2 . At the age of nine, I was taking swimming lessons at a pool. The day had arrived when I was to be tested to see if I could ______ to a higher level class.

Fifteen of us were to ______ swimming from one side of the pool to the other and back. I watched as my ______ , one by one, tried and failed. Then it was my turn to swim, I mean, my turn to attempt to pass the test. I was about halfway when I got ______ , so I immediately stopped and ______ the side of the pool, ending my test. Our instructor, a college student, was standing ______ me. “Why did you stop?” he yelled, in a less than ______ voice. “I got water in my nose,” I explained.

That’s when this college student ______ me one of life’s great lessons, ______ he probably never realized that. Bending down, he shouted, “So?”

“So?” The question shocked me. It had just seemed reasonable to me that the answer to pain was to remove the thing causing the ______ . My nine-year-old brain had not understood the fact that a valuable ______ is worth achieving, however difficult to get there. Recognizing that, I was ______ nothing would keep me from completing the test. In fact, I did it rather easily on my next attempt. Seeing me ______ the test, almost all the others did so as well.

Life is a journey, and the road won’t ______ be easy. We have to focus on the final destination, not the ______ along the road.

5 . One young person, who was well educated, went for a job as a manager in a big company. The president did the final ________ .

He discovered the youth was ________ and felt satisfied. Then the president asked who paid for his school fees. The youth answered, “My mother did it. She worked as a clothes ________.”

The president requested the youth to ________ his hands. So the youth did. They were smooth. Then he asked, “Have you ever ________ your mother wash the clothes before?” The youth answered, “Never, my mother always wanted me to ________.”

“Go and clean your mother’s hands when you go back today, and then ________ me tomorrow morning,” the president said at last.

The youth felt his chance of getting the job was high, so when he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. However, his tears fell ________ he cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. It was the first time he had ________ that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled (布满皱纹的). After that, the youth didn’t say a word and washed all the remaining clothes for his mother________. That night, Mother and Son talked for a very long time, longer than any talk before.

The next________, the youth went to the president’s office. The president noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes and asked, “Please tell me how you ________ about helping your mother.” The youth said, “Number One, I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, I wouldn’t be successful today. Number Two, by helping my mother, I realize how ________ it is to get something done. Number Three, I’ve come to realize the ________ of family relationship.”

The president said, “You are ________. This is what I’m looking for to be my manager.”

6 . I'd done it before, and so I had no reason to believe that this time would be any different. I was sure that when I returned home from my mission trip, as always, I'd bring back nothing more than some mud on my boots, a hole or two in my jeans and, of course, a lot of great memories.

The summer before my high school graduation, I went to West Virginia with others as volunteers to repair the homes of those in need. Arriving at our destination, my group was assigned the task of rebuilding sections of a home that had been damaged by fire. No sooner had we parked on the home's dirt driveway than we saw an excited little girl, no more than six years old, standing in the doorway of the family's temporary home. Shoeless and wearing dirty clothes and the biggest smile I'd ever seen, she yelled, "Ma, Ma, they really came! " I didn't know it then, but her name was Dakota, and four more days would pass before she’d say another word near me.

Behind Dakota was a woman in a wheelchair—her grandmother, we'd soon learn. I also discovered that my job that week would be to help change a fire—damaged dining room into a bedroom for this little girl. Grabbing our tools, we went to work. Over the following days, I noticed Dakota peeking at us every now and then as we worked. A few times. I tried talking with her, but she remained shy and distant, always flying around us like a tiny butterfly but keeping to herself.

By our fifth and final day, however, this was about to change.

Before I went to work on her home on that last morning, I spoke for a moment or two with the grandmother. I was especially pleased when she told me how much Dakota loved her new room so much, in fact, that she'd begged to sleep in it the previous night, even though it wasn't quite ready. As we talked, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before—Dakota was hiding behind her grandmother. Cautiously, she stepped into view, and I could see that just like her clothes, her face was still dirty. But no amount of soil could hide those bright blue eyes and big smile. She was simply adorable. I wanted so much to hug her, but respecting her shyness, I kept my distance.

Slowly, she began walking toward me. It wasn't until she was just inches away that I noticed the folded piece of paper in her tiny hand. Silently, she reached up and handed it to me. Once unfolded, I looked at the drawing she'd made with her broken crayons on the back of an old coloring book cover. It was of two girls—one much taller than the other—and they were holding hands. She told me it was supposed to be me and her and on the bottom of the paper were three little words that instantly broke my heart. Now almost in tears, I couldn't control myself anymore—I bent down and hugged her. She hugged me, too. And for the longest time, neither one of us could let go.

By early afternoon, we finished Dakota's bedroom, and so I gladly used the rare free time to get to know my newest friend. Sitting under a tree away from the others, we shared a few apples while she told me about her life. As I listened to her stories about the struggles she and her family went through daily, I began to realize how boring various aspects of my own life were.

I left for home early the next morning. I was returning with muddy boots and holes in my jeans. But because of Dakota, I brought back something else, too—a greater appreciation for all of the blessing of my life. I’ll never forget that barefoot little butterfly with the big smile and dirty face. I pray that she’ll never forget me either.

7 . I was making a stop on my book tour. A sweet woman approached me, and pleasantly _______ she wouldn't buy a book. She said she _______ wanted to ask me a question: How did I get into acting and how did I _______ to stay in it? I was _______the performance, so I didn't want to waste energy with a long response. I said, "Persistence," without thinking.

She laughed and said, "Well, sure. That's true with everything, right?"

A light came on in my brain. She was righter than she knew. I said, "Yes, but not how you mean. Success is a _______of persistence. So is failure. We become whatever we're persistent at. I had friends who were always exactly 20minutes late－persistently late. You could set your _______by them. I know actors who persistently destroy their own chances. They don't _______ enough. They don't learn their lines. Persistently."

A lot of the time our methods of working are a series of habits, good and bad, we _______sometime in the past. Habits feel_______. My ex-acting teacher once said, "Comfort is the enemy of the artist."

I wasn't crazy about his statement back then, because I was uncomfortable, but still wasn't an artist. I see the ________ of it now. People________take the easy path. It's human nature to look for the________ at the back of the book. We often see the effort in finding better habits as a problem to be avoided, but in doing so, we persistently waste our ________.

As actors, we know we can become anything with enough rehearsal. ________look at what you do persistently. If you don't like your habits, change them. No matter what your passion is the power to ________the map of your life is essential.

8 . I believe even the smartest people have to work hard to achieve success. People make themselves into winners by their own _______.

Many years ago, I took the head _______ job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the _______ team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn't even practice to _______ the game, but to my disappointment we were defeated. Thinking hard about it, I came to _______ that I had to change my _______ towards their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little _______. Most importantly, I began to treat them like _______. That summer vacation, we met every day and _______     passing and kicking the football.

Six months after our defeat, we won our first game and our second, and continued to ________ . Finally, we faced the number one team in Georgia. I felt that it would be a ________ for us even if we lost the game. But my boys beat them , giving me the greatest ________ of my life!

9 . Years ago, my grandmother was in a nursing home. She was a retired university professor, which brought her an ocean of _______ she had taught before.

In sharp _______ with my grandmother, almost no one came to see the old man next door. He was _______ most of the time.

Once I_______ him, “How are you doing recently?” He gave me a look, saying nothing. Thinking he was _______ of hearing, I raised my voice and asked again. He just shook his head slightly. After a long while, finding I was _______ there, he just said, “Fine.” Then he looked away. I had to shut up, feeling rather _______.

Later, I learned that the old man had got quite a few companies from his family. Since he was not a good _______, he annoyed many people and even made his family and friends _______. And ________, his companies all failed.

So what is the most important ________ a person can have? Perhaps you think making money is the answer. No! But the ability to ________ your thoughts is. It’s extremely important for a person to learn to put what he thinks into ________. It makes a relationship ________ and a career flourish (繁荣). I’m afraid this is something many of us ________. Just think: How many of us have ever hurt those who love us just because we are not good at speaking? So, more often than not, it is not what we think but how we speak that determines how far we can go in life.

10 . Having a positive attitude can mean the difference between living a life full of joy and happiness and living a life full of depression and misery. Your_______ determines what you will experience in life_______ what the actual circumstances are.

Reality can be a difficult concept to _______ . How is it that two people can have the _______ experience yet one person comes out of it loving life while the other comes out of it_______ life? There was a story of two brothers who were_______ in a home with a father who_______ all the time. It would be no _______ if both of the boys grew up to be alcoholics themselves with a hatred for life. One of the two brothers did just that. He_______ his father’s footsteps. However, the other brother grew up ________ the opposite. Having experienced that ________ , he made up his mind to be a________ and loving father because he didn’t want his kids to go through what he was forced to go through.

So what made the difference in the ________ of these two men’s lives? You see, it’s not what happens to you that ________ how your life will turn out; it’s what you do about it that counts much. The ________   for having a good attitude is that your decisions and actions will be different. On the contrary, if you had a________ attitude, you will probably experience a different outcome as a result of those________ .

It’s true that you can’t control outside circumstances and events, ________ don’t feel discouraged, for you have total control over what you decide to do with those circumstances. By________ feeding your mind with positive material, you will be more likely to________ the decision that will eventually bring you closer to your goals.