1 . Everyday on the way to work I drive down a street lined with pine trees. One tree in particular_______my attention. It must have suffered some _______ Part of its trunk grew nearly parallel to the ground, and then in an effort to _______ its own course of life. The trunk took a 90-degree turn _______ to stand tall and stretch toward the sun.

This tree became a_______for me. Each day as I drove by, I saw this bent but determined tree and I would be _______. It was a reminder to me that _______I may not have had the best start in life, I could change_______in the parts of my life at any time.

I was planning to stop one day to get a perfect _______of my kindred-spirit (志趣相同) tree. But that week I was________. After that busy week, I still didn't take any action. Every time I drove by the tree I would________myself, "Tomorrow, I'll stop tomorrow to take one. " Then one day, as I ________ by "my" tree, I glanced over, and much to my________,I found a sawed-off stump (树桩) where that symbolic tree had stood. Gone. I had________my plan until "tomorrow" and tomorrow proved to be too ________ .

A picture of a tree is not of great ________. But my lesson rang through clearly ________ I found out one of my colleagues had been________with stage-four cancer. He may no longer have many ________.

What have you been putting off? What would you do today if you knew you would ________ have the opportunity to do it again? Why not do those things now that you have been putting off until tomorrow?