2 . I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. ________, he didn’t teach me acceptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was ________ and ill.

My father was ________ a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness________ all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit quietly in a chair all day. Even talking is ________. One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started ________ about life, and I told them about one of my ________. I said that we must very often give things up ________ we grow — our health, our beauty, our friends — but it always ________ that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father ________ up. He said, “But, Peter, I gave up ________! What did I gain?” I thought and thought, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. ________, he answered his own question, “I________ the love of my family.” I looked at my sisters and saw tears in their eyes, along with hope and thankfulness.

I was also________ by his words. After that, when I began to feel angry at someone, I ________ remember his words and become ________. If he could replace his great pain with a feeling of love for others, then I should be ________ to give up my small anger. In this ________, I learned the power of acceptance from my father.

Sometimes I ________ what other things I could have learned from him if I had listened more carefully when I was a boy. For now, though, I am grateful for this________.

4 . I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs and he was always very kind.

When Doctor Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting _________. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s   _________ was to make it a forest. He had some _________ theories about planting trees. He hardly _________ his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked _________ and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow _________ . He said you had to make things _________ for the trees so that only _________ could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them _________ shallow root and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow __________ roots in search of water. So, __________ watering his trees every morning, he’d beat them with a rolled-up newspaper, I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s   __________ .

Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked __________ his house and looked at the trees __________ he planted some twenty five years ago. They were all tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now.

I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of __________ these trees meant they grew up weak. __________ a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Adversity seemed to __________ Doctor Gibb’s trees in way comfort and ease never could.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often __________ that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to __________ my prayer. I know my children are going to meet with __________. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be torn apart.

6 . Over the years, I’ve been guilty of hurriedly shutting the front door to many strangers when they came knocking with the intention of selling the things. But around Easter time this year, a dear friend of mine had an experience that________my mind towards these “unexpected visitors.”

Alice who recently moved to a new neighborhood, had been housebound (足不出户的) all week________from the severe flu when, early one morning, there was the annoying knock on the door. Peering out the window, she saw two young ladies seriously________leaflets and a TV set model. She knew a large TV set establishment nearby and assumed a message was about to be________. “This is the last thing I need today,” she muttered to herself and________opened the door.

Coughing, she poked her head out and impatiently________them that she wasn’t the slightest bit interested in any TV products.________, she added, she was feeling quite unwell and abruptly shut the door. The ladies politely turned and left________. A few hours later, the same two ladies were back again. Really________this time, she opened the door ready to give them a piece of her mind.________she could speak, these women, with________looks on their faces, handed Alice a dish , saying “We’re so sorry we________you earlier. We thought you may like this homemade chicken soup.________it might make you feel better.” Alice was surprised by this lovely________. Being new to the area, she didn’t know many neighbors or people who could________her with shopping so the gesture was really________. She could only smile embarrassedly and sincerely thanked them. With that, the ladies left.

After Alice told this story to me, I thought about how________this deed was. Especially in today’s world where sadly, kindness and________seem so rare. I also realized that________others and showing________is the real essence of love.

8 . There was once a boy called Joseph Webb who always loved to show off how many friends he had at school. One day his ________ said to him, “Joseph, I bet (打赌) you a big bag of popcorn that you don’t have as many friends as you think. I’m sure many of them are nothing more than companions.”

Joseph ________ the bet at once. However, he wasn’t sure how to test whether his schoolmates were real friends or not, so he asked his grandfather. The old man answered, “Wait a minute.” Then he left and ________ soon as if carrying something in his hands, but Joseph could see nothing there.

“Take it. It’s a very ________ chair because it’s invisible (看不见). It’s rather ________ to sit on, but if you take it to school and ________ to sit on it, you’ll activate (激活) its ________ and it’ll be able to tell who your real friends are.”

Joseph, brave and determined, set off for ________ with the strange and invisible chair.   At break time he asked everyone to form a ________, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair. Having difficulty seeing it, Joseph tried to sit on it but he ________ the seat and fell straight onto his backside. Everyone around him had a pretty good laugh.

“Wait! Let me try again, ”Joseph said. But again, he missed the seat,________ more surprised looks and a few catcalls. Joseph didn’t ________ and kept trying to sit on the magic chair. But he kept falling to the ground...until, suddenly he tried again but didn’t ________. Looking around, Joseph saw three of his best friends holding him up.________, many others he had thought of as friends had done nothing but make fun of him. And there, the show came to an end. Joseph understood that true friends were those who care for him, and not just the ________ that happened to be passing by. And someone who took joy in his misfortunes was even less of a friend.

9 . Mom wanted only one thing for her birthday．"Can you find me another copy of this song？"she asked，and handed me a worn-out cassette tape. I know exactly what was recorded on it-"My Redeemer (救世主)."I heard the song played at least a thousand times while growing up. After 37years，the cassette tape was too worn-out to be used. I promised her I would find a replacement．

"My Redeemer"had become Mom's favorite song after my younger brother Tim was killed by a drunk driver in 1973. The only thing that helped her calm down was the soulful sound of"My Redeemer"from the local radio station．We recorded it on a cassette tape so she would listen to it any time she wanted，but none of us knew who the singer was. These days, I figured it would be easy to find out. I went home and searched the Internet. Several songs with that title came out，but none of them were the one Mom loved. I got depressed.

Mom's birthday drew near and then one day, I was driving home, listening to our local radio station．I heard a familiar song, "My Redeemer!"As soon as I could, I phoned the station. I found out the singer was Alan Parks．I typed his name into Google and found his home number in South Carolina. Minutes later, I was telling him how much his recording meant to Mom. He offered to post two CDs to me personally. I gave him my address．

"Red Lion, Pennsylvania?"he said."Do you know the Logans?""They're our neighbours!""I've been friends with them for 25years，"Alan said. "They'll be at my concert at Your Gospel Chapel on April 17^th. Would you and your mom come, too？"We sure would. Mom was excited to hear Alan sing"My Redeemer", on the evening of her 87^th birthday.