A female swimming athlete once set a goal for herself. She decided to swim across the English Channel before she retired. If she could succeed, she would be the first person in the world    1    did it. On that day, she jumped into the sea without any hesitation(犹豫)and swam towards the opposite bank without any     2     (protection). In the journey, she faced heavy fog, heavy rain and heavy waves.     3    she was tired, she still carried on swimming. But in the end, she gave up. And she didn’t know that the opposite bank was only one mile away when she gave up.

Later she    4     (ask) about the reason. And she said, “The reason why I gave up is that I could not see the place which I was going to reach     5     (complete).” It was    6     great pity that one mile broke her dream.

Since we were young children, too many success stories    7     (be) telling us about courage and persistence(坚持). But they never told us where    8     (find) courage and persistence. You can only have courage when you know where your goal is. You can only manage to persist when you know where your goal is.

And that’s because when you know where your goal is, you can only prepare     9     (you) well in the mind. Courage and persistence never fall from the sky. They come from weighing between input and output.

A life without goals is     10    a ship without a compass. It goes nowhere. There is no courage or persistence in a life without goals.

   What’s the most important thing in our life? Different people have different answers. Some people think money is important . They think they can buy everything if they have money. Some other people think happiness is important in their life. They think they will keep healthy if they are     1     every day. What do think of their opinions?

Maybe you think learning much knowledge is the most important thing. But in my opinion, I think water is the most important of all the things we eat and drink. Many people don't think so. For example, we all     2     not wash anything, even having no meals to eat because of stopping water. People can     3     live without water for two or three days.

Many people, especially young people, don't like drinking enough water, even in hot weather. Our body has mostly water, about two thirds of our     4     is water. When we exercise, some water will get away from our body. If we don’t drink enough water, we’ll feel tired, terrible and we are easily ill. So, up to now, you know     5     important water is to us all.

During our first summer in the Arizona desert, I got b    1     burned by the sun. It was too hot there. By the next April I was already worrying about those three months coming up. I told Mr. Simpson about that at his gas station while he filled my car’s tank.

“You don’t need to worry in that way,” he said, “worrying about the heat just makes the summer start sooner or last l    2    .”

I realized, as I paid the bill, that he was right. “Treat the heat like a welcome surprise.” he said. “ Take advantage of the best that our summer offers and ignore (忽视）the r    3    .”

To my surprise, Mr. Simpson’s advice worked. When the hot summer did arrive, I wanted the flowers in my garden in the morning. In the afternoon I slept with my kids, and in the evening we played games and made ice cream together. I l    4    the beauty of the summer in the desert.

Years later, when we moved to Cleveland, our neighbors there were already worrying about winter in September. When the snows of December did arrive, our children were e    5    because they had never seen snow before. They made snowballs and went skating together.

One afternoon, a middle-aged neighbor told me, “For years the snow had just been something to shovel (铲子). I’d forgotten what real fun it can be !”

A few years later, we moved b    6     to the desert. When I drove to the gas station, I learned from the new owner that age had forced Mr. Simpson to sell the station. He had bought a small station nearby.

I drove there and talked with Mr. Simpson. He was thinner and older now, but his pleasant smile was s    7     the same. I asked him how he was.

“ I’m not worrying about growing old.” he said. “ I am too busy e    8     life out there in the country.”

【推荐1】Henry Band was about 10 years old when his father died. His mother found it difficult to s    1     a large family. Still, she decided to send her oldest child Henry to school and buy him the books he n    2    .

At one time, Henry wanted a grammar book in order to attend a c    3    . But the book was so e    4     that his mother couldn’t afford it. He was very unhappy about this and went to bed with a heavy heart, t    5     about what could be done to get the book.

As soon as he w    6     in the morning, he found that a heavy snow had fallen and the cold wind was blowing hard.

“Ah,” he said, “every problem brings a solution for some people.”

He rose, ran to a neighbour’s house and offered to clean his g    7    . His offer was accepted. After he completed this work and received his pay, he went to a    8     neighbour and offered the same service.

Then he went to several other houses u    9     he had enough money to buy the grammar book. When the school began, Henry sat in his seat, ready to begin studying with his new book h    10    .

From that time on, Henry always did well in all of his classes. Because he had the will, he always found a way.

A young woman in her twenties was sitting     1     the train, next to her mother. They both looked tired but excited. The young woman was looking out of the train’s window. Suddenly, she shouted, “Mom, look, the trees are behind us!” Her voice was so     2     that everyone on the train heard. Mom smiled.     3     a young couple who were sitting nearby looked at the young woman’s childish（孩子气的）behaviour with pity. “Poor girl. There must be something wrong with her     4    .” they thought.

A few minutes later, the young woman shouted     5    . “Mom, look! The clouds are running with us!” Mom smiled again. And she seemed very happy with her daughter’s     6     that she said just now. Finally, the couple couldn’t help asking the old woman, “Sorry if we offend（冒犯）you. But why don’t you     7     your daughter to a good doctor?” The old woman smiled and said, “Actually, we have just come from a hospital.” “Then you should go to a     8     one. Because it seems that your daughter’s situation（状况）hasn’t improved.” said one of them. “No, in fact I’m very happy with the treatment（治疗）.” said the mother, “My daughter was blind from birth. Today, she is seeing the world for the     9     time.”

Every person has a story. Don’t judge people before you know     10     well. The truth might surprise you.

Judy and her husband, John, loved books. Like many lovers of books, they s    1     walked past a bookshop without stopping to look inside. They often talked of opening their own store one day.

In order to realize their wish, they started by talking to bookshop o    2     and researching book business. One figure(数据) caught Judy’s attention: she had read somewhere that about 20% of books sold were mysteries(推理小说), and many buyers of mysteries spent more than﹩300 a year on books. She and John were mystery readers and had a big collection of such books.

On Halloween 1992, they opened the Mystery Lovers Bookshop and Café near their home. With three children in college, it was i    3     for the couple to spend all the family’s money to start a shop. To cover the $100,000 cost, they used some of their savings, borrowed from relatives and from a bank.

In order to attract(吸引) customers, Judy always had n    4     ways. The shop had a coffee bar and it offered presents to mystery lovers and served dinner for book clubs that met in the shop. She also i    5     many writers to discuss their stories with the buyers to let them understand the stories better. Now after paying taxes, business costs and the six part-time sales clerks, John and Judy together earn about $34,000.

“The job we love may not go hand in hand with lots of money,” said John. “We do this to give an e    6     life to ourselves. This is not about making a lot of money. What matters is that we gain happiness from it.”