2 . I have a degree in business. But it was my father’s _________ for me to seek a business major. He thought that having a business major would _________ me more available choices and make me more competitive in entering a global labor market. I _________ his advice. However, even though my college experiences were _________, I had no interest in any _________ of commerce (商业), let alone having a long-term career as a businesswoman.

After I graduated, I worked as a marketing planner at a computer company. My _________ and working environment were great; yet I _________ didn’t feel happy doing something that held little attraction for me. After two months of working there, I made up my mind to _________ and decided to do what I love, namely _________ history. I have now been doing this job for over twenty years. I am fond of being with my students.

If you are in a __________ where you don’t love what you are learning or doing, please ask yourself what you are really __________ by and what you truly want for your life. Don’t __________ to get yourself a quick answer. Take some time to think about what career could bring __________ to you.

I like this motto “Success is not the key to happiness. __________, happiness is the key to success.” Happiness __________ the inside of you, not the outside. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

3 . A man was visiting a zoo. As he was passing the _______, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that each of these _______ creatures was being held by only a small _______ tied to their front leg. It was _______ that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their _______ but, for some reason, they did not.

He saw a _______ nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to _______. “Well,” the trainer said, “when they were very _______, we would use the same size rope to _______ them. At that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they still believe the rope can still hold them ________ they never try to break free.”

The man was ________. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds, but because they believed they couldn’t, they never ________ to escape. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging on to a ________ that we cannot do something, simply because we failed in it once before? ________ is part of learning. We should never give up the ________ in life.

4 . When everything goes wrong, always look at what you have, instead of what you have lost. Because it’s not what the world takes away from you that matters; it’s what you do with what you have left.     1    

Pain is part of growing.

Sometimes life closes doors because it’s time to move forward.     2    When times are tough, remind yourself that no pain comes without a purpose. Remember that there are two kinds of pain: pain that hurts and pain that changes you. When you roll with life, instead of resisting it, both kinds help you grow.

    3    

Every time you get hurt, you heal(痊愈). After darkness there is always light—you are reminded of this every morning, but still you often forget, and instead choose to believe that the   night will last forever. It won’t. Nothing lasts forever.

Complaining changes nothing.

    4    It’s always better to attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed. It’s not over if you’ve lost; it’s over when you do nothing but just complain about it. If you believe in something, keep trying. Don’t let the shadows of the past darken the doorstep of your future.

The best thing you can do is to keep going.

Don’t be afraid to get back up—to try again, to love again, to live again and to dream again.     5    Life’s best lessons are often learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes. There will be times when it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong. And even if you fall short, keep going.

5 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some ________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________.The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the ________.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

8 . “Are you really going to eat another piece of pizza?” It was at my fourteenth birthday party that I received my first ________ related comment. After that day, comments like this ________ in my head longer than they should have. I was ________ picking flaws (缺点) in my figure in the mirror.

I decided that I couldn’t eat like this in order to be ________ . It started out as just a little extra ________ every day, like running, but it quickly turned into ________ meals and working out every night before bed. As I ________ the calories, the comments started to change. Perhaps my ________ comment was “You’re so skinny.”

Maybe others didn’t know it, but their comments were ________ my social construction of beauty. However, my condition slowly became worse. My caloric intake was less than that of a child and I no longer had the ________ to do the things I once enjoyed.

Everything changed when I got a call from the director at my dance studio. She ________ me that she had wanted to move me to the advanced level, ________ she noticed I was too skinny. I then realized I nearly ________ my role in The Nutcracker. I was determined that I wasn’t going to let society’s idea of beauty be the death of me.

I want to get better for real this time. Mirrors and scales (秤) have no ________ of who I am. Social constructions of beauty will always be ________ in the world that I live in but I’ve decided not to let them rule over me.

10 . In a village lived a milkman, who owned a few cows. Though his family wasn’t very _______ , they had a self-sufficient life (自给自足). One day, his son asked him what the secret of his life was. He used the opportunity _______ his son. “The secret of my life this: The cow doesn’t give milk,” said the father. The boy asked his father in     _______ , “What are you saying?” “As you hear it, son, you must know the cow doesn’t give milk _______ , and you have to milk it. If you don’t milk it every day, it will _______ giving milk. And I won’t be able to support our _______ . When you search for _______, remember what I said,” said the father.

The milkman continued, “I have to get up at 4 o’clock every day. First, I need to clean the waste on the farm. Then I need to _______ the legs of the cows and start to milk them. After that, I have to try my best to _______ the milk.” Hearing this, the son was ________ , and he decided to go to the ________ to help his dad.

Yes, what one ________ is from what one does. Happiness is the result of efforts. A cow doesn’t give milk on its own, and neither do all the things that one ________ to have. Thus one has to work hard to get whatever he needs, and it can lead to new ________ in life, and one may be ________ one day.