A little boy complained to her mum that his life was so hard. It seemed that as one problem was solved, _______ one followed.

The boy’s mother thought for a moment and took him into the kitchen. She filled three pots _______ water and put each on a high fire, and then she put potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

She _______ the pots boil for twenty minutes and put the potatoes in a bowl. She did _______ same with the boiled eggs. Then she poured some coffee in a cup. She asked her son, “What _______ you see?”

He replied at once, “Potatoes, eggs, and coffee.”

His mother told him to take a closer _______ and touch the potatoes. He did as his mother told him and noticed they were soft. The mother then asked her son _______ an egg and break it. After _______ that, he saw the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she told _______ to drink the coffee. It was rich and delicious.

“Mum, what does this mean?” the boy asked. His mother explained _______ the potatoes, eggs and ground coffee beans had each faced the same difficult situation—the boiling water. However, each one reacted（反应）differently. The potato was strong and hard, ________ it became soft and weak in boiling water. The egg was ________ broken before it was in boiling water. Then, the inside of the egg became ________. The ground coffee beans were special. After they ________ into the water, they changed the water to create something new.

“Which are you?” she then asked her son. “________ difficult situation knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato. an egg or a coffee bean?”

Once upon a time, there was a tiny, but closely united group of frogs. They held a running race because they wanted to leave behind a/an _________ story. Their goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had come together around the tower to see the _________ and cheer on the contestants.

However, no one in the crowd really _________ that the frogs would ever reach the goal. They said, “Oh, way too difficult!” “Not a chance they will make it to the _________!” “The tower is too high!”

The frogs felt very discouraged by these _________. One by one, they fell. While keeping on pretending cheers, the crowd also shouted, “It is too difficult! No one will make it!” More frogs _________. More noises were from the crowd, “I knew no one would make it!” To their surprise, one frog continued and climbed _________.

Finally, only that frog reached the top! All of the other fogs wanted to know how he _________ in performing this feat (技艺) of strength and courage. So one of the contestants asked the frog how he did it.

It turned out that the _________ frog was deaf, he didn’t hear anything.

Dear friends, are there many people around you, who encourage you or do they do the opposite? If you want to build your own inspiring (激励的) story, stay away from people who are not __________. And build strong connections with those who encourage you.

When I was 8 years old, I decided to run away from home after a quarrel with my mother. With my suitcase (行李箱) packed and some sandwiches in a bag. I started for the front door.

My mom asked where I was going. “I’m leaving home,” I said.

“What’s that you’re carrying?” she asked.

“Some clothes and food,” I replied.

“If you want to run away, that’s all right,” she said. “But you came into this home without anything and you can leave the same way.”

I threw my suitcase and sandwiches on the floor and started for the door again.

“Wait a minute,” mom said. “You didn’t have any clothes on when you arrived, and I want them back.”

This made me infuriated. I took my clothes off—shoes, socks, underwear and all and shouted, “Can I go now?”

“Yes,” my mom answered, “but once you close that door, don’t expect to come back.”

I was so angry that I shut the door forcefully and stepped out or my home. Then I noticed down the street two neighbour girls walking toward our house. I was so shy that I saw the big spruce (云杉) tree in our yard and jumped under the low-hanging branches. A pile of dried-up brown needles (针状物) were beneath the tree, and you can’t imagine the pain those sharp needles caused to my body.

After I was sure the girls had passed by, I ran to the front door and knocked at it loudly.

“It’s Billy! Let me in!”

The voice behind the door answered, “Billy doesn’t live here anymore. He ran away from home.”

Looking behind me to see if anyone else was coming down the street, I said, “Mom! I’m sorry. I’m still your son. Let me in!”

The door opened and mom’s smiling face appeared. “Did you change your mind about running away?” she asked.

“What’s for supper?” I smiled back.

Night after night, my mom came to help me sleep, even long after my childhood years. I h    46     it when her rough hands pushed my hair. Finally, one night, I shouted at her, “Don’t do that any more, your hands are too rough!” She didn’t say anything and left my room in s    47    , but she never did it again.

Now my own children have grown up. My 70-year-old mom’s rough hands are still doing things for my family as u    48    .

One night, I was ill in bed, a familiar hand ran across my face to push the hair from my head. Taking my mom’s hand, I told her I r    49     shouting at her so long ago.

That night, I felt r    50     and fell asleep with a new appreciation（感激）.