There was once a group of young people searching everywhere for happiness but what they got was only annoyance, grief and misery.
So they        Socrates for advice on where happiness        But        giving any answers, Socrates asked them to help with building a        first. The group of guys had to        the task, laying aside their own business of seeking happiness. It took them a long time to cut down a tall tree, gouging out (挖空) the center. Through painstaking effort, they made a canoe out of the tree. They launched the canoe into a river, and then        together in it, singing with        .
Socrates asked, “My children, do you have happiness now?” They answered in chorus: “We          be happier!” Socrates        , “That’s it!        you are too busy pursuing something to notice anything bitter, happiness will occur.”
From the story I got to know that happiness        hides behind every tiny thing that you are involved in, and that you may only get pleasure through        work and creativity.
We may have to        pain in our daily life and in the process of          happiness. Sometimes we tend to look for happiness in        things, like a new car, clothes, etc. True long term happiness, however, comes from within our         and spirit. So why not turn suffering into        life, and        tears into the light in your heart? Only in this way can we make it through and find true happiness.
So my dear friends, just remember happiness is a state of mind and a matter of        , and I        you all a life of happiness.

Five months after my husband Steve died, I woke up one morning to the maddening sound of a leaking faucet（水龍頭）. I knew it needed repairs badly, but it _______ me so much just to think of it.
All our _______ life, I was the “artist” bringing to our house much imagination. Steve was the”_______” one. He had a real gift for handling chores（家務(wù)活），_______ me from unpleasant repair jobs.
But how could such a good man have his life cut short so suddenly! I had been so sad and angry that I completely _______ the house. That leaky faucet somehow awakened me to the fact that I now had to _______ the challenge of getting things fixed.
I got a workman named Ahmed. Entering the house, he stopped before a picture of Steve and me. “Doesn’t your husband _______ this kind of work?” he asked. “It’s not hard.”
“He died months ago. When he was alive, he did all the repair jobs _______.” I said quietly. Ahmed looked at me _______, but he didn’t reply. He fixed the faucet, adjusted the dishwasher door, and replaced a showerhead. Apparently he was gifted as Steve had been.
He did a(n) _______ job. I asked him to name his fee. “No charge, Ma’am,” he said. “My father died early, and the neighbors helped my family through.”
By fixing a faucet, Ahmed mended my soul. Although I would sure carry the pain of _______ with me along, Ahmed reminded me of the abundant _______ in the world.

It was already half past seven and I was running late again for the dinner appointment with my wife, Eleanor. We had       to meet at the restaurant at seven o'clock. I felt a little uneasy, but to my     ，I had a good excuse: A business meeting had        and I'd wasted no time getting to the dinner.
When I arrived at the      ，1 apologized and told Eleanor I didn't mean to be late. She screamed, "You never mean to." Well, I        tell she was angry. "I'm sorry but it was not      ," I said. Then I told her about the business meeting.        , my explanation seemed to make things worse, which started to drive               mad as well.
Several weeks later, when I        the situation to my friend Ken Hardy, he smiled, "You       a classic mistake. You're stuck        your own way of thinking. You didn't        to be late. But that's not the point. What is        in your communication is how your lateness affected Eleanor." He pointed out that I focused on the intention       Eleanor focused on the result. Thus,         of us felt misunderstood and crazy.
Thinking more about Ken's words, I         recognized the root cause of such disagreement. It's the result of the action that really       .I should have started the conversation by expressing         my actions affected Eleanor and         the discussions about my intention for later, much later and even never.
Later on, after talking to Eleanor and really        her experience of the results
of my lateness, I've managed to be on time a lot more frequently.

The summer before I went off to college, Mom stood me in her usual spot behind the ironing board (燙衣板)and said, “Pay attention: I’m going to teach you to iron.”
Mom clearly explained her      for this lesson. I was going to be     and needed to learn this vital skill. Also, I would be meeting new people, and properly ironed clothes would help me make a good    .
“Learn to iron a shirt,” Mom said, “and you can iron anything.”
But ironing shirts was not      work. It didn’t make use of long muscles we used to throw a baseball，and it wasn’t a     operation like ice-skating. Ironing was like driving a car on a street that has a stop sign every 10 feet, Moreover, an iron produced steam and it carried an element of     .If you touched the wrong part of it, you’d get burnt. If you forgot to turn it off when you      ,you might bum down the house.
As for technique, Mom     me to begin with the flat spaces outward, always pushing the iron forward into wrinkled (有褶皺的）parts. Collars had to be done right. Mom said they were close to your face, where everyone would     them.
Over the years, I’ve learned to iron shirts skillfully, which gives me a sense of     Whatever failures I suffer in my life, an ironed shirt tells me I am good at something.       ,through ironing I’ve learned the method for solving even the most troublesome problems. “     wrinkles one at a time,” as Mom might have said, “and before long everything will get ironed out.”

(2014·蚌埠市高三第三次教學(xué)質(zhì)量檢查考試)
Some years ago when I was in my second year in university，I heard Salome Bey sing for the first time.The moment was exciting.Salome’s ____filled the room and brought the theater to life.I was so____that I decided to write an article about her.
I____Salome Bey，telling her I was from Essence magazine，and that I wanted to meet her to talk about her career.She____and told me to come to her studio next Tuesday.When I hung up，I was scared out of my mind.I___I was lying.I was not a writer at all and hadn’t even written a grocery list.
I interviewed Salome Bey the next Tuesday.I sat there____，taking notes and asking questions that all began with，“Can you tell me...” I soon realized that____Salome Bey was one thing，but writing a story for a national magazine was just impossible.The____was almost unbearable (不可容忍的)．I struggled for days ____draft after draft.Finally I put my manuscript (手稿) into a large envelope and dropped it into a mailbox.
It didn’t take long.My manuscript____.How stupid of me！I thought.How could I____in a world of professional writers？Knowing I couldn’t ____the rejection letter，I threw the unopened envelope into a drawer.
Five years later，I was moving to California.While____my apartment，I came across the unopened envelope.This time I opened it and   ____the editor’s letter in disbelief：
Dear Ms Profit，
Your story on Salome Bey is fantastic.Yet we need some ___  materials.Please add those and return the article immediately.We would like to____your story soon.
Shocked，it took me a long time to____.Fear of rejection cost me dearly.I lost at least five hundred dollars and having my article appear in a major magazine.More importantly，I lost years of____writing.Today，I have become a full­time writer.Looking back on this____，I learned a very important lesson：You can’t____to doubt yourself.

For a long time I saw happiness as a huge banner (旗幟) across the finish line of a long race.I felt that only when I____certain things could I finally be happy in my life.Most of the time I felt like a tortoise believing that being slow and____would win the race.At other times I would___like a rabbit trying different side roads at a dangerous ____hoping to reach that banner a little faster.____，I began to see that no matter  how long I raced towards it，the banner was never any____.I finally decided to____and take a break.It was then that I saw my____sitting beside me.
It had been with me as I____hard to support my family，as I played with my children and heard their____and even when I was ____with my wife at my side looking after me.It had been with me as I raced towards that stupid banner.I just didn’t have the____to see it.
There is an old Chinese proverb that says，“Tension is who you think you should be.___is who you are.”P(pán)erhaps we all should stop our race towards the____life we think we should have and ____the life we have now.Happiness will never be found under some banner far away.It will be found____your own heart，soul and mind.It will be found when you____that others love you just as you do.
Don’t be a tortoise or a rabbit when it comes to your happiness.Be a playful puppy and carry your stick of____with you everywhere you go.____yourself out of the race and realize that when it comes to love and happiness，you are____there.

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

Maybe you've lost your job.Maybe you didn't get the ____ in your job.Maybe your sweetheart ____ with you.People say “Don't take it personally”and “Don't let it get to you”，but that's very ____ to do.
If you're feeling disheartened，____ are some strategies (策略) for making yourself feel better？It's pretty clear that ____“I'm the greatest！”or winning a prize along with every other second­grade soccer player isn't a good way to ____  healthy self­respect.
Then what can you do to feel better？Here are some ____ to follow：
Do a good deed.This is as selfish as it is selfless；you'll ____ as much as the person you're helping.I had a friend who ____ a period of vast rejection：she was fired from her ____，she didn't get into the graduate program to which she'd ____，and her boyfriend split up with her.Everything worked out fine ____，and I asked her how she got through such a(n) ____ time.She said，“I was ____ addicted to doing good deeds for other people.It was the only way I could make myself feel like I wasn't a total loser.”
Keep a resolution (決心)．Not only will you benefit from exercising or ____ out your garage，but you'll also get a boost (激勵(lì))from the mere fact that you made a ____ and stuck to it.
Boost your ____.Studies show that when you're feeling energetic，you're much more likely to feel good about yourself.Most important：get enough sleep.
Challenge yourself ____.This strategy doesn't work for me，but I know that many people feel great ____ white­water rafting，bungee jumping，or roller­coaster­riding.For the less daring，a great run，or bike ride can do the ____.

I used to be a very self­centered person, but in the past two years I have really changed.I have started to think about other people ____ I think about myself.I am happy that I am becoming a ____ person.
I think my ____ started when I was at Palomar College.At first, I just wanted to get my ____ and be left alone.I thought I was smarter than everyone else, so I hardly ever ____ to anyone in my classes.By the end of my first semester, I was really ____.It seemed as if everyone but me had made friends and was having fun.So I tried a(n) ____.I started asking people around me how they were doing, and if they were having trouble I ____ to help.That was really a big ____ for me.By the end of the year, I had several new friends, and two of ____ are still my best friends today.
A bigger cause of my new ____， however, came when I took a part­time job at Vista Nursing Home.One old lady there who had Alzheimer's disease became my ____.Every time I came into her room, she was so ____ because she thought I was her daughter.Her real daughter never ____ her, so I took her place.She let me ____ that making others feel good made me feel good too.When she died, I was ____， but I was also very grateful to her.
I think I am a much ____ person today than I used to be, and I hope I will not ____ these experiences.They have ____ me to care about other people more than about myself.I ____ who I am today, and I could not say that a few years ago.

One afternoon, my son Adam asked me,“Are all people the same even if they are different in color?”
I thought for a minute, and then I said,“I’ll explain,    you can just wait until we make a quick 　  　 at the grocery store. I have something     　 to show you.”
At the grocery store, we        some apples—red, green and yellow ones. Back home, I told Adam,“It’s time to    your question.” I put one apple of each       on the table. Then I looked at Adam, who had a       look on his face.
“People are like apples. They come in all 　　 colors, shapes and sizes. On the     　,some of the apples may not 　 　 look as delicious as the others.” As I was talking, Adam was   　 each one carefully.
Then, I took each of the apples and peeled(削皮)them,　　 them back on the table, but 　　 a different place.
“Okay, Adam ,tell me which is which.”
He said,“I      　tell. They all look the same now.” “Take a bite of       .See if that helps you     which one is which.”
He took 　　,and then a huge smile came across his face.“People are 　　 like apples! They are all different, but once you 　　 the outside, they’re pretty much the same on the inside.”
He totally   　 it. I didn’t need to say or do anything else.