1 . Jenny married Steven in 1950. They loved each other but Steven had bad tempers. As a new bride(新娘), Jenny moved into Steven’s house on his farm. She took a shoe box with her and put it in her closet (壁橱). She asked Steven not to open the box. Thinking that everyone has his/her secret that he/she never wanted others to know, Steven accepted it.

For 50 years, Steven left the box alone, even without touching it. Finally, Jenny was ill and dying. Steven thought the box must hold something very important and it was time to open it, so he asked Jenny whether he could open the box. Jenny said yes.

Opening the box, Steven found two doilies(装饰小垫) and $82,500. He took the things to Jenny and asked where this came from.

“Well, my mother gave me the box the day we got married,” she explained, “She said that love needed understanding, so did life. She knew you had bad tempers, so she told me to make a doily whenever I felt hurt and frustrated(沮丧), so that I wouldn’t get mad at you.” Steven was glad that in the past 50 years Jenny had made only two doilies. Then he asked about the money.

“In fact, after having made too many doilies, I began to sell them. Each brought us $50. That’s the money I’ve made by selling the doilies.”

Hearing this, Steven couldn’t help crying…

Everyone gets three presents in life. Life is the first one; love is the second and understanding is the third. It is love that gives us lives and understanding, while understanding keeps love.

3 . During the winter break, I found my dad’s old CD player in a drawer that I had never seen before. It reminded me of the three CDs I recently bought from Mostly Books, a second-hand media store on South Street. I knew I could put the player to good use with them.

However, I was a naughty kid who broke closet doors and shelves, so my dad was often unwilling to let me borrow his things. I couldn’t decide whether to ask my dad about using the player. “Can you help me with your old CD player? I want to play some CDs,” I finally asked him after walking into his home office that day. Despite my worries, my dad said yes.

Growing up, I felt that my dad disagreed with nearly everything I did. I was frightened to take his advice because listening to him felt like going against my own ideas.

This new side of my dad encouraged me to finally take the time to look for our similarities. I discovered how similar we really are while fixing the CD player with my dad, which helped me see him as someone I could relate to, instead of someone to avoid. Watching my dad prepare his old CD player for use was my first step toward understanding him. I observed several of his characters that I recognized in myself, like persistence, patience and calmness. Seeing these characters in my dad showed me how similar we are, which lowered the defenses (防御) I built against him, allowing our relationship to heal (愈合).

When Mike was a seven-year-old kid, his parents usually didn’t give him money because he liked to buy junk food. They knew such food would be harmful to kids’ body.

But one day Mike strongly wished to buy such food. He knew he couldn’t persuade his parents to give him money to buy it, so he was upset. At noon that day, his mom was having a nap in the bedroom while his dad was working out of the home. Mike suddenly found his mom’s wallet on the sofa in the living room. Usually, his mom would put the wallet close to her — not this time.

Mike found a good chance to get money. He thought he could secretly take some from his mom’s wallet without letting her discover it. Then, he slowly walked towards the wallet and opened it. There was lots of money. Mike took a few coins and walked out of the house, going directly to a store in his community.

He bought a bag of food that was very peppery and a bottle of iced Coca-cola. Instead of returning home, he hung around outside to enjoy the food and the drink in case his mom discovered it. When he opened the food bag, a strong, hot and sweet smell rushed into his nose. He tasted some: it was delicious. But it was too hot and his mouth seemed to be on fire. However, he didn’t take notice of it. Minutes later, he ate up the bag of junk food and finished the drink. Then he returned home. His mother was still sleeping.

In the afternoon that day, Mike began to feel uncomfortable and wanted to vomit. He felt pain in his stomach. At first, he could stand it. However, finally, he couldn’t bear it anymore and told his mom that he felt sick. But Mike didn’t tell his mom the truth that he had some hot junk food. Not knowing what was wrong with Mike, his mom was worried.

She hurried to drive him to the hospital.

Mike realized he should admit what he had done.

5 . The input Dad has on my career is incomparable. My earliest memories are of Dad sitting in the kitchen playing the guitar, listening to his favourite song by his favourite singer, and encouraging his little girl to poke (戳) keys randomly on the piano. Even watching Top of the Pops, he would get so passionate about music in it. We weren’t a religious family, but there was something spiritual about Dad’s connection with music.

Music also became a source of comfort for me. I failed to do well academically at school and had no friends. Being at school consumed so much of my emotional energy. Instead of going to school to learn stuff, I felt as though I was simply trying to get people to like me. Things were better, but the only time I truly felt happy was when I was at home listening to music with Mum and Dad or writing songs on the piano —and the older I got, the more powerful music felt.

Dad was always my biggest supporter. When I started giving live performances at the local bar, he was the one who drove me there and back. Freeing up that time wasn’t easy for an actor. His job might mean three weeks in the Czech Republic or working with George Lucas on The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones in Hollywood.

Dad has been involved with some amazing stuff, but Daddy Pig is the one that’s had the biggest impact all over the world. When I was flying to Australia for my first tour, I was trying to find something to watch on the little screen and I noticed they had Peppa Pig. If I’m missing home and family, I always put it on. Daddy Pig is a fairly real version of my dad —he loves chocolate cake, he’s funny and usually breaks things when he’s trying to mend them. Mum and Dad were friends with one of the producers of the show and I often wonder if he looked at my dad and thought, “That’s him …that’s Daddy Pig.”

6 . My father started his own business in the 1980. For a breadwinner with seven children, it was a _________ decision.

To improve himself, my father spent his evening _________ a business school that offered two-year programs for people interested in becoming _________ and administrative assistants. Besides, my father read the town newspaper every morning, and I _________ he would inevitably read the classified section, _________ the “help wanted” advertisements. As a kid, I thought such _________ was only for people seeking a position.

One day, I asked him, “Dad, you have a job. Why do you read the ‘help wanted’ section every day?” “Well,” he replied, “it’s _________ for me to know what the employers want for their jobs and what are the things they’re _________.” A light bulb went off in my mind. Yes, he obviously wasn’t looking through the “help wanted” section for himself. He wanted to stay _________ with a hiring mindset. Meanwhile, he __________ something new to develop his own business.

Recently, as a runner, I was __________ by an article about On, a company manufacturing athletic shoes. It won net sales of $345 million in the first six months of 2022 and it receives about 70,000 __________ per year. One of the key __________ the owners seek in new hiring is “an explorer mindset”, which is just what my father owns.

The explorer mindset sought by On can __________ people outside of the “help wanted” sections of life. As a saying goes, “In so many ways, comfort is the enemy of __________.”

10 . The most affectionate memory of my childhood is about a round table. When I was still little, my entire family would ______ on almost every traditional festival to have dinner. While the ______ were discussing something beyond our comprehension, we kids would play hide-and-seek.

The round table is a ______ of a reunion of our families and an ______ to our families. But as a matter of fact, in China, almost everything can be solved over a ______ table. The marriage bells between a loving couple and the ______ between business partners can all happen on the same round table. ______ , I start to wonder what this round table is to us, and its true significance starts to ______ in front of me.

The food on the table may ______ with time. The reasons why we come together may be ______ , but the sensation behind it remains the same. And that is our tolerance of different people or willingness to ______ different cultures.

In less than two months before the Spring Festival, a(n) ______ epic migration: would take place in China. The power that ______ us to do so has been sustaining Chinese civilization for thousands of years, and even the history of our nation has been the stories of ______ or running to the round table to which we ______ . The round table is and will always be a symbol of the Chinese sensation.