"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the baby was lying in her arms and she moved the cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped(吃力地喘着气). The doctor turned quickly and looked out of the hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Luckily, time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. Though the misfortune(不幸)happened to him, he grew into a handsome boy. Yet he felt ashamed when he communicated with others.
    "You should get in touch with other young people," his mother told him, with a kindness in her heart. The boy's father talked with the family doctor about his ears. "Could nothing be done?"the father asked. "I believe I could give him a pair of outer ears, if they could be got," the doctor replied.
    Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You are going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need, but it's a secret."The operation is a big success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic(外交的) service. One day, he asked his father, "Who gave the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her."
    "You could, my son," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know…not yet."
    The years kept their secret, but one of the darkest days did come. He stood with his father over his mother's casket(棺材). Slowly, the father stretched forth(伸出) a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
    "Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"

   “All our class must hand in compositions tomorrow. We must write 12 linesat least. But I can never write one. I'll have to go to school without acomposition, for I won't copy one from a book, or ask you or papa to write onefor me.”

    “That's right,” said her mother. “You'll be happier with a poorcomposition, if it's your own, than with a fine one written by somebody else.But cheer up. Run into the garden and play. I'll call you in half an hour.Don't think about your composition now. Just have a good time.”

It seemed just a few minutes to Susie before she heard her mother calling her. She wentinto the house immediately — her hands full of sweet flowers, and her face redwith exercise.

Then her mother asked her to sit by the window with a nice piece ofpaper and a pencil, and write something about what she could see. “Never mindyour composition; do this to please me, and we'll talk about that later.”

    Although Susie thought her mother's request was strange, she knew shealways had a good reason for everything she did. So she did as her motherrequested.

    As she looked out, she first saw the western sky and some bright, sunsetclouds. “Oh, mother, what a sunset!”

“Don't talk. Just write.”

The pencil began moving rapidly across the paper. She wrote about the sunsetclouds, the look of the distant hills, the streets, the river, the garden withits flowers, and the birds flying past the window. She forgot all about theterrible composition!

    Just as she had reached the bottom of the page, hermother came in and said with a smile, “Well, Susie, how does that compositioncome on?”

   “Composition! You told me not to think about it, and I've never thoughtof it once. I've had such a nice time writing about what I could see from thewindow.”

    Mrs. Smith took the paper and read what Susie had written. She said,“There, Susie, that's a very nice composition,really.”

   “A composition! Is that a composition?”Susie asked in surprise.

   “Yes, my dear, and a very good one, too, if we find a title for it,”replied her mother. Then she added, “I'm sure it will please your teacher, asit does me. You see, it's easy enough to write a composition if you have anything interesting to write about.”

    Mike found a job in a bookstore after he finished middle school. He wouldn't do anything but wanted to get rich.   It was a cold morning. It snowed and there was thin ice on the streets. Few people went to buy books and the young man had nothing to do. He hated to read, so he watched the traffic. Suddenly he saw a bag fall off a truck and it landed by the other side of the street.

    “It is full of expensive things.” Mike said to himself. “I have to get it right now, or others will take it away.”He went out of the bookstore and ran across the street. A driver saw him and began to whistle (鸣笛), but he didn't hear it and went on running. The man drove to the side, hit a big tree and hurt himself in the accident. Two weeks later, Mike was taken to the court (法庭). A judge asked if he heard the whistle when he was running across the street. He said that something was wrong with his ears and he could hear nothing.“But you heard me this time,” said the judge.“Oh, I'm sorry. Now I can hear with one ear.”“Cover (盖住) the ear with your hand and listen to me with your deaf (聋的) one. Well, can you hear me?”“No, I can't , sir.”“You told a lie. There is nothing wrong with either of your ears,” the judge said.

In a village near a desert lived a young and successful businessman named James. He often felt {#blank#}1{#/blank#} because of the endless challenges he faced.

One day, a wise old man came to the village with 100 camels(骆驼). James went to see him and said,"I always have business worries, family troubles and health problems. Please tell me how to make them {#blank#}2{#/blank#}."

The old man smiled and said,"I' ll give you an {#blank#}3{#/blank#} tomorrow morning. But first, can you do a small thing for me?" James agreed. The old man asked him to take care of the 100 camels for the night, making sure that they all {#blank#}4{#/blank#} and rested before he could go to sleep.

The next morning, the old man asked James how his night went. James said sadly,"I didn't sleep at all. No matter how {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I tried, I couldn't get all the camels to sit together. Even if I managed to get some camels to sit on one side, a few others would stand on the other side."" That's true. Some camels sat down on their own, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} others required some effort, and yet many camels did not sit even after quite a lot of effort," the old man said.

James nodded.

The old man continued," Your problems are just {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the camels. There are always some problems that cannot get solved even if you' ve tried your best. Leave such problems to time until one day they themselves come to an end."

James felt a sense of understanding. It completely changed the way he saw life's challenges.

Eric Whitacre is one of the most famous musicians in the world. His wonderful and special skills on music works quickly draw people's attention all over the world. He is excited about using choral(合唱)music to make people get together from all around the world. 

As a child, Eric Whitacre lived in a small town with many farms. He had a great interest in music since childhood. He didn't know how to read music, but he often played different kinds of instruments. 

Years later, Eric went to the college that he dreams to study in. In the college(大学), he met the leader of the college's choir(合唱团) . At first, Eric didn't want to join the choir, but finally he did because the leader would like to teach him music. 

Then Eric came there and sang with the choir for the first time. It was a big surprise. The beautiful and interesting choral music shocked him and then he decided to write music pieces. At the age of 21, Erie made his first successful work and had many fans. Later he became a popular musician, and his works were very modern. 

Eric Whitacre's choir is very special because it's virtual(虚拟的) . The Internet makes this possible. The members of the choir don't know each other. They are in different ages, from different countries, and have different jobs. But they are joined together by their love of singing and their hope to be part of a worldwide community that makes beautiful music. 

James lived in a village. He felt unhappy all day.

One day, an old man came to James' village with many sheep. He knew a lot about the things in the world. James went to see him and said, "I'm not happy. I have all kinds of problems in my life and I don't know how to deal with them. Can you help me?"

The old man said, "I'll tell you. But first, can you help me do a small thing?" James agreed (同意). 

Then the old man asked James to take care of his sheep at night, making sure they all lay down and slept.

At midnight, the old man came and asked how things went. James said, "I tried hard but I couldn't get all the sheep to lie down together. Even if (即使) I got some to lie and sleep, others would stand and walk around. What should I do?"

"    ▲    ," the old man said. "And later, you will find the sheep will all lie down and sleep by themselves. Problems are just like the sheep. You can solve some, but there are always some you can't solve even if you try hard. Leave these difficult problems to time. At the right time, they will come to an end themselves."