1 . How Laughing at Yourself Makes You Attractive

Have you ever embarrassed yourself in public and got laughed at for it?     1     And it’s okay — we should even have a laugh about them.

●Laughing at yourself means accepting who you really are. You may feel bad about yourself because of past misfortune. However, it’s normal to be imperfect. What’s important is that you should be honest with yourself about who you are.     2     You won’t be able to laugh at yourself without self-acceptance.

●Laughing at yourself helps increase your confidence. When you are able to stay optimistic and laugh at yourself, you are likely to be more successful in life.     3     More importantly, it helps you realize your own weaknesses so you know which areas to do better in.

●    4     Laughing at someone else may hurt their feelings even if you didn’t intend to, while laughing at yourself does not — you might even bring a smile to their faces. People will like it, because it shows that you have the courage to do so and you’re being real about your imperfections.

Just remember that humans all make mistakes. So instead of blaming yourself, try to think of your mistakes in a positive way and accept yourself just as you are.     5    

3 . Life will be peaceful if you always do kind things. I teach my daughters to develop a habit of ______ others. The little acts of ______ give you chances to provide service for others. They can make you feel how ______ it is to be kind and helpful.

We ______ in a rural (乡村的) area. Most of what we ______ is beautiful nature. One of the exceptions to the ______ is the rubbish that some people throw out of their car windows as they drive along the rural roads. One of the few ______ of living here is short of ______ public services, such as rubbish collection, which is common in the ______.

A helping behavior that I practice regularly with my daughters is driving around to pick up rubbish in our neighborhood. My daughters often have a ______ to see who can collect the most rubbish. They will often say to me in a(n) ______ voice, “There’s some rubbish, Daddy－ ______ the car!” And if we have time, we will often get out of our car and pick it up. ______ it may seem strange, we do it. In fact, we ______ it. We pick up rubbish in parks, on sidewalks, almost anywhere. One day, seeing a stranger picking up rubbish or the road, I stopped. He ______ his head and smiled, “I saw you doing this with your family. It’s a good ______ to protect our environment.”

There are many other ways to ______ kindness for others. You may share a dinner with a beggar, visit ______ old people in the nursing home, or help the blind ______ the street. You can think of something that can be finished ______ but helpful. It is fun, self-satisfying, and what’s more, it can set a good example. Helping others is helping yourself.

4 . Get a Thorough Understanding of Oneself

In all one’s life time, it is oneself that one spends the most time being with or dealing with.     1    

When you are going upwards in life you tend to overestimate yourself. It seems that everything you seek for is within your reach.     2     It’s likely that you think it wise for yourself to stay away from the outer world. Actually, to get a thorough understanding of oneself, you may as well keep the following tips in mind.

Gain a correct view of oneself. You may look forward hopefully to the future but be sure not to expect too much, for dreams can never be fully realized. You may be courageous to meet challenges but it should be clear to you where to direct your efforts.     3    

Self-appreciate. Whether you compare yourself to a high mountain or a small stone, you represent a state of nature.     4     If you earnestly (诚挚地) admire yourself, you’ll have a real sense of self-appreciation.

    5     In time of anger, do yourself a favor by releasing it in a quiet place so that you won’t be hurt by its flames; in time of sadness, do yourself a favor by sharing it with your friends so as to change a bad mood into a cheerful one; in time of tiredness, do yourself a favor by getting a good sleep.

Get a full control of one’s life. Then one will find one’s life full of color and flavor.

6 . A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high ruins, smelly and dirty.

Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was, “No charge,” she said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.

As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage (抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine, and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans.

It sounded too good to be true, but I replied, thanking him for his exceptional generosity, that we had no plans to go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.

Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing your worldly possessions to be reminded that people are really nice when given half a chance.

7 . One day, my father and I were watching a dance reality show. For some reasons, I disliked one of the dancers from the very beginning of the show.

Unknowingly, I kept finding his _________ and criticizing (批评) his dance moves. _________, my father was watching the _________ with a smile all the time. When the performance ended, he looked at me and asked softly, “How much do you _________ about the dance competition, Martha?”

“No, Dad, not at all,” I said.

“Then how do you know that he is a _________ dancer?” he asked still with a smile.

“Just _________ the other dancers! He is not as good as them,” I said.

“But he is among the final 10 competitors who were carefully _________. How can he be bad? Maybe his dance is of no _________ to you, but that doesn’t mean you can _________ or even criticize his creativity.’’

“Why not?” I asked carelessly.

“Because criticizing someone or something __________ nothing but negativity around you. Instead of criticizing something you don’t like, you should spend your time __________ something you like, which will spread __________ thoughts,” my father said.

So choose __________! Never criticize anyone or anything unless you have a good __________ of it. This is the most __________ advice my father has ever given me.

10 . When the host announced that my choir (合唱队) won the second place of the World Choir Game, I couldn’t believe what I heard. All the_________that we made was worthwhile. Through this unforgotten experience, I _________much.

In the semi-finals (半决赛), we were supposed to sing four songs. When we played the third song, I suddenly heard an unexpected _________— a girl in the alto (女低音) got quick. The other students in the alto were _________ by the girl and were getting quicker and quicker. Our choir’s leader, Mrs Li noticed it and_________used her hand to keep time, but she _________. After the song, the smile on Mrs Li’s face froze and some of our members turned and tried to find the person who first got_________. My mind was blank, but quickly I realized the only thing we could do was to _________the performance. Then with a smile, Mrs Li became a _________again, who seemed to have totally forgot what we had done. We sang the____________song as usual.

After the competition, I was disappointed. Just because of one person’s fault, the whole choir must afford the fact that we might lose the game. I cried, but then I found nothing would change no matter how hard we____________ the girl who played poorly.____________, I came to her, encouraged her, and practiced the whole melody with her. In the finals, we got the medal because of our____________performance.

Never blame a person when she makes a mistake, but help her to solve the problem when you are struggling____________the same goal. No matter what you will experience with others in the future, successes or failures,____________or tears, these will surely become your precious treasure and memory.