2 . Once there was a girl named Rose. Rose always felt _________ because she lived in a colorless village where life was black and white. She _________ for adventure, but her life was as plain (简单的) as a brown paper bag.

One day while walking down the street, she saw Eric, a former classmate, in a red car, and he _________ her eye. He looked very _________. He stopped and said, “Come in. Let’s enjoy ourselves!”

Rose was a little _________, but Eric’s infectious spirit and the sight of the car’s shiny red appearance _________ her. They drove off into the sunset and found themselves in a city that was lively and full of _________. The buildings were painted with all the colors of the rainbow.

After Eric drove Rose home, she suddenly realized that she _________ to stop running after rainbows and add some color to her _________ life. She decided to live her life in full color.

The next day, Rose took a walk in the village. She ____________ that the trees were green, and the flowers bloomed (开花) in different colors. She realized that her village was not as boring as she had ____________.

Rose noticed a shop that sold paint, so she bought some and painted her house with the brightest color she could find, She was ____________ the result. Her neighbors were amazed at the ____________ and decided to paint their houses bright colors, too. Rose realized that ____________ things in a different light had made all the ____________.

4 . Having Spider-Man close gives you the courage to face the coming days. It certainly________the moment if he pays you a ________. That’s why recently Spider-Man and Captain America ________from the roof of Le. Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The kid were ________. The staff cheered. And the parents cried. It was one of those________moments when everything that’s right with the world converges into(汇聚成) an explosion of ________.Kids and parents find a little more hope, a little more ________.

Children really need ________. They help kids deal with the world around them, ________ a little bit of hope and much entertainment. In our world of uncertainty, our kids ________ need a bit of help, keeping their balance and looking forward to a better future.

Farther south, another team of window washers also made their ________ as superheroes at a hospital in St.Petersburg, Florida, and the children were cheerful. The distraction from their pain is ________ to their mental health, helping them ________ faster and making them happy.

We can all be somebody’s superhero for a day, an hour or just a moment. Distracting someone from the ________they are feeling with a little something to cheer them up just ________ their day, not just hanging from a rooftop.

6 . “Do you want to go to work with me today?” asked my father one day when I was nine or 10 years old. He had never taken me to work with him before.

How could I have said no? I had no idea where my father worked, nor how he earned a living. All I knew, back around 1962, was that he left our house every morning before we woke up and came back every night after we finished dinner. So I gave him a positive answer.

My dad drove us south to the city of Newark, where he was born. There we entered a middle-class apartment building. He made the rounds doing chores (例行工作) for the next few hours with me tagging along (紧紧跟随). He checked the infrastructure (基础设施). He collected rents. He carried around a case of tools in case he needed to fix a broken door or get a washing machine running again.

He took me to work with him a few other times over the years. I always loved going. I got to see him in action, doing his job among other people, out in the wider world and looking important, even heroic. I felt proud of him, proud to be his son. I wish he had taken me more often.

Years later, I followed this tradition. I took my daughter Caroline with me to my office for a day. She saw me in a glassed-off conference room brainstorming with colleagues, on the phone talking with clients and — no doubt the most attractive scene of all — on my computer writing a report. With any luck, my daughter felt the same pride I had felt with my own father.

Today fewer and fewer kids get the same opportunity. Maybe we should make this a tradition.

Many years ago, a farmer owned a large farm along the Atlantic seacoast. He always advertised for hired hands (雇工). Most people were unwilling to work on farms along the Atlantic. They were frightened by the awful storms that swept across the ocean, destroying the buildings and crops in its path. As the farmer interviewed people for the job, he just received “No”.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, came close to the farmer. “Are you a good farmhand?” the farmer asked him.

“Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the man. Although he couldn’t understand his answer, the farmer hired him.

At first the little man started the hard work with confidence. Soon after, he found that the farm was much bigger than he had imagined. He had no idea how such a big farm could produce with so few farmhands, let alone fight against natural disasters. But he quickly accepted the reality that he had to make every effort to deal with these problems. From then on the little man worked around the farm every day and kept busy from dawn to dusk. And to the farmer’s surprise, he felt glad about the man’s work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly. Jumping out of bed, the farmer took a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hands bed, he shook the little man and shouted, “Get up! A storm is coming. Tie things down before they blow away!”

The little man rolled over in bed and said surely, No sir I told you…. I can sleep when the wind blows. And no matter what the farmer said, he didn’t get up. The farmer was very angry with him, so he determined to fire the man on spot.

Instead, he ran outside to prepare for the storm hurriedly.

It was at this moment that the farmer understood.

9 . I was on the train one afternoon. Our carriage was almost empty, just a few people. At one station, a drunk man suddenly entered the train. He shouted and swung his fists (拳头) at a woman holding a baby. Luckily the baby wasn’t hurt. Then he tried to kick an old woman. Everyone was scared.

I’d been learning aikido (合气道，功夫的一种) for the past three years. But I’d never fought in real life. As students of aikido, we are not allowed to start a fight. “Aikido,” my teacher always told us, “is about solving conflict, not starting it.”   

I decided that this was my moment. If I didn’t do something fast, somebody might get hurt. So I stood up, ready to fight.

Just then, someone shouted, “Hey!” It was an old man. He was smiling at the drunk man. “What have you been drinking?” he asked.

“I’ve been drinking wine , but it’s none of your business!” said the drunk man angrily. “Oh, that’s wonderful,” said the old man. Then he told how he loved drinking wine with his wife and eating watermelon.

“I also love watermelon,” said the drunk man.

“And I’m sure you have a wonderful wife, too,” said the old man.

“No,” replied the drunk man. “My wife died,” Then he began to sob (啜泣), “I have no wife, no home, no job. I’m so ashamed of myself.”

“Oh, that is so difficult. Sit down here and tell me about it,” said the old man.

As I got off the train, I realized I’d just seen real aikido in action. This was the spirit of how to solve conflict.