It was a very foggy morning in London. The fog was so thick that it was impossible to see more than a foot or so. Buses, cars and taxis were stopped along the roadside, unable to move because the drivers couldn't 1. People were trying to walk to their destinations, but most were losing their 2 in the fog.

    Mr. Smith had a very important meeting at the House of Commons, but he was not familiar with the area and 3 could take him there in such heavy fog. So he was a little 4. He was trying to find his way in the fog. Soon, however, he realized that he was lost. 5he bumped into a stranger. Mr. Smith said sorry to the stranger and then asked him whether he 6 help him find his way. The stranger said it was a piece of cake and 7to take Mr. Smith to the meeting place. Mr. Smith thanked him and they started to walk. The fog was getting thicker and thicker every minute but the stranger had no difficulty in finding the way. They went along one street, turned down another, 8a square and at last, after about half an hour, they arrived at the meeting place.

    Mr. Smith couldn't understand how the stranger found his way. "It is wonderful," he said. "But 9 do you find the way in the thick fog?"

    "It is no trouble at all 10 me," said the stranger. "I am blind."

    Mike was the kind of guy you love to hate.He was always happy and always had something interesting to say. If someoneasked him how he was doing, he would reply, "Couldn't be better!" Hewas really a care-free young man and never felt tired.

    Mike used to say, "Each morning I wakeup and say to myself, 'Mike, you have two choices (选择) today. You can choose to be happy or you can choose to be upset.'I choose to be happy. Each time something happens, I am always ready to learn agood lesson. I choose to learn from life."

    I tried to understand what he said. Indeedlife is all about choices. Every situation is a choice. The bottom line is: You'reliving your life and you make it either happy or sad.

    Several years later I had a car accidentand my legs were seriously injured. When I was lying on the ground, Iremembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or choose to die. Ichose to live.

    People like to say, "Choosethe one you love and love the one you choose." Why not choose the one welove and live happily?

A shoemaker sp ent his time in singing from morning till night. It was wonderful to see, wonderful to hear. He was very pleased.

However, his neighbor—a banker, who was very rich, sang little and slept less. When by chance he fell into a light sleep in the early morning, the shoema ker woke him up with his song. The banker complained(抱怨) sadly that God had not made sleep a saleable thing, like food or drink, that people can buy with money. At last he sent for the singer. He said to him,"How much money a year do you make, Master Gregory?"

"How much a year, sir?"said the happy shoemaker laughing,"I have never thought in that way, living as I dofrom one day to another; somehow I manage to reach the end of the year; each day brings its meal."

"Well then! How much money a day do you make, my friend?"

"Sometimes more, sometimes less. But the worst of it is that we can't work a few days in the year, or we willmake more."

The banker said with a laugh,"In the future I shall place you above what you want. Take these hundred gold coins, keep them carefully, and make use of them in time of need."

The shoemaker was surprised to have all so much money. Returning home, he buried(埋藏) his money and his happiness at the same time. No more singing, he lost his voice at the moment he got his money. Sleep left him and cares, worries, and fears took its place. All day, he kept his eye on his money from time to time; and at night, if some cat made a noise, he thought someone stealing his money. At last the poor man ran to the house of his rich neighbor. He said,"____."

He was happy again.

 Hi, I'm Tom. I have a pencil box. It's my good friend. It's from my mom. What's in the pencil box? My ruler is in it. It's blue and red. That is a pencil. It is black and white. It's not my pencil. It's Cindy's. She likes black and white. You can see a green pen and an eraser in it, too. The pen isn't mine. I found it in the classroom this morning. It's Tim's. His name is on it. He isn't at school now. The nice eraser is my sister Linda's.

Brian looked at the ugly gray walls of his bedroom. Soon the hated walls would be covered, but not with paint as he had first planned. Brian had been disappointed to learn that the house owner would not allow painting. For weeks he was unable to understand: without using paint, how could he cover the walls? But, as Grandmother always said, "Necessity is the mother of invention." So Brian did some thinking, and with a little help from his mother, he came up with a great plan.

This morning, Mom had needed to stop at the mall to buy a book and Brian went along. There, Brian noticed a large poster of Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School on the wall. Next to it was a poster showing the cover of No Arm in Left Field, a baseball novel that Brian had read several times. "This is it," Brian thought excitedly. "I'll cover the walls with posters!"

When he left the mall, Brian had an armful of posters and a box of tacks (大头钉). At home, he headed straight to his room. First he took out the posters and spread them out on his bed, his desk, and most of the floor. Next he found out the size of each poster, and then the walls. He wanted to cover as much of those ugly walls as possible! It took all afternoon to work out the best preparation. He drew it on paper, making changes until it was just right. When Dad came home at dinnertime, Brian was ready to tack up the posters.

"Come see my room, Dad," called Brian. "It's going to be great!" But when Dad came into the bedroom, he looked worried. "The house owner said we could not put any holes in the walls. You can't use tacks, Brian. I am sorry."

Brian's joy slowly disappeared. He would stay with the boring gray walls forever. Maybe there was no way to solve this problem after all. How could you hang posters without using tacks? After all, posters would not stick to the walls by themselves!

"What would stick to the walls?" Brian wondered. Then he smiled. Tape, that's what! Brian took a piece of tape and made it into a circle. He made sure the sticky part of the tape was on the outside. This would work, for sure!