1 . A man was exploring some caves by the seashore. In one cave he _________ a bag of hardened clay balls. It seemed that someone had _________ some clay and baked the balls in the sun. They didn’t look like _________ things, but they interested him, so he took the bag out of the cave with him.

As he walked along the beach he _________ the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could. He thought _________ about it until he dropped one of the balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone. _________, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars’ worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had _________, and then it struck him: Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have had tens of thousands, with the 50 or 60 clay balls with their _________ treasures which were now in the ocean. He just _________ the chance.

Sometimes it’s like that with __________. When we look at a person, we usually only see “the outside clay shell”. It isn’t always beautiful or shining, so we __________ the person; we see him as less important than someone more beautiful or more __________. But we haven’t taken the time to look for the __________ inside that person. If we spend the time getting to know that person, the clay will __________ and the brilliant jewel will shine. We are __________ made, not only with our physical bodies, but also with our spiritual selves, which are sometimes hidden from others by the “earthen shell”.

3 . During the recent school holidays I was walking past a playground on my way to a meeting. The thing that_______me was not the number of children enjoying the fresh air on a pleasant Queensland winter day, but the number of older people_______those children.

Sure, there were a few younger mums and dads, but there were_______more “old folk” who I doubt were all grandparents. It is great that they are able to_______quality time with their grandchildren. After all, we often hear people saying that their reason for retiring is that they can devote more time to their families. However, I_______how many grandparents are spending their retirement (退休) years taking on the role of full- or part-time_______of their grandchildren.   

Retirement is a valuable time. We are generally living much longer than our own grandparents did, but as we_______, we become more limited in our ability to pursue (追求) our own favourite. However, what if your plans for pursuing some of these lifetime dreams are _______，out of a sense of responsibility for your family?

So how can you keep a_______ balance between helping out your family and pursuing your dreams altogether? I'm not sure where the answer lies, but having an open and honest________   with your family should be at the top of the list. You need to nip sense of________ in the bud (对……一开始即加以阻止) — and sooner________later.

By all means, help your family whenever you can. Everyone will________from it, and your grandchildren will get the rewards from staying with their________. Do it because you want to, not because you feel you have to. In addition, spare time for ________ to pursue your dreams and ensure that nobody puts your retirement on hold.

5 . Long ago there was a poor farmer called Fred. Fred and his wife, Doris lived ________ together in their small old house. One winter night, the Luck Fairy (仙女) visited them.

“Fred, you’re a ________ farmer. I’d like to give you a wish,” said the Luck Fairy.

“A wish?” Said Fred.

Fred and Doris smiled at each other. Then Fred said, “Thank you, Luck Fairy. We’re very ________ and happy.”

“________ we’re old, we still work in the field every day,” said Doris.

“You wok very hard but you ________ very little money. Would you like some gold coins” asked the Luck Fairy.

“Oh no, my dear Luck Fairy. We’re poor. But we have ________ food to eat.” Replied Fred.

“You can use the gold coin to buy some clothes. The winter here is very cold,” said Luck Fairy.

“Though we haven’t got ________ clothes, we’ve got enough,” said Doris.

“Well, what about a nice new house?” Asked Luck Fairy.

Thank you, but I ________ my small old house very much. I’ve lived here since I was born. I don’t ________ a new house,” said Fred.

“You’re quite different from other people. I like you very much,” said the Luck Fairy. “I wish you happiness and luck forever.” Then the Luck Fairy ________ and never came back.

8 . One day, a colt (小马驹)took a bag of wheat to the mill (磨坊).When he came to a small river, he could not _______ whether he could cross it. Just then, he saw a cow nearby and asked, “Aunt Cow, could you tell me if I can cross the river?” The cow said, “Of course, you can. The river isn't very _______, just knee high.”

The colt was about to cross the river _______ a squirrel （松鼠）jumped down a tree and stopped him, _______ , “Colt, stop! You'll get killed in the river! One of my friends _______ his life yesterday in the river" The colt was _______ at what to do, so he went home to ask for his mom's opinion.

His mother said, "Don't always _______ others. You'd better go and try yourself. Then you'll know what to do."

He returned to the river “Little horse, it's too _________ !” The squirrel shouted again.

“Thanks, but I want to try myself.”

After crossing the river successfully, the colt _______ that the river was neither as shallow as the cow said nor as deep as the squirrel told him.

This story tells us the ________: Real knowledge comes from practice.

9 . Teary Joe was a boy with a special ability:he could cry in less then a second. If he disliked something or things became difficult,Joe would _______ a pitiful face. In this way he got everything .he. wanted，_______ no one could resist his sad face.

But one day ,Joe met Pipo. Pipo was begging in the street for some _______. Pipo was very poor,but he always had the biggest _______ on his face.

Joe decided to help Pipo make some money. He went over to Pipo,took off his hat,and started crying with the most pitiful _______.

In a few minutes,Joe's hat was full of coins, but when Joe offered all these to Pipo,Pipo turned him down.

“I prefer deserving what I receive," answered Pipo with his usual smile. It's much more fun making a(n) _______ to get things. Today I've washed a dog, accompanied a blind old lady to the park and helped a stranger to mind his bag. Maybe I haven't gotten what I've wanted, but I've done many meaningful things.”

Joe walked sadly away. He had gotten everything he wanted, but he'd done nothing of interest. He hadn't even enjoyed himself spending almost all his time crying.

That evening,Joe _______ a delicious cake for his supper. When his mother refused,Joe tried to cry,but _______ how joyful Pipo was,Joe couldn't do it. Instead,he had an idea. He tried to get the cake in another way. Joe spent the whole evening helping his mother water the plants and，_______ the rooms.

In the end there was no cake. But that wasn't so bad, because Joe ________   it had been much more fun doing all those than just crying to get a piece of cake.

10 . A man was spending his holiday in Africa. One day he ______ the elephants passing by on the road. To his great surprise, these large strong animals were being held only by a small rope, tied to their front leg. Clearly, they could ______ run away any moment. However, they did not.

Then he saw a trainer and asked him how that could happen that not a single elephant made an ______ to break free. The trainer explained, “When the elephants are very young, we use the ______ size rope to tie them, and at that time it is enough to hold them. Gradually they grow up, get ______, but they never try to get away, as they believe that the ______ will still hold them.”

The man was ______. These strong animals could break free any time, but they did not, because they believed that that was impossible.

Sometimes people ______ like elephants. They give up after the ______ failure. Remember that failures are part of ______. If we want to succeed, we should never give up, but try and try again, no matter how many failures we have experienced in the past.