When gold was found in California in 1848, many people left all that they had to go there and try to find gold. Everyone dreamed to become rich overnight. There were two brothers who sold all they had to join the gold rush. ________, they found gold and said the gold was for their own. They then ________ to dig the gold out of the mine. All went well at first, but then a ________ thing happened. There was suddenly no gold anymore. It had only been on the surface and didn’t seem to go deep. The brothers continued their work, but without ________. Finally, they gave up. They sold their equipment and claim(所有权) for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home.

The man who bought the claim asked an engineer to examine the rock there. The engineer told him to ________ digging in the same place where the two brothers had left off. They dug three feet ________ and the new owner found gold. If the two brothers have a little more persistence, they would have been quite ________ themselves.

There’s gold in you, too. You also have ________. Will you dig deeper to find and bring out the best in you?

【推荐2】The most positive（乐观的） person I have ever seen is my dad! He is so positive that I do not _______ hearing a single word from him which is related（相关的）to hopelessness!

Unlike most mums and dads, my dad never says things that make me feel _______. He is always there to give me encouragement and help. _______ I do wrong things, he always tells me what’s right in a positive way. For example, if I am in _______, he often tells me to open the book he bought me. Then he asks me to read the _______ that can help me with the problems I’m facing. After that, we have a _______ together.

Even though I’m not always a good kid, my dad _______ shouts at or gets angry with me. I know that he’s _______ a day—a day when I grow up and understand things in my life.

I can see the reason why he is so positive is that he believes in _______. And he believes that whatever ________, it is under control. So we have nothing to worry about. Be positive!

【推荐3】There was a young college student. He always thought that he had chosen a wrong course, so he played games every day and didn’t study at all. Day after day, he became more and more ________ with his life. But he was never absent from Professor Yang’s biology class. Because Yang’s class was so interesting that he ________ listened carefully. One day, he put a note in his homework that he ________, saying, “It is said that today’s college students are cheaper than _______. Do you agree?” The professor looked at the note but said nothing.

Later that day, the student was about to leave the classroom when the professor called him back. The professor took a small potato that had sprouted(发芽) out. “Do you know how much it ________?” he asked the young student. “It’s soft and poisonous(有毒的). ________ wants to buy it even if it’s free.” After saying that, the student ________ the potato.

Then the professor ________ him another potato. It was half as big as a football and perfectly round. “This potato is organic(有机的). It is not only large and fresh but also free of ________. It is quite expensive, ________ it sells well around the world.” The young man was impressed(受感动的) by what the professor said. The professor put the big potato onto his hand and said, “Be such a potato, young man.”

【推荐1】It was a Christmas night. I was an unlucky nurse who had to work on such a beautiful festival. I wasn’t ________ about it . when I was complaining about it, three people appeared at my desk—a tired woman and two children.

“Are you all sick?” I asked doubtfully because they seemed all right.

“Yes,” the woman answered weakly and _________ her head.

But when they started to present their problems, things became _________. One child had a fever, but his temperature was OK. The other child had an earache, but she could not tell me which ear hurt. It seemed that the mother was pretending to cough.

Something was wrong. But I only explained that it might take a while _________ a doctor could meet them. “Take your time, please.” Said the mother. I checked their charts--- no _________. Suddenly I knew, they were homeless while the hospital was warm.

The family huddled(蜷缩) together under the Christmas tree, _________ and talking with each other sweetly. Quietly, I went back to the nurse station and told them what happened in the waiting room. It was just like God sending us a _________ on Christmas Day. The nurse station suddenly came back to life. All the nurses went into action for “a Christmas emergency(急诊)”.

We _________ our meals for our Christmas “patients”. We also put together oranges and apples as presents. We tried to give them more than their needs of a family _________ only wanted a warm place on Christmas night. Later, the little girl kissed me and said, “Thanks for being _________ angel(天使).”

【推荐2】There was once a carpenter(木匠) living in a small village. He had no other skills, but he was good at ______ houses. His boss was very nice, so he worked for his boss one year after another. ______ ten years of working for the same company, he finally got tired of it and made a ______. He told the boss that he wanted to ______ the job and live a peaceful life with his family.

However, after hearing this, his boss asked him to ______ to build one final house before he left the team. The carpenter ______ agreed, although he didn’t want to do this kind of work anymore. He built the house, but his ______ wasn’t in it. In order to rush to finish the job, he used cheap ______. As a result, it turned out to be the ______ house that he had ever built. When he finished, his boss came to see him last time. Seeing the house, he said nothing.

He ______ the worker for building the house. He then ______,“I wanted to do something special for you to say thanks for your ten years of hard work. You have built so many beautiful houses for other people these years. But there is no one for ______. So I’m giving you this house as a gift.”

What a ______! The carpenter was speechless. He had never thought his boss would give him such a big gift. If he knew he was building his own house, he would have done it much more ______. He ______ building his final house so poorly.

【推荐3】Once upon a time, many frogs lived in a pond. There was a king among them. One day, the king frog decided to have a ________. “There is a tree near the pond. The one who climbs to the top of this tree will be the winner,” he said.

All the frogs were ________ to take part in the competition. As soon as it started, they began climbing one by one. ________ many frogs fell down. Some frogs felt sad and stopped climbing. And some ________. The frogs who didn’t try said, “No one can do it. It’s ________.” Some frogs heard this, and they lost hope and stopped trying, too. But one frog didn’t ________. After many tries, he finally climbed to the top. All the other frogs were quite surprised. They all wanted to know ________ he was able to do it.

The winning frog told them he was deaf and couldn’t ________ anything. He thought the frogs below were cheering for him, saying. “You can do it.” The kind words made him try harder, and ________ he could climb to the top.

This story teaches us a lesson. We should not listen to negative words from others. Instead, we should focus on our ________ and work hard to achieve them.