1 . America was where all my mother’s hopes lay. My mother believed one could be anything he wanted to be in America. “You can be a prodigy (神童), too,” my mother told me when I was nine. “You can be best at anything.” We didn’t immediately pick the right kind of prodigy. At first my mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple. We’d watch Shirley’s old movies on TV as though they were training films. My mother would poke my arm and say, “Ni kan”—You watch.

Soon after my mother got this idea about Shirley Temple, she took me to a beauty training school and put me in the hands of a student who could barely hold the scissors without shaking. Instead of getting big fat curls, I emerged with an uneven mass of crinkly black fuzz.

In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so. I pictured this prodigy part of me as many different images, trying each one on for size. I was a dainty ballerina girl standing by the curtains, waiting to hear the right music that would send me floating on my tiptoes. I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon music filling the air.

In all of my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach (责备). I would never be annoyed by anything. Every night after dinner, my mother and I would sit at the Formica kitchen table. She would present new tests, taking her examples from stories of amazing children she had read and a dozen other magazines she kept in a pile in our bathroom. My mother got these magazines from people whose houses she cleaned. She would look through them all, searching for stories about remarkable children.

The first night she brought out a story about a three-year-old boy who knew the capitals of all the states and even most of the European countries. A teacher was quoted as saying the little boy could also pronounce the names of the foreign cities correctly.

“What’s the capital of Finland?” my mother asked me, looking at the magazine story.

All I knew was the capital of California, because Sacramento was the name of the street we lived on in Chinatown. “Nairobi!” I guessed, saying the most foreign word I could think of. She checked to see if that was possibly one way to pronounce “Helsinki” before showing me the answer.

The tests got harder — multiplying numbers in my head, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards, trying to stand on my head without using my hands, predicting the daily temperatures in Los Angeles, New York, and London.

And after seeing my mother’s disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. Before going to bed that night, I looked in the mirror and when I saw only my face staring back — and that it would always be this ordinary face — I began to cry. Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high-pitched (尖锐的) noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror.

And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me — because I had never seen that face before. I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. This girl and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of won’ts. I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.

Peter woke up early in the morning. He went downstairs in a hurry and started to have his breakfast as quickly as possible.

“Why are you in such a hurry, early bird?” Mum asked him. “We will have an English spelling test today, Mum,” Peter said. “Mr. White promised to offer prizes to those who get 100 scores. I’ve been studying the word list since last week. Although the words are difficult, I am well prepared for them.”

Peter reviewed the spelling of each word once more carefully when Dad drove him to school. At last, it was time for the students to have a test. “Responsibility,” Mr. White started. Peter wrote it on his test paper quickly and confidently.

“The second word: contribution,” Mr. White said.

“So easy,” Peter thought. He quickly wrote the word down.

Thirty words later, the test papers were collected by Mr. White. “I am to mark your papers now,” he told the class. After marking the test papers, Mr. White said, “Three of you won a prize today for excellent test scores. Peter, David and Mary got full marks on the spelling test!”

Mr. White praised them. Meanwhile, he gave the three students each a dictionary. Peter’s was an English-Chinese dictionary—the one he liked best. Peter was so excited that he held it high when his classmates cheered. “This is my happiest moment,” Peter thought.

After Mr. White gave the test paper back, Peter had a look at the words, feeling proud of his spelling. All of a sudden, the word “contribusion” confused him. It didn’t seem right. Peter began to compare them after taking out the word list. “C-O-N-T-R-I-B-U-S-I-O-N,” he whispered. He spelled it wrong.

“What am I to do?” Peter said to himself. “I expect my classmates to think I’m a master at spelling. If I tell Mr. White one of my spelling words is wrong, I’ll have to give my prize back, or I will become an example for telling a lie.”

Staring at the full marks written on his test paper, Peter was lost in thought. After a while, he remembered a lesson Mum used to teach him, “We ought to be an honest person.”

Slowly,Peter raised his hand.

Peter looked around.

3 . A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her, and she did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her father, a cook, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them on a plate. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a glass. Turning to her, he asked, “Darling, what do you see?” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to taste the coffee. She smiled, as she tasted it.

“What does it mean, father?” she asked. He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong end hard. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they changed the water.

“Which are you?” he asked his daughter. When adversity knocks on your door in your life, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

A child and a man were walking on the beach     1     the child found a shell and held it to his ear. Suddenly he heard strange, low, musical sounds. These sounds seemed to be from another world and the child listened to them    2     wonder. Then the man explained that the child heard nothing strange, and that the shell caught a range of sound too faint for human ears. What amazed the child was not a new world,    3     the unnoticed music of the old.

6 . My father brought home a sailboat when I was ten, and almost each Sunday in summers we would go sailing. Dad was quite skilled in sailing, but not good at _______. As for me, I _______ both before twelve because of living close to Lake Ontario.

The last time Dad and I set sail together is really _______. It was a perfect weekend after I graduated from university. I came home and _______ Dad to go sailing. Out we set soon on the calm lake. Dad hadn’t sailed for years, but everything _______ well with the tiller (舵柄) in his hands.

When we were in the middle of the lake, a _______ wind came all of a sudden. The boat was hit _______. Dad was always at his best in any danger, but at this moment he _______.

“John! Help!” he shouted in a trembling voice, with the tiller still in his hands.

In my memory he could fix any _______.He was the one I always ________ for strength and security. Before I could respond, a ________ of water got into the boat. I rushed to the tiller but it was too late. Another huge wave of water ________ the boat in a minute. We were thrown into the water, and Dad was struggling aimlessly. At that moment, I felt fiercely ________ of him.

I swam to Dad quickly and assisted him in climbing onto the hull (船壳) of the boat. Upon sitting on the hull, Dad was a little awkward about his flash of ________. “It’s all right, Dad. We are safe now,” I comforted him.

That was the first time Dad had counted on me in a moment of emergency. More importantly, I found it was my turn to start ________ my father.

7 . Twelve-year-old Leonardo was born in a poor family in Bambamarca in Peru. He knew how to read but he had never seen a book in his life. So he asked the new priest (牧师) in his village to give him one. But there was no electricity. So Leonardo borrowed candles from the church and sat up all night reading it. The next morning, he was at the door of the priest asking for another book to read.

John Medcalf, the priest, was moved. He also realised that people would love to read if given a chance. But he knew how difficult it was for Leonardo and those in his village to get books. And yet, no one can be taught to read and write without books. To make people in a poor, faraway area grow to love books, they have to be with them. So he thought the only way was to bring books to people.

But how could this be done? Mobile libraries or car libraries would be too expensive and difficult to continue in the rocky, hilly land of Peru. So what other methods could be used?

Medcalf got a new idea from the barefoot doctors of China. And that was how the barefoot librarians first appeared in the villages of northern Peru, almost thirty years ago.

The librarians began by going from village to village, lending books to villagers. They helped start The Rural Library Network of Peru.

At first, they were teachers of the village schools which these faraway libraries belonged to. But the teachers were not very interested in the job because it meant a lot of hard work. So, village leaders took on the job themselves.

Today, there are 600 village libraries across Peru. The barefoot librarians who walk up to 15 hours a day with bags of books are their lifeline.

8 . Yesterday, a salesman called me to sell his phone plans. I was at work and as I usually don’t like spending time on those things, I _________ myself that I couldn’t talk yet and _________ that he call me back at 6 pm.

That’s what he did. So we talked about 20 minutes. He _________ to me his different phone plans. While listening to him, sometimes I was_________ in thought. I gave several “hmm hmm” as a sign of agreement and to_________ that I was still there. Sometimes, I felt a bit _________   . But I stayed calm and _________ until the end of the discussion.

Finally, he said the following to me: “Thank you, Olivier. You are the first person in a long time with whom I had an enjoyable conversation. _________, people shout at us and slam down the phone. Today, since 10 am, I haven’t had a phone _________ without arousing anger. I know you had a long day at work and you could have   __________ in front of your TV. But you listened so carefully to me. I am __________ and I sincerely thank you.”

It set me thinking. He had been the __________ of verbal violence (语言暴力) all through his working day. Physical __________ do not exist in this situation but dehumanization (去人性化) seems to happen. __________, he was only doing his job. I felt a sense of   __________ that I hadn’t treated him so rudely.

9 . I’ve heard such a story. On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of the subway station, playing his violin. The music was _________, and many people who hurried to go home _________ and put some money into the hat of the young man.

The next night, the young artist took out a large piece of _________ and laid it on the ground. Then he began playing. The music sounded more pleasant. Some people gathered and they found the _________ on that paper,” Last night, a gentleman put a (n) _________ thing into my hat. Please come to get it back. “When the people saw that, they felt very curious and guessed what it could be. After about half an hour, a man _________ there in a hurry and said, “It can’t be true! You... you...”

The young violinist asked, “Did you _________ something?” “A lottery ticket (彩票),” the man answered _________.

The violinist took out a lottery ticket. “Is it?” he asked.

The man was too _________ to say a word. He bought a lottery ticket a few days ago. The awards (奖) opened yesterday and he won $ 500, 000. So lucky and excited did he feel that he __________ 50 dollars and put it into the hat when hearing the music. However, the lottery ticket was also thrown into the hat without being __________. After the violinist finished his performance, he found the lottery ticket in his hat. __________ that the owner would probably __________ to look for it, he came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.

Someone asked the violinist why he returned the lottery ticket to the man. He said, “Although I don’t have much __________, I live happily; but if I lose __________, I won’t be happy forever.”

10 . In a cold winter, a couple had to move out from their big house because of bankruptcy (破产). The husband worked day and night to _______the family but with no _______of his wife. So she thought, “he doesn’t love me any more; he just cares his business.…. not me.”

One day, when she began to take a _______, he stopped her at the door, “Let me take it first, okay?” “Why not let me shower first,” she asked. I was tired, sweetie; you take it later, okay?” She was quite _______.

On a boring day, she found nothing to do and _______his computer. A few words blurred(模糊) her eyes. It was his _______:

Today, I was quite _______. She asked me why I was always taking the bath first, and I said to her I was exhausted. She was unhappy. In her mind, I treated her not as well as usual, but how can I do? I wasn’t as _______as before! We moved to the small _______, and there was only a shower at the bathroom. It was so _______to take a shower in such a freezing winter. But I found that _______one person took the shower first, the room could get a little warmer, so every time I _______to the bathroom first. I was thinking that, when she took the shower, the room would get _______, at least 1℃, 2℃, or 3℃.

Now I can’t give her _______life, take her to good restaurant, buy expensive dresses for her, but _______, I can give her the 1℃ love.