Years ago you came to me for help. You said, “Grandpa, how is it that you’ve     21     much in your life? You’re still full of energy, and I’m already tired of trying hard. What should I do?” Here is what I believe.

I think a lot of it has to do with how a person looks at things. I call it “keeping your eyes wide     22     ”.

First, realize that life is filled with       23    , but many are good ones. If you don’t keep watching for them, you’ll miss     24     of the excitement. Welcome challenges(挑战).They will make you wiser, stronger, and more powerful than you were the day before. When you make a mistake, be thankful for the things they teach you.

It’s also important to decide     25     what you want. Then keep your mind focused on it, and be prepared to receive it.

But be ready to end up in some new places too. As you grow up, you’ll be given bigger shoes to fill. So be ready for endings     26     challenging beginnings. Sometimes we have to be brave enough to move from the     27     to the unfamiliar.

Remember that your decisions will create your success and failure. So consider all the roads ahead, and decide which ones to follow. Then believe in yourself, get up and get doing.

Most important of all, never give up yourself. The person that ends up as a winner is the one who has the strong will to win. Give life everything you’ve got, and life will give its     28     back to you.

Love always,

Grandpa

“All right, are you ready? Okay, the camera’s rolling.” I was really realizing my dream. I stood inside the empty school hallway on a spring afternoon. In my slightly shaking hand, I held the script On Patrol. “For this scene,” I explained, “all I need you to do is walk quietly.” In front of the camera was my best friend, Gavin, wearing a blue uniform. “Would it be funnier if I looked into the camera?” Gavin suggested. “Hmm.” I said. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s do it that way.” This was certainly not a Hollywood blockbuster. I didn’t have a producer, a script director, or even something as simple as a light setup. The only equipment (设备) I had was my camera and my tripod (三脚架), but they were enough to make my dream come true. “Okay, are you good?” I asked. Gavin nodded his head. “Okay. Action!” I said.

Since my preschool years, movies have been my life. Some people may think back to their childhood as they hear the sound of table tennis or see a baseball flying into the blue sky during a backyard game, Some people may smell the salty air of the ocean during a family vacation. As for me, I hear the sound of the video recorder, as it replays the tape of a video. The movie I watched most as a child was Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. From then on, I watched as many movies as I could. When I began high school, I was wondering what I should choose as a job. After months of not having any idea of what I would become, an idea appeared: if I love movies so much, why not make it a career? I began to write my first short film, On Patrol, a ten-minute silent video about a hall monitor trying to stop someone from throwing rubbish at a school. After I finished my first script, I was very excited. Then I was thinking, “Now it is up to me to make my first movie.”

It was not a famous movie, but it was my step-ping-stone. Now looking back at On Patrol still gives me a dream that could direct more good movies. Watching my first movie not only gives me a laugh, but also gives me the encouragement to continue running after a love I have had since I put Spider-Man into my video recorder many years ago.

My six-year-old granddaughter, Catherine, and I stopped at a bakery for some bread. As we were going out the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.

This young man had no hair on the sides of his head and some blue hair on top of it. One of his nostrils was pierced (穿孔), and his ears were full of rings. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other. Catherine, who was walking ahead of me, _______ when she saw the teen.

I thought he’d scared her and she’d frozen on the spot. I was wrong. My Grand Angel backed up against the door and opened it as _______ as it would go. Now I was face to face with the young man. I stepped aside and let him pass. His response was a kind “Thank you very much.”

On our way to the car, I praised Catherine for her _______ in holding open the door for the young man. She didn’t seem to be   _______ by his appearance, but I wanted to make sure. If a grandmotherly talk about freedom of self-expression and allowing people their differences was in order, I wanted to be ready.

It _______ that the person who needed the talk was me. The only thing Catherine noticed about the teen, was the fact that his arms were full. “He would’ve had a hard time to open the door.” I saw the partially shaved head, the blue hair, the piercings and the earrings. She saw a person carrying something under each arm and heading toward a door. I’m always the one who is so quick to judge. In the future, I hope to get down on her _______ and raise my sights.

Some people believe that schools will not be necessary in the near future. They say that because of the Internet and other new technology, there is no need for school b    56     , classes or teachers. Perhaps this will be true one day, but if the world had no schools, I couldn’t imagine how our society would be.

In fact, we should learn how to use new technology to make schools b    57    . We should invent a new kind of school that is l    58     to libraries, museums, science centers, labs and even companies. Companies should create learning programs for schools. Scientists could give talks t    59     the Internet. TV networks and local TV stations could develop programs about the students who are studying at school. Labs could set up w    60     to show new technology so that students could see it on the Internet.

Is this a daydream? No. This is beginning to happen in many cities. In those cities, learning can take place at home, at school and in the office. Businesses provide programs for schools and society. Schools provide computer labs for people with their own computers at home. Everyone can visit faraway libraries and museums as easily as n    61     ones and everyone can go on the Internet, and older people use it as much as younger ones. How will this new kind of school c    62     the usual way of learning? It is too early to be sure, but it is fantastic to think about it.

In the early days of history, being a good neighbor was very important. Neighbors helped one another set up houses and clear fields. Families depended on one another for friendship and entertainment. But today in our cities and suburbs, friendly relationship between neighbors is not so common. A family may not even know the other families that live next door to them.

We live in an age of machines, and each family may have its own car, TV set and washing machine. People no longer depend on neighbors as much as they once did.

Machines keep people apart in other ways. In our grandparent’s time, women met while they hung out the washing. And men stopped and talked while they mow the lawns (割草). Today, they cannot hear anything above the noise of their power lawn mowers. And women do the housework inside with their electrical dryers, which help dry their clothes. Children are inside watching their favorite TV shows.

Is the idea of being a good neighbor old fashioned? In 1965, a power cut hit New York city. And many thousands of people were left helpless. Suddenly, everyone shared the same problem, and the largest city became a group of 8 million neighbors. People with cars offered rides to those walking. Other people helped direct traffic. In elevators, people played word games and helped cheer each other up. Times of trouble, people still depend on one another. As time goes on, people may once again feel that being a good neighbor is important.