1 . A farmer owned an old mule(骡子) One day the mule _________ into the farmer’s well(井)unluckily   The farmer heard the mule _________ He tried every possible way to save the mule, but _________ .

After carefully thinking about the situation, the farmer _________ that neither the mule nor the well was worth greater efforts _________ , he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and asked them to help carry dirt to cover the old mule in the _________ and put him out of his _________ .

At first, the old mule was mad! But as the farmer and the neighbors _________ shoveling(铲土) and the dirt hit his back, an idea _________ to him.   Every time a shovelful of ____________ landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to ____________ himself.   No matter how painful the blows, or how ____________ the situation seemed, the old mule overcame his fear and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, tired out, stepped ____________ over the wall of that well! What seemed to have destroyed him actually ____________ him all because of the way in which he dealt with his adversity(逆境)

That’s life! We should face our problems and respond to them ____________ , and refuse to give in to fear, bitterness, or self-pity.

2 . My watch stopped working a few days ago. The band _________ without my noticing, causing it to fall to the floor while I was doing some _________. As I stepped back to _________ some other clothes, I heard a terrible sound. I _________ the watch and saw its face had been cracked. I saw that it was beyond _________ and sadly threw it into the garbage.

Strangely, though it is _________, I find that I have no wish to buy a new one. _________ it is because in this digital age clocks are _________. They are on my wall, in my car, on my computer, and even on my phone. I even needn’t _________ my head if I want to see what time it is.

I think that the real reason, __________, is that as I grow older, my relationship with __________ itself has changed. While I feel as __________ as ever, time in this world has gone by too fast. The little baby boy I once rocked to __________ to my chest is now a 23-year-old man who is bigger than me. Young and __________ adults have now grown old, sickened and even __________. Now I can see that time cannot be kept. It flows on and on and carries us with it in a river of __________. The days go by, our hair turns __________, our skin becomes wrinkled, and our bodies wear out. Looking at our __________ cannot slow it down. All we can do is to embrace it and __________ each day we are given.

So do your best to spend each __________ moment here with joy. Do your best to spend your days living, laughing, hugging, helping, praying and smiling. Do your best to spend your seconds here loving yourself, and others.

3 . The word “happy” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by hardship. The circular motion (循环运动) between happiness and _________ is the one I’ve been dealing with lately.

A year ago, I developed troubling symptoms(症状) in my left _________. My husband sent me _________ to a specialist who said I had already suffered some everlasting loss of vision and would, without _________, go blind in that eye within months. And I urgently _________ to begin painful eye injections. Almost blind? Painful eye injections? I was _________. What if the _________ medicine didn’t work? What if my right eye developed the same condition? I _________ thought that, amazingly, the medicine was only three years old; before that, patients just went blind.

Over that long week, I _________ myself to casually __________ sadness, to cry and acknowledge my fears about my very fragile body. I __________ to be near anybody but my husband. Fortunately, I __________ pretty quickly, within the week. During this __________ time, I posted my __________ in my blog and receives great care and support from friends online, which filled my heart with __________ and encourages me to receive the eye injections. Besides, the doctor __________ the efficacy(功效) of the medicine. In the end, I bravely received the eye injections and they were very successful. I was lucky enough to see the world again with my healthy eye.

Finally, I gained a __________ insight: being your happiest self isn’t equal to a lifetime of __________ skies, and we are bound to __________ storms of life. Knowing this can help us face difficulties optimistically and __________ the change of life.

4 . Many years ago, I was fresh out of school and working in Denver. One day, I drove to my parents’ home in Missouri for Thanksgiving Day. Suddenly, I found the gas was running out. I stopped, wondering what I was supposed to do. A car pulled up behind me and an old couple came out. They offered to pull my car to a gas station. When we said good- bye to each other. the husband gave me his business card.

When I arrived home, I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note. I soon received a note saying that helping me had made their holiday meaningful.

Years later, I drove to a nearby town for a meeting in the morning. In the late afternoon, I returned to my car and found that the battery was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford Dealership — a shop selling cars — was right next door. I walked over and found a salesman waiting beside the door.

“Would you please do me a favor?” I asked and explained my trouble. He quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. He would accept no payment. When I got home, I wrote a note to thank him. I received a letter back from the salesman. He said no one had ever taken the time to write him a note of thanks and it meant a lot.

Although it is easy to say thanks to others, it means so much.

5 . When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person. When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why, he said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow (浅的）roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important. So he never watered his trees. He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They’re very big and strong now. I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray (祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won’t be beaten down.

7 . 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.

9 . Life is meant to be lived. No excuses. No reservations. No holding back.

An inspiring story about violinist Fritz · Kreisler tells how he once _________ a beautiful violin he wanted to acquire. When he finally _________ the money for the violin, he returned to buy it and learned that it had already been sold to a(n)_________.

He went to the new owner’s home in order to try to _________ him to sell the violin. But the collector said it was one of his _________ possessions and he could not let it go.

Disappointed Kreisler turned to leave, but then _________ a favour. “May I play the instrument once more _________ it is placed to silence？”

_________ was given and the great musician began to play. The violin sang out a piece of quality music, so _________ that the collector himself could only listen in wonderment. “I have no __________ to keep that to myself.” he said after the musician finished. “The violin is yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people __________ it.”

William Arthur Ward said, “If you believe in prayer, pray; if you believe in serving, serve; if you believe in giving, give.” For you and I are fine violin—our music is __________ to be heard.

I want to live my life that way—to take it into the world and live it __________. I’d rather burn out than rust out(锈尽). I’d rather be used up than die not having done __________ I can.

I’m not talking about __________ ourselves out on over-activity. Happiness is __________ found in excessive(过度) busyness. But it is found in __________ our lives in others. Say yes when asked for a hand. Volunteer some time for a worthwhile organization and __________ an hour with a lonely relative.

In the end, I know that my __________ is not only about my ability or my inability. It is about my__________. My life is meant to be lived.