“Never give up!” It is the law of my life. I learned it from my father. My father was b    1     in a poor village in China. When he was young, he went to school in the morning. Then worked on the farm till sunset (日落). And then he did his homework u    2     late night. Life was     3     (difficulty), because he had no money. When my father was 14 years old, he heard America was the land of gold. The land there could make poor people become r    4    .

“Why don’t I go to America?” he thought to himself,     5     (fill) of hope.

So, he came to America “I thought it was easy to make m    6     there,” he told me “But when I arrived, I     7     (know) it was not true. Jobs were hard to find because I could speak little English. Later, I worked in a small restaurant,     8     (clean) up tables and washing dishes. Life was hard for the first few years. I worked f    9    10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p. m.”

My father kept working hard and     10     (success) at last.

“Alan,” he often says to me. “If you want something, you have to work hard for it and never give up.” That is what I learned from my father.

Have you ever answered “I don’t know” in class? Well, it sounds like you are     1     honest person. However, it is far more about honesty. It is about     2     you think and learn. Here is my story about it.

At the beginning of last term, we     3     (have) a new English teacher, Mr. Li. In his     4     (one) class, he wrote an English poem on the blackboard and asked us the meaning. There was a long silence.     5     (unlucky), the teacher chose me to answer it. I said     6     a low voice, “Sorry, I don’t know.” That’s always my answer to difficult     7     (question) After class, Mr. Li had a talk with me. He said, “You should at least think about the problem and give us an answer, no matter it is right or wrong. If you just say that you don’t know, it only     8     (mean) you are running away from making mistakes. But remember, making mistakes is also learning!” I looked at     9     (he) in a shocking expression. From then on, I said goodbye to the wrong answer “I don’t know”, because any answer was     10     (good) than that one. Now I always try my best to find a proper answer.

“Your beliefs (信仰) become your thoughts; your thoughts become your words; your words become your actions; your actions become your habits; your habits become your values (价值观) ; your values become your destiny(命运).”

The above words     1     said by Mohandas Handhi (默罕默德. 甘地). From these words, we can learn the importance of     2    .

Since values are so important in our life, then what values should we learn so as to     3     a meaningful life?

Love—By love, it doesn’t necessarily mean romantic love. Instead, it could mean kindness. There are many ways for us to show kindness to others. For example, we can give a hand to people     4     are in trouble, or we can say some encouraging words to those who are sad.

Responsibility—Responsibility seems to be a huge word for middle school students. However, we should learn to take responsibility     5     our actions. We should not be selfish (自私的) or think just for     6    .

Honesty— “Honesty is the best policy,” but how many of us actually believe that? As we grow up, we find it easier to     7     lies. But we should remember that     8     we may not always be caught, those demons (恶魔) of dishonesty will go with us for the     9     of our life.

Courage—Courage means we should be willing to admit (承认) our mistakes and face difficulties and challenges     10     fear.

Let’s keep these values in mind and live meaningfully.

【推荐1】Tom is a boy of fifteen. His parents     1     (die) two years ago, and he had to make a living by     2     (he). Now he is working as a servant at Mr Jackson's. He works hard and the Jacksons are pleased with him.

Mr Jackson enjoys     3     (plant) all kinds of trees. There are many kinds of precious(珍贵的) trees in his garden.

Last week Mr Jackson     4     (bring) a few trees home, planted them in the garden himself and watered them every day. Some days     5     (late), he had to leave for another city. Before     6     (leave), he said to Tom, “    7     (take) good care of the plants when I'm out. Some boys of our neighbours always want     8     (steal) them.”

“    9     (not worry) about them, sir,” answered Tom. “I     10     (try) my best to watch them.”

Six days passed and Mr Jackson came back. As soon as he saw Tom, he asked, “Did anyone come to steal the trees?” “No, sir,”said Tom. “I pulled them six days ago. Now they have been hidden for nearly a week!”

Eric was a middle school student. He s    1     from a serious illness. He couldn’t move and had to spend all day in bed.

Because his friends were not allowed to go near him, he felt quite l    2    .

One day, however, he saw a lot of c    3     characters outside the window. Micky Mouse was singing a song. Donald Duck was playing the violin. Peppa Pig was dancing. Those l    4     characters brought happiness back into his heart. Soon he got well and was able to go back to school again.

Eric told his classmates about all the strange things he had seen. While he was talking, some of his classmates laughed and said, “We worried about your h    5    , so we dressed as some cute animals to cheer you up.”