The wise man

People have been coming to the wise man,    1    (complain) about the same problems every time. One day he told them a joke    2    everyone roared in    3    (laugh). After a couple of    4    (minute), he told them the same joke and only a few of them smiled. When he told the same joke for    5    third time no one    6    (laugh) anymore. The wise man smiled and said: “You    7    (can) laugh at the same joke over and over. So    8    are you always    9    (cry) about the same problem?”

Moral meaning:    10    (worry) won’t solve your problems; it’ll just waste your time and energy.

My friend has a daughter named Alice     1     always wanted to be a singer. Music was the most important thing in her life. But to tell you the     2    (true), she took lessons for years and practised every day, but her voice didn’t improve.     3    (honest), it didn’t get better. It just got     4     (loud).

Her teacher finally gave up and     5    (stop) the lessons, but Alice refused     6    (give) up. When she graduated     7     school, she decided to give a concert and invited her former teacher to attend. The teacher was very     8    (worry) about what to say after the performance. She knew it would be terrible and it was. She did not want to tell a lie,     9     she didn’t want to hurt Alice’s feelings either. Finally, she got     10     idea and went backstage to greet her former pupil.

“Well,” said Alice, “what did you think of my performance ?”

“My dear,” said the teacher, “you’ll never be better than you were tonight.”

A young man, while traveling through a desert, came across a spring of clear water. The water was sweet. He     1     (fill) his leather container so that he could bring some back to an elder     2     had been his teacher. After a four-day journey, the water     3     (present) to the old man. The teacher took a deep drink, smiled     4     (warm), and thanked his student very much for the sweet water. The young man went home with a happy heart.

After the student left, the teacher let another student     5     (taste) the water. He spit it out,     6     (say) it was awful. Obviously, it was no longer fresh because of the old leather container. He asked his teacher, “Sir, the water was awful. Why did you pretend to like     7    ? ”

The teacher replied, “You tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was an act of     8     (kind) and love. Nothing could be     9     (sweet).”

We understand this lesson best when we receive gifts of love from children. Whether it is a cheap pipe or a diamond necklace, the proper response is appreciation. We love more about the idea within the gift     10     the thing itself.

As the plane circled over the airport, everyone sensed that something was wrong. The plane was moving    1    (steady) through the air, and although the passengers    2    (fasten) their seat belts, they were suddenly thrown forward. At that moment, the air-hostess presented. She looked very pale,    3    was quite calm. Speaking quickly and almost in a whisper, she informed everyone that    4    pilot had fainted and asked if any of the passengers knew anything about machines. After a moment's    5    (hesitate), a man got up and followed the hostess into the pilot's cabin. Moving the pilot aside, the man took his seat and listened carefully to the urgent instructions that    6    (send) by radio from the airport below. To everyone's relief, the plane,    7    was dangerously close to the ground at the moment, soon began to climb. The man had to circle the airport several times to become familiar    8    the controls of the plane. The critical moment came when he had to land. The man,    9    (follow) the instructions, guided the plane toward the airfield, and it    10    (land) safely after a long run along the runway.