1 . Once there was a little bird that lived in the old times. When a sage (智者) was thrown into a ________ by his enemy, the little bird saw what happened and decided to put it out to ________ the sage. The little bird ________ bringing a few drops of water in his ________ mouth from the nearby river. The larger birds in the tree ________ and laughed at the little bird, saying, “Why are you carrying the ________?”

The little bird said, “To put out the fire around the sage.” The larger birds continued ________, “How could you put out such a huge fire with so little water? It is ________.”

Do you know what the little bird ________? “I don’t know whether I will manage to put out the fire or not but I know what I have ________ is to stop the fire.” Hearing the answer, all the larger birds were ________ .

We often think that our effort is the factor responsible for our ________ . This is a wrong way of ________. If we believe we can succeed, we shall succeed. Our ________ is just a sacrifice (牺牲) that we are willing to make. ________, the little bird knew that with a few drops of water the fire would not be put out but it was his ________ to do whatever he could to achieve this goal.

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that is ________. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your ________ or may not be in your time, but that doesn’t ________you stop doing the right thing. You may never know ________ results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

2 . Once upon a time there lived a king who ruled a prosperous kingdom. The people of the kingdom lived a ________ life.

One day, the king decided to ________ various places in his kingdom. He went to ________ places on foot.

Traveling long distances on foot was a(n) ________ experience for the king. He got to ________ with his people and learn about their life and problems. Many people were very ________ to meet the king and expressed how they were very happy under his rule.

However, the king wasn’t ________ long walks. He got severe ________ in his leg as he walked through rough paths. He ________ to his ministers that the stony roads weren’t comfortable. The king also expressed his ________ for the people who had to walk along those roads every day. For the convenience of the people, the king ordered to cover all the roads in his kingdom with ________. The king believed that this would make his people’s lives more ________.

The ministers were ________ by the king’s crazy order. Not only was the king’s fantasy of leather roads expensive, it would ________ the lives of many cattle to get sufficient leather.

The wise king’s advisor came to the king with a better ________. He measured the king’s feet and made a nice pair of ________ leather shoes. He made the king wear these shoes and walk on the ________ paths. The king admired them and did not feel any pain while walking. The king was ________ for the genius idea that saved money and thousands of cattle’s lives.

Many times, we blame things around us for the ________ in our lives and never remember to look inside ourselves. Remember, it’s not the world that needs to ________; it’s ourselves.