An old man lived in a nice house with a large garden. He took care of his flowers all the time, watering and fertilizing them.

    One day a young man went by the garden. He looked at the beautiful flowers, imagining how happy he could be if he lived in such a beautiful place. Then, suddenly he found the old gardener was 1. He was very surprised about this and asked, “You can't see these flowers. Why are you busy taking care of them every day?”

    The old man smiled and said, “I can tell you four 2. First, I was a gardener when I was young, and I really like this job. Second,   3 I can't see these flowers, I can touch them. Third, I can 4 the sweetness of them. As to the last one, that's 5.”

    “Me? But you don't know me,” said the young man.

    “Yeah, it's true that I don't know you. But I know that flowers are angels(天使) that everybody 6. We enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

    The blind man's work opened our eyes and 7 our hearts, which also made his life 8. It was just like Beethoven, who became deaf in his later life and wrote many great musical works. Beethoven himself couldn't 9 his wonderful music, but his music has 10 millions of people to face their difficulties bravely. Isn't it one kind of happiness?

    An officer(军官) is at a bus stop．He wants to take a1to see his girlfriend. He wants to tell her the2of his bus's arrive(到达)，so she can meet3at the stop on time. He wants to4her on a pay phone,5 he doesn't have a coin (硬币) for the phone．He wants someone to6him．

    A soldier(士兵) is near the stop. The omcer7over to the soldier and asks, "Do you have any coins8the phone?"

    "Let me have a look." says the soldier. "I'll see if(是否) I can help you."

    "Don't you know9 to speak to an officer?''says the officer. "Now let's start again．Do you have any coins…?"

    "No, sir."says the soldier10.

    There was a bookseller who did not like to pay for anything. One day a big box of books fell on his1 .

    His wife asked him to see the2and show it to him.

"No," he said, "I'll wait3 he comes to our shop next time. Then I'll ask him4 my foot. If I go to see him, I shall have to5."

The next day the doctor came to the shop to 6some books. The bookseller told the doctor about his 7foot. The doctor looked at it and then took out a piece of paper and wrote 8 on it. "Buy this and put it on the foot before you go to bed every night." he said.

"Thank you," said the bookseller. "And now, sir, here are your 9."

"How much?" asked the doctor.

" 10."

"Good," said the doctor. "I shall not have to pay you 11today."

"12?" asked the bookseller.

"I have examined your foot. I want two pounds13that. If people come to my house, I ask them to pay one pound for a small thing like that.14when I go to their houses, I usually charge (索价) two pounds. And I came here today, 15 I? Bye-bye!"

    Mr. White wanted to spend a day at the beach. He 1 his daughter Nancy and her two friends, Helen and Karina. They all went to Ocean Beach in New Zealand.

    The group swam and surfed. Then they saw something 2. "They are large fins (鱼鳍)," said Mr. White.

    The 3 saw seven dolphins moving towards them. The dolphins were worried. They 4 the water with theft mils(尾巴). They kept moving around the swimmers. Then one large dolphin swam towards Mr. White and Helen. Next, it dived down underwater. Mr. White saw something grey moving in the 5.

    A shark 6 underwater. It wasn't far from the people. Now the shark was not slow. It moved 7! So the dolphins used their 8 to swim even faster. Each one splashed (飞溅) its tail even more. Then Mr. White knew the dolphins didn't want to 9 him and the girls. These sea mammals (哺乳动物) wanted to keep them safe.

    The dolphins stayed close to the group until the shark 10. When Mr. White and the kids were safe, the dolphins swam away. "You want to say thank you and shake their flippers." Mr. White said. "These dolphins are heroes."

    One day, a teacher came into her classroom with a glass of water. She wanted to explain stress(压力) management to her students. She asked them how 1the glass of water was. They gave many 2 answers. Some students said it weighed 200 grams, while others 3 said they didn't know. She smiled and 4, "Actually, the weight of the glass doesn't matter. It depends on the 5 . If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my   6. If I hold it for a day, I'll have to call an ambulance (救护车). In each case, the glass of water is the same weight, but the 7 I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

    Lost in thought, all the students kept 8 and listened to the teacher carefully.

    The teacher continued, "Our stresses and worries in life are the same as that glass of water. If we carry 9 all the time, we will soon feel tired as if the weight is 10. We will not be able to move on. Just   11 putting down this glass of water, you have to put your stress down for a while and take a rest. When we're not tired, we can 12 our

burdens(负担) -- holding them more easily each time."

    More often than not, life gets terrible when we 13 too much. And the moment you let go of your burdens, you'll find yourself feeling so much more 14.

    So, 15 being upset and feeling sorry for yourself, start doing something about it. After all, life is too short to give yourself up to anything that is not making you happy.

    Once there was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists 1 .The king looked at all pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose2them.

    One picture was of a3lake. The lake was like a perfect mirror with peaceful high mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with white soft clouds. All people who saw this picture4it was a perfect picture of peace.

    The other picture had5too. But these were rugged(崎岖的)and bare(光秃秃的). Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain was a waterfall. This did not look peaceful6. But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall, there was a bush(灌木)7 in the crack(裂缝)of the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. She sat on her nest, watching the running water.

    After the king compared the two pictures8, he chose the second picture9explained, "Peace does not mean being in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. Peace means when facing unhappy situations, you can still be calm in your10. That is the real meaning of peace."