Once upon a time, there was a man called Zheng. _______ lived in a small town. One day he wanted to buy himself a new pair of shoes. He measured(测量) _______with a ruler and then _______ down his size on a piece of paper. After that he went shoe shopping.

When he arrived at the _______, he reached into his pocket(口袋), _______ he found the paper was not there. So he said to the shop keeper, “I have left the paper at home and I don’t know the size. I’ll go back home to _______it.” With these words, he ran out of the shop.

He ran back home, found the paper and then ran to the shop again. But it took him _______ hours and the shop was _______. He spent the afternoon on the way and did not buy his shoes at last.

Someone asked him, “Did you want to buy the shoes _______ yourself?”

“Of course,” he answered.

Then why don’t you ________ the shoes by yourself?”

“I trust the ruler more than my feet.” he answered.

There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy son. The businessman wanted his son to realize the value of labor.

One day, he told his son, “Today, I want you to earn something. If you fail, you won’t have your meal tonight.”

The boy didn’t want to find a job, so he asked his mother for help. She gave him a gold coin. In the evening, when the father asked his son what he had earned, the son showed him the gold coin. The father then asked him to throw it into the well (水井). The son did as he was told.

The father guessed that the gold was from the boy’s mother. The next day, he sent his wife to her parents’ home and asked his son to earn something. Since no one helped him, the son had to go to the market to look for a job. A shopkeeper told him that he would pay him a coin if he carried heavy tools for him. The son accepted. As he returned home and gave the coin to his father, he was asked to throw it into the well. The boy cried, “Dad! My body is aching. I’m tired. How are you asking me to throw my hard-earned coin into a well?”

The businessman smiled. He told his son that one feels pain only when the fruits of labor are wasted. The son realized the value of hard work. He promised not to be lazy any more.

Lord Pingyuan was from the state(国) of Zhao. At that time, Zhao was     49     (weak) than Qin, so Qin wanted to control Zhao. Lord Pingyuan decided     50     (ask) the state of Chu for help. He wanted to pick twenty talented people to go with him. But he could only find nineteen people. Soon, a man     51     (call) Mao Sui recommended himself. “Please believe in me,” Mao Sui said with     52     confident smile on his face.     53     (hear) that, Lord Pingyuan let Mao Sui join them.

Lord Pingyuan led these twenty men to the state of Chu. However, the king didn’t want to help Zhao. Mao Sui was so brave that he walked to the king with a sword (剑)     54     his hand. The sword was     55     (shine) bright and the king was shocked and had to listen to Mao Sui. Mao Sui explained the importance of the     56     (friend) between Chu and Zhao.     57     (final), the king agreed to help Zhao.

The good news excited all the people of Zhao and Mao Sui became a hero of the state.

This story reminds us     58     we should always believe in ourselves like Mao Sui. Don’t be shy to hide your talents. Show yourselves to others.