Desiree, a 4-year-old girl, was sobbing quietly over her father, Ken, who had died nine months earlier. She was hugging a photograph of her father with her fingers running around his face. “Daddy”, she said softly, “Why won't you come back?”

Instead of gradually adjusting to her father's death, Desiree refused to accept it “Daddy will be home soon,” she'd tell her mother. “He's at work.” When she played with her toy telephone, she pretended she was chatting with her father “I miss you, Daddy,” she'd say. “When will you come back?” Desiree's situation made her mother worried.

Days later, it was Ken's birthday. “How will I send him a card?” Desiree asked her mother “How about if we tie a litter to a balloon.” her mother said, “and send it up to heaven?” Desiree's eyes immediately lit up.

Her mother took her to a store and Desiree picked out a balloon with HAPPY BIRTHDAY above a drawing of The Little Mermaid (美人鱼). Desire and her father had often watched it.

The child's eyes shone as they were on the way to Ken's grave. Then Desiree dictated (口述) a letter to her Dad. “Daddy, Happy birthday, I love you and miss you,” she rattled off (快速说). “I hope you get this and can write to me on my birthday in January.”

Her mother wrote the message and their address on a small piece of paper, which was then wrapped in plastic and tied to the end of the string on the balloon. Finally, Desiree let fly the balloon. For almost an hour, they watched the shining spot of silver grow smaller and smaller till disappear. “Now Dad's going to write back to me,” Desiree said confidently.

Every day since they'd flew the balloon, Desiree had asked her mother, “Do you think Daddy has my balloon yet?” Several weeks passed, and she stopped asking.

Desire's fifth birthday came and later on the afternoon, a package arrived.

2 . Life is filled with challenges. As we get older we ____ realize that those challenges are the very things that ____ us and make us who we are, it is the same with the challenges that come with____.

When we are faced with a challenge, we usually have two ____. We can try to beat it off, or we can decide that the thing___ the challenge isn’t worth the___ and call it quits.

Although there are certainly___ when calling it quits is the right thing to do, in most __ all that is needed is___ and communication.

When we are committed to something, it means that no matter how___ or how uncomfortable something is, we will always choose to____ it and work through instead of running away from it. Communication is making a ____ for discussion and talking about how you feel instead of just saying what the other person did wrong. ____ you can say to a friend, “I got my feelings hurt.”___ “You hurt my feelings,” you are going to be able to solve the problem much faster.

In dealing with many challenges that friendship will bring to you, try to see them for___ they are: small hurdles you need to jump or ____ on your way through life. Nothing is so big that it is ____ to get over, and hurt only ____ to make us stronger. It is all part of growing up, and it ____ to everyone, and some day you will ____ all of this and say, “Hard as it was, it made me who I am today. And that’s a good thing.”

3 . Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion (困惑) across cultures. For example, many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities).Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don’t smile enough. In Southeast Asian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.

Our faces show emotions (情感), but we should not attempt to "read" people from another culture as we would "read" someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions.

Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressions permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.

It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of "reading" the other person incorrectly.

Beautiful China In Traditional Chinese Painting

5 . How do you enter a room full of strangers? Do you walk right in full of confidence? Or do you try to slip in without being noticed?     1    .

In life,we admire those who do their tasks confidently.We prefer people who appear to know what they are doing.But where does that confidence begin?

Developing self-confidence starts very early.If parents’ role to get kids on the right track toward becoming confident people.    2    .That can be done by focusing on the child’s strengths.Parents should encourage their children to try new things and take risks.When children make mistakes,their parents should still let them know that they are loved.Children whose parents do these things will likely develop into confident adults.    3     So what’s the solution?

With most things in life,practice makes perfect,and that is true of confidence skills.    4    .

Always hold your head high and look people in the eye.Answer questions clearly and confidently.

Focus on the things that you do well,and look for opportunities to use those abilities.

Prepare thoroughly for every project.You’ll approach the task more confidently knowing that you are ready.

    5     It could be a good test score or a prize from a contest.Remind yourself that one success often leads to the next.

However,all humans fail at times,and you will too.Even with efforts to try all the above,you will never be perfect.But you can learn to love and accept yourself and live your life with confidence.

Yours,

Li Hua

10 . Recently I understood the true meaning of love. The _________ was Kane, my neighbor Joline’s two-year-old son.

Kane was born with a physical problem on his _________. And I witnessed the _________ that Kane’s physical shortcomings had on his family. I also witnessed much more than that. I saw a _________ family that embraced (拥抱) this special child. A family that wouldn’t allow Kane to know he was _________. Joline had constructed a small cart just a few inches off the floor for his son to_______. Kane used his hands to move about, and the cart _________ him to “go to” any place just as everyone else was able to do. Kane was not just a member of the family, but the _________ of the family.

With a wide smile, it was easy to see that even at the age of two, Kane liked to _________ with people very much. With wisdom of an individual, this boy even __________ the most complex of human emotions. Later I came to __________that this child was sent to help some of us who weren’t just getting what love was all about.

Kane demanded attention, __________ not because of his mobility (移动能力) challenges or other apparent shortcomings. In his mind, he had no __________ or shortcomings. The __________ was that he received attention because he was alive and real and had so much to offer.

Kane __________ me in a deep way. His ability to refuse to be different has __________ me. Kane was and is __________ lots of warm and powerful energy to me. From him and his family I learnt the __________: love surpasses (超越) all things. I can only imagine that as the parent of a child like Kane one might be filled with __________. But I believe that having a child like Kane is actually a(n) __________. The parents of such special babies are angels too, just as the babies are.