got out and offered to  39 me. Seeing his unpleasant appearance and tattoos（紋身）on his arm, I became  40 as thoughts of robberies flashed through my mind. But  41 I could say anything he had already begun to take the tools to change the  42 . While watching him I happened to look back at his car and noticed someone sitting in the passenger seat. This had  43 me.
Then, without  44 , it began to rain. He suggested that I wait in his car because my car was unsafe. As the rain increased, getting us wet within seconds, I  45 agreed. When I settle into the back seat, a woman’s voice came from the front seat. “Are you all right?” She turned around to me. “Yes, I am.’’ I replied with much  46  when seeing an old woman there. It must be his Mom, I thought. To my  47 , the old woman was a neighbor of the man who was helping me. “Jeff insisted on stopping when he saw you  48 with the tire. ”“I am grateful for his help, ” I said. “Me, too!” she said with a smile. He helped drive her to see her husband twice a week in a nursing home. She also said that he  49 at the church and tutored disadvantaged students.
The rain stopped and Jeff and I changed me tire. I tried to offer him money and of course he  50 it. It was shameful that I judged people by the way they  51 . As we shook hands I began to apologize for my  52 . He said, ‘‘I experience that same  53 often. People who look like me don’t do nice things. I  54 thought about changing the way. But then I saw this as a chance to make a  55 . So I’ll leave you with the same question I ask everyone who takes time to know me. If Jesus returned tomorrow and walked among us again, would you recognize Him by what He wore or by what He did?’’

We always want what we cannot have. When we’re young, we want to stay out late, have romantic relationships and be   1  ．However, when we're    2 , we want to go back to being young and we   3 the days when we didn’t have to worry about complex love affairs,  4 pressure and money problems．
Young people believe adulthood  5 freedom from parents and schoolwork．When they get older, they feel that   6  is freedom from work pressure and family responsibilities. To  7  this feeling, people say, "The grass is always 8 on the other side of the fence．"
As   9 , we like to be like adults but as young adults, we  10  to be young again. We think about staying out late and  11  our own money to spend．Suddenly, we see that love can result in   12 hearts; staying out late makes it hard to get ready for  13 the next morning. We find out that adult life is not as   14 as we thought it would be and suddenly,   15 becomes very scary．
Life is   16  ．It gives us time to   17    but also requires us to work. The time will come when we must grow up and we will always look back wishing we  18  being young a bit longer. That time will not come back. It is normal to want what we cannot have but the   19   is that to be happy is to appreciate what we have．That is the first step to grow up.   20   life becomes more complex, we will not regret the time we wasted wishing we were adults．

Our tolerating ability is indeed way beyond our imagination. But not until the very critical moment will we     21    our potential tolerating ability.
There was a woman in the countryside who got married at the age of 18 and had to escape with her two daughters and a son wherever she could at the age of 26 due to the Japanese army’s invasion. Many people in the village at that time could not     22   the suffering of being a fugitive（亡命者） and wanted to commit suicide. After she knew about it, she would come to those    23     ,saying, “Don’t do that     24     thing. There are no such setbacks(挫折) that we could not overcome!”
Finally she insisted until the day when all the Japanese armies were kicked out of China.   25   , her son died of disease without sufficient     26      and nutrition in those days of hardships. Her husband, after knowing the death of his son, lay in bed for two days without eating and drinking anything. She teared to her husband and said, “We have a tough destiny, but however tough our lives will be, we should also     27   . Though our son has passed away, we can have another. ”
After giving birth to the second    28    , her husband died of edema（水腫�。�, which almost    29  her away. But eventually, she    30     and held the three young children in her arms, saying, “My sweet hearts, don’t feel scared. You still have me, your dear mum!”
It took her pain efforts to     31    her children up and the life of her family was getting better and better. Two daughters were married and so was his son finally. She said to everyone she met, “Look! What I said is     32    right. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome! My life is so happy now!” She was      33    gradually and could not do the farm work anymore. So she stayed at home and did some sewing work.
Nevertheless, the Heaven seemed to show no affection to her who had undergone a   34   life. She got her leg broken      35     when she was nursing her grandson. Due to her old age that posed a great risk to her operation, she did not receive operation and had to lie in bed all day long. Her children all cried heavily, while she merely said, “Why do you cry? I am still living.”
     36     she could not rise from bed, she did not complain about anything and anybody. Instead, she sat on the bed and did some sewing work. She had learnt scarves-weaving, crafts-making, etc. All her neighbors spoke      37     of her skills and came to learn from her.
She lived until 86. Before she went to Heaven, she said to her children, “You all should live to your best. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome!”
We will only get to realize our own iron will and strong tolerating ability after getting   38    heavily. Therefore, no matter what you are suffering from now, do not merely complain about the   39     of our destiny and maintain low-spirited all the time. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome. Only those who have no confidence and courage to overcome setbacks will be    40     at last!

I was listening to the radio while 1 was driving home from coaching basketball yesterday. I could tell right away that there was something  41  by the mood of the speaker. There had been a plane crash. What made the 42  even more tragic was that Bob Collins，the morning show man, was among those who had been killed. Throughout my 40-minute  43 , I listened as sincere love and affection from the audience  44 .The more I listened about how this man had influenced those around him, the more   45 I became.
That was because I wanted to know  46 we as a culture, wait until somebody has passed away before we tell them how much they  47 to us? Why do we wait until it is too late before we  48 someone up after they have died? Yes，49  memory after memory about someone's good  50 does help us cope with the sadness of losing someone special to us. But as we  51 remember this person, our words fall short of the ears that most need to hear  52 .
Just once,  53 a gathering of death，1 would like to see a celebration of life,  54 stories are told, tears fall down，laughter rings out；and as the speaker  55 his or her loving tribute(頌詞), the person they are  56  rises from the chair and gives them a  57 hug! Wouldn’t that be   58 !
Life is too short to leave kind words   59 . How I wish that when the unavoidable funeral finally comes，we could say  60 with the knowledge that they knew exactly how people felt about them while they were here on earth.

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it． From a distance，each horse looks like any horse． But if you get closer, you will   36  something quite interesting ——one of the horses is   37 ．
His owner has chosen not to have him put down（殺死）,   38   has made him a safe and comfortable barn（馬棚） to    39  ．This is pretty amazing． But if you stand nearby and listen，you will hear the sound of a  40 ．It is coming from a smaller horse in the field．   41  to the horse is a small bell． It  42   the blind friend know where the other horse is，so he can   43  ．        
As you stand and watch these two friends you'll see that the horse with the bell is always  44 the blind horse，and that the blind horse will   45 for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is，trusting he will not be led the  46  way．
When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the   47 each evening, he will stop  48  to look back，making sure that the blind friend isn't too   49 behind to hear the bell．
Like the owner of these two horses，the kind people around us do not  50 us away just because we are not perfect or because we have   51  ．Sometimes we are the blind horse，being   52  by the little ringing bell of those who come to  53 us． And we are the guide horse  54 other times, helping others to find their   55  ．

A man worked in a post office. His job was to handle all  36  that had unclear addresses. One day he came across a letter which was  37  to God. He opened it and it  38  , "Dear God, I am an 83-year-old woman and I live on a very small pension (養(yǎng)老金). Yesterday someone stole my  39  . There was a hundred dollars in it, which was all the money I had  40  until my next pension comes. Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, and I have invited my last two friends for  41 . Without that money, I have  42  to buy food with. I have no family to  43  , and you are my only  44  . Can you please help me?" The man was  45  , and went around showing the letter to all the other workers. Each of them  46 their wallets and donated a few dollars. By the time he  47  his showing, he had collected 96 dollars.  48  then he sent it to the old woman. Thanksgiving Day came and went. The workers 49  forgot about it. Then one day, there came another letter from the old lady to God. All the 50  gathered around when the letter was  51 . It read, "Dear God, how can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your kindness, I was able to  52  a lovely dinner for my friends. We had a very  53  day, and I told my friends about your  54 gift. Thank you very much!" Seeing this, all the workers felt 55  with the nice thing they had done. They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled.
【小題1】

Around twenty years ago I was living in York. 31  I had a lot of experience and a Master’s degree, I could not find   32  work.
I was   33  a school bus to make ends meet and   34  with a friend of mine, for I had lost my flat. I had   35  five interviews(面試)with a company and one day between bus runs they called to say I did not   36  the job. “Why has my life become so   37 ?” I thought painfully.
As I pulled the bus over to   38  a little girl, she handed me an earring   39  I should keep it   40  somebody claimed(認(rèn)領(lǐng))it. The earring was painted black and said “BE HAPPY”.
At first I got angry. Then it   41  me-I had been giving all of my   42  to what was going wrong with my   43  rather than what was right! I decided then and there to make a   44  of fifty things I was happy with. Later, I decided to   45  more things to the list. That night there was a phone call for   46  from a lady who was a director at a large   47 . She asked me if I would   48  a one-day lecture on stress(壓力) management to 200 medical workers. I said yes.
My   49  there went very well, and before long I got a well-paid job. To this day I know that it was because I changed my way of   50 that I completely changed my life.

Dear son,
The day that you see me old and I am already not in good health, have patience and try to understand me.
If I get dirty when eating, if I can not dress, have patience and remember the hours I   26   teaching it to you. If, when I speak to you, I   27  the same things thousand and one times, do not   28   me, listen to me. When you were small, I had to read to you thousand and one times the same story   29   you got to sleep. When I do not want to have a   30  , neither shame me nor scold me. Remember when I had to chase you with thousand excuses I   31  , in order that you wanted to bathe. When you see my   32   little about new technologies, give me the necessary time and do not look at me with your mocking(嘲弄) smile. I taught you   33   to do so many things: to eat good, to dress well, to confront life…. When at some moment I lose the memory or the   34  of our conversation, let me have the necessary time to remember, and if I cannot do it, do not become nervous, as the most important thing is not our conversation but surely to be with you and to have you   35   to me.
If ever I do not want to eat, do not force me. I know well   36   I need to and when not. When my   37   legs do not allow me to walk, give me your   38  , the same way I did when you gave your first   39  . And when someday I say to you that I do not want to   40  any more ---- that I want to rest forever, do not get ___41__. Someday you will understand.
Try to understand that my age is not lived but survived. Some day you will discover that, despite my mistakes, I always wanted the   42   thing for you and that I tried to prepare the way for you. You must not feel sad, angry or impotent(無可奈何) for seeing me   43   you. You must be next to me, try to understand me and to help me as I did it when you   44   living. Help me to walk, help me to end my way with love and  45  . I will pay you by a smile and by the immense love I have had always for you.
I love you, Son
Your father

As a child, I was truly afraid of the dark and of getting lost; these fears were very real and caused me some uncomfortable moments.
Maybe it was the strange   36 things looked and sounded in my familiar room at night that  37 me so much. There was never total  38 , but a streetlight or passing car lights 39   clothes hung over a chair take on the   40  of a wild animal. Out of the corner of my 41  , I saw the curtains seem to move when there was no  42 . A tiny sound in the floor would seem a hundred times louder than in the daylight. My   43 would run wild, and my heart would beat fast. I would   44 very still so that the "enemy" would not discover me. zxxk
Another of my childhood fears was that I would get lost, 45  on the way home from school. Every morning I get on the school bus right near my home--that was no  46 . After school,   47  , when all the buses were  48  up along the street, I was afraid that I'd get on the wrong one, and be taken to some  49 neighborhood. On school or family trips to a park or museum, I wouldn't  50 the leaders out of my sight.
Perhaps one of the worst fears  51 all I had as a child was that of not being liked or   52 by others. Being popular was so important to me  53 , and the fear of not being liked was a 54  one.
One of the processes of growing up is being able to  55 and overcome our fears. Understanding the things that frightened us as children helps us achieve greater success later in life.