1 . Snowy was a beautiful little horse. Since she was born she has wanted to be a show jumping horse. Every day she would _________ her mum to allow her to _________. Finally, her mum decided that she was_________enough and they went into the jumping arena (竞技场).

Snowy was very_________, but when she saw how_________the jumps were, she started shaking. “I can’t jump that high. It’s a good idea that we_________ ”, she said. Her mum said, “I wouldn’t expect you to _________that high. There’s a log (原木) on the ground. Why don’t you start jumping over that?” Snowy gathered (积聚) her _________, walked to the log and then _________ to jump over it.

“I did it!” she shouted happily. Soon Snowy developed good__________in jumping over logs.__________, her mum said, “You can’t just jump over logs __________you want to be a show jumper. __________the low jump over there.”

Again, Snowy was __________ , but she tried it and found she could do it. As time went on, Snowy progressed to taller jumps, until finally she __________ the arena and looked at the tallest jumps.

Over the past few weeks, something had __________. These jumps seemed much less __________ to Snowy. She jumped over them easily. Her mum looked with __________ at her and said, “This is what happens when you start __________and build your way up.”

So never be afraid of __________ in life, but start small and keep trying. Then you’ll be able to do anything.

3 . In a national spelling contest in America, an 11-year-old girl was asked to spell a certain word. But with her ________ voice, the judges were not sure whether she spelled the right word. They talked it over and ________ decided to simply ask her what she had said. By then, the girl knew she had misspelled the word. Instead of lying, she told the truth that she had said the ________ letter—so she lost the contest.

As the girl walked off the ________, the entire audience stood，clapping to applaud her honesty. Later, dozens of newspaper reporters wrote about this ________, even though it cost the girl the contest. But the fact is that she ________ the biggest contest that day: the contest of her character.

Probably the biggest test of our character and honesty is what we would do if we knew we would never get ________. This young girl could easily have ________ and nobody would have known it but herself. But it’s been said, “If you ________, you make yourself cheap.” This young girl was ________ enough to prize her own character more than the prize from a spelling contest. She knew the ________ she made in that moment will have a long-lasting influence in her future.

Should the wallet, found in the street, be put into a pocket or ________ to the policeman? Should the ________ change received at the store be forgotten or ________ ? Nobody will know. But we have to live with ourselves, and it is always better to live with someone we ________.

5 . “What’s the story of your piano?” a friend asked over dinner. My piano just _________ in the corner of my living room. “It has a story?” I doubted.

“All pianos have stories,” she replied. Suddenly my piano’s story came _________ out of me as if I’d always had this tale to tell.

I’ve loved _________ since childhood. I started with the recorder and moved on to the violin and guitar. Playing the piano had always been my _________ which my family couldn’t afford. I grew up in a poor immigrant family in Toronto. My father _________ tables in a restaurant and my mother worked in a laundry. Though our childhood was _________, my brothers and I were always fed with     _________. I can’t remember which birthday it was when my mother _________ some money to buy me a doll. By then I’d outgrown wanting dolls but she worked too hard to know that and I never told her. I _________ accepted it.

So it was finally with my ____________. It was in my last year of high school. I took piano lessons for about a year before university forced me to ____________. I had to make a decision: to pursue（追求） a more ____________ goal of medical school or my love for music. The realist in me ____________ and I had to give up piano lessons ____________ as with my doll it was too late to learn to play the way I wanted. I ____________ the piano around with me over the next decade until my son was born. He showed an early ____________ in music so I put him in piano lessons. I played that piano through my son although guitar ____________ became his choice.

I gradually realized that I’d let all my pleasures ____________ for my job. I figured I’d get back to playing the piano when I retire. Maybe it’s time to get that piano tuned again before it’s too late to     ____________. Maybe that’s something we should do right now.

Sometimes a ____________ question can open a path of thinking and discovery. So what’s the story of your piano?

7 . Dinnie, a cute little dog, will always be in my mind. I worked _______ a volunteer at the vet’s clinic(诊所) this summer holiday, so I'd seen _______ dogs. Dinnie was by far the funniest-looking dog _______ I'd ever seen. Thin curly(弯曲的) hair _______ her sausage-shaped body. Her bright eyes often seemed surprised. And her tail looked like a rat's tail.

She was brought to the vet to be put to _______ because her owners didn't want her any more. _______, I thought Dinnie had a sweet personality. “No one should _______ her by her looks,” I thought. So the vet _______ her and she was no longer in danger of losing her life. Finally, I _______ Dinnie in the local newspaper: "Funny-looking dog, well behaved, needs loving family."

When a young man ________, I warned him that Dinnie was ________ looking. The boy on the phone told me that his grandfather's sixteen-year-old dog had just died. They wanted Dinnie ________ it was. I gave Dinnie a good bath and fluffed up(拍松) her hair. Then we ________ them to arrive.

At last, an old car drove up in front of the vet's. Two kids ran to the door. They ________ Dinnie into their arms and rushed her out to the ________, who was waiting in the car. I ________ them to see his reaction to Dinnie.

Inside the car, the grandfather patted Dinnie ________ in his arms and touched her soft ________. She licked his face. Her tail shook around so quickly that it looked ________ it might fly off her body. It was love at first lick.

“She's perfect! ” the old man said.

I was thankful that Dinnie had found the good home that she ________. That's when I saw that the grandfather's eyes were a milky white color --- he was blind.

8 . Years ago, I had a quarrel with a friend owing to a misunderstanding. It was_________my fault, but I was afraid to admit that I was wrong, so we didn't speak for a long time. Several years later we came across each other and decided to meet for lunch. It was so_________that we kept meeting. After two or three meals together, I felt_________to apologise for my previous behaviour.

My experience is never unique. Many people_________apologising because the idea of admitting to wrong behaviour makes them_________uncomfortable. Apologies force us to admit to ourselves that we don't always_________our own standards. We might also fear that the victim won't_________our apology. We all like to_________ourselves as good people—as kind, honest and considerate. For these_________, an apology can be very difficult to give.

Given my__________, there is no doubt that an apology is a vital tool for__________a relationship to make it functional again. Usually, a(n)__________apology is called for, but if the victim is angry about the wrong behaviour, it may be more__________to wait, because their__________may prevent them from accepting our apologies. Also, a delay__________an apology's effectiveness because it conveys that the offender has reflected on their__________. But a heartfelt apology has more powerful effects, which can improve our mental health and repair our__________interpersonal relationships. __________, expressing regret and acknowledging responsibility are equally vital. Without__________, it's a defence of your actions; without responsibility, it's an excuse.

My friend and I had lunch recently, 15 years after my belated apology. Admitting that everything had been my fault helped us heal our relationship. We're both__________of having our friendship today.

9 . I shall never forget the day when the earthquake happened. It was about 5 in the afternoon and I was _________ along the road to my daughter’s school. Our plan was to go_________ together. I stopped at a_________ to get some fresh fruit. We liked to have some fruit to eat after our swim. I was driving along a high_________ on my way to the school. _________ my road was another road which was built like a_________. I was_________ so I put the bag of apples_________ me and started to eat one. Suddenly I saw the cars in front of me start to_________ from side to side. I slowed down. Then my car started to shake! I didn’t know what was happening. Perhaps something had__________ wrong with my car. I drove a little more slowly and then I__________ the car and at the same moment the road__________ onto the cars in front of me. I found myself in the__________. I couldn’t move. My legs and feet were hurt badly and I couldn’t move them. All around me was__________. But below me I could hear shouts and a lot of noises.

Then I realized what had happened. I had been__________ an earthquake. For about two hours nobody came. Luckily I could reach the bag of__________，so at least I had plenty to eat. Then I heard people__________ towards me. A team of people had come to__________ if anyone was under the__________ road. I called out, “I'm here！” I heard a shout. Soon a stranger climbed to my car. “How are you__________？” he asked. “Not too bad,” I said. They didn’t get me out until the next morning.

10 . “Ding... ding...,” the bell rang. The English teacher came into the classroom with test papers in his hand. All the students shouted. The teacher_________with a smile on his face, “I know there are too many tests for you these days, but the test today is very_________.” After hearing the teacher’s words, all the students sat up straight and _________for the test to begin. The teacher started to_________the test papers to each student._________he finished handing out the test papers, he asked them to begin.

There was not a question but only a small black “X” in the middle of the paper. The students were very_________to see that. The teacher _________ the students’ surprise. Then he said, “I would like you to_________about what you see there. You must finish it all by_________ .”

All the students thought about it hard and then wrote down their answers quietly. At the end of the class, the teacher collected their papers and read the answers. __________ of them described the black “X”. The next day, the teacher said, “Everybody only paid attention to the black ‘X’, but __________ wrote about the white paper.” The whole class listened __________ , because they worried that they might fail the exam.

Then the teacher said, “Don’t worry about the __________ of this test. I just want you to think about your life.” Everyone smiles. The teacher added, “The white paper is like our whole life and the black ‘X’ in the middle of the paper is just __________ problems in our daily life. Do you have some more thoughts?”

Then the students discussed and expressed __________ opinions actively. Finally they understood the teacher and this special test.

Our life is a __________ given to us by God, with love and care.________, we just care about the problems like illness and hunger, and never see that these problems are much__________ than everything else we have in our life.

We should try to take our eye off problems and __________ each moment life gives us. Only then can we start a nice   __________   and find true happiness in our lives.