2 . Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her senior high school life was unhappy and that she was tired of struggling with homework all the time.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, h placed potatoes, eggs and coffee beans in them. After 20 minutes, he took them out, putting the potatoes and eggs in a bowl and the coffee in a cup.

Turning to his daughter, he said, “Look closer, and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After puling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to taste the coffee. Its good smell brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked. He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and the coffee beans were in the same adversity (逆境)—the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently.

The strong and hard potato became soft and weak in boiling water. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new. “Which one do you want to be like,” he asked. “When adversity knocks on your door, how will you respond?”

In life, challenges happen to us all, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

5 . Things have been kind of tough lately for Shannon Baker and her little family. They have each other’s parents and young daughter and for that they are grateful But she and her husband are both currently_______. And their car is in great need of _______. And then there is the matter of their second child, who is due soon. So things are a little tense for the Baker family these days.

When Shannon and her daughter were walking through a store parking lot recently, Shannon picked up an envelope from the ground that _______$4,000 in cash. There were a _______of different interpretations(理解) that could be considered. Was this a kind of good _______? Could it be an attempt by the universe to balance everything? Could it be simply a gift from God? Shannon didn’t know. The only thing she knew was that the cash in that envelope_______to someone else.

Oh, and one other thing she knew: Her young daughter was _______．“My kid was standing right there_______I found it,” Shannon told WLS­TV in Chicago. “So basically I wanted to teach my daughter how to be_______. And for me that was enough.”

Never mind the bills that were piling up, or the car that needed to be fixed, or the baby that would come soon. And forget that when she________the money over to the police she was told that there was actually nothing illegal if she ________it.

The police were able to return the money to the person who ________it: an old woman. And one can imagine the ________and relief she felt when the police handed the lost envelope back to her. “She came to my house and she was almost in tears, ________me, ” Shannon said. “She gave me a hug and an envelope with a small amount in it. But the amount, large or small, wasn’t ________. What was important was the opportunity to teach my daughter honesty.”

8 . Al Nixon began each day from a bench with a spectacular view of the Tampa Bay, Florida. One day, a woman stopped, “Seeing you here, I know that everything is going to be ________.” That was when Nixon knew—he needed to________ the people walking by, letting them know that men ________ to each other.

Instead of staring straight at the waterfront, Nixon started ________ at people and striking up conversations. “I wanted them to walk away knowing they didn’t have to feel ________.” Nixon, 59, said. His being present and his ________ to listen have led some to nickname him the Sunshine Mayor (市长).

“Nixon is this calm, constant________,” said Dee Glowa, who is in her late 50s. “He listens without ________ and without any kind of return expected.” While most people ________wave or stop to make small talk, others are anxious to step into his “________” and spend a few minutes with someone who will listen.

No matter what problem a person wants to ________, Nixon lends an ear. “You have to have an open heart and an open head,” he said. “No topic is off ________, but some people sit down and don’t want to ________ at all.”

Once a woman ________ and they stared at the water for an hour, then she said thank you and walked away. She just wanted a moment of ________ and to know she wasn’t alone. And in that moment, in that hour, on that morning, she truly wasn’t.”

9 . It was a vacation when I was 16. I was on a one-week-long trip with some students to ______ a Seminary (神学院) college in Iowa. On the way our ______ had stopped in Chicago for a few days. We were ______ in a building owned by the church on the south side of the city. In the evening I ______ to go out for a short walk. I was going down a street when I ______ other people making a wide berth (安全距离) around someone sitting on the sidewalk. His clothes were ______, worn and torn. His skin was dirty and I could ______ him from several feet away. I stopped in my ______. I had never seen a homeless person before. Then my mind ______ back and I realized I had seen a homeless person once before: Me.

It was a summer night in my 11th year when the home I grew up in ______ fire in the middle of the night. I can still ______ all of us standing outside while the fire destroyed everything we owned. My dad was busying. My grandma and mom were ______. And my brothers and I were standing in ______, scare and silence. ______, friends took us in that ______. Our small town community gathered around us. They fed us, brought us clothes, and within a few days helped our dad to rent a ______. I could remember feeling ______ and blessed even after losing so much.

The homeless man sitting there, however, couldn’t depend on anyone. I could see the ______ and despair (绝望) in his eyes. I only had a few dollars left in my wallet but I didn’t hesitate. I ______ and handed it to the man, talked with him, comforted him.

I have often ______ what happened to him over the years. Did he make it off the streets? Did he die there? I don’t know. I do know that I was no better than he was, only more fortunate.

10 . If life were a book and you were the author, how would you like the story to go? That is the question that _______ my life forever.

One day I went home from the training of snowboarding with what I thought was a flu, and less than 24 hours later, I was in a _______ on life support with less than two percent _______ of living. It wasn’t until days later that the doctor diagnosed (诊断) me with a _______ blood infection (感染). During the course of 2.5 months, I lost the hearing in my left ear and both my legs below the knee. When my parents _______ me out of the hospital, I _______ that I had been put together like a patchwork (拼缝物) doll and I had to live with _______legs. I was absolutely physically and emotionally broken, _______ running down.

But I knew in order to move forward, I had to let go of the Old Amy and _______ the New Amy. It was at that moment that I asked myself the important ________. That is when it hit me that I didn’t have to be five-foot-five anymore, but I could be as tall as I wanted. And first of all, I can make my feet the size of all the shoes. So there were ________ here.

Four months later, I was back upon a ________. And this February, I won two Board World Cup gold medals, ________ me the highest ranked snowboarder in the world.

So instead of looking at our challenges and our limitations as something ________ or bad, we can begin looking at them as a wonderful ________ that can be used to help us go further than we ever know we could go.