I was doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in a toy store. A nicely dressed little girl was 1 the teddy bears beside her father 2 she saw a little boy walk in and stop in front of the Pokemon toys. His jacket was obviously too small. He had money in his hand. However, it looked no more than five dollars at most. He was with his father, and kept picking up the Pokemon video games. Each time he showed 3 to his father, his father shook his head, "No".

    Rather disappointed, the boy gave up the video games and chose a book of stickers 4. After they walked away, the little girl ran over to the Pokemon video games. She excitedly picked up one 5 on top of the others, and ran toward the check-out. I picked up my purchases（购买物）and 6 the girl and her father.

    Then, much to the little girl's satisfactory（满意）, the little boy and his father got in line 7 her and me. After the video was paid for and bagged, the little girl handed it back to the cashier（收银员）and said something to her in a low voice. The cashier smiled and put the 8 under the counter（柜台）. I was putting things in my bag when the little boy came up to the cashier. The cashier said, "Congratulations, you're my hundredth customer today, and you win a prize!" and she handed the boy the Pokemon game. The boy could hardly believe his ears. It was, he said, 9 what he had wanted! The little girl and her father had been standing at the doorway, and I saw the biggest and prettiest smile on that little girl I have seen in my life.

    I suddenly understood that the world is not 10 into the strong who care and the weak who are cared for. We must each in turn care and be cared.

    Some years ago, Danny gave up his job as a doctor to become a freelance(特约的) model maker, but now he has money trouble. He says that he wishes he'd never 1 to set up his own business.

    "I am now in such a bad situation," says Danny. "I hope I'm 2 working as a doctor. You see, I was 3 with my job, and I didn't have any fun. I said to a few friends that I wanted to go into 4 and they said that they could give me work, so I left the hospital.

    At first, everything was 5: I had too much work to do. I got too many orders every day. And soon I 6a large number of money. I had a really great lifestyle, and when the work was finished, I used to take good 7 in places like the beautiful blue Aegean Sea, Maldives, Hawaii and so on, just to get relaxed.

    Like this, I was busy having fun all around the world, and charged (支付) everything to my credit (信用) cards, but then I began to 8 how much in debt (负债) I was. At last, I had to sell all my office equipment (设备). Now I could do almost 9 even if people asked me. I've had to 10 my business now and I don't know what I'm going to do for money. It just goes to show if you set up your own business, you shouldn't spend money you don't have."

Something unexpected happenedin the summer of my eleventh year. The home I had grown up in burned to the groundin the middle of the night. Thankfully, my mom, dad, grandma, brothers and I escapedalong with my dogs. Yet, we had nothing but the night clothes we were sleeping in.I spent the rest of that night with a friend of my family. I tried unsuccessfullyto sleep in the bed in his house. I was too scared.

    The next day my mom brought me a few T-shirtsand pairs of jeans that another friend gave to her. One pair of them was too shortand the other pair was too long, but I didn't care. At least I had some clothesagain. My dad returned to our broken home to see what he could find. The only thinghe could save was my mom's rings.

    To spend the summery dad rented us a big houseon the same road as our old house had been. As we moved in, our friends and ourcommunity continued todonate (捐赠) all they could to help us to get back on our feet. There were moreclothes, furniture, food money, and even some books for me to read. Love was aroundus.

    Looking back now I am thankful for all we wentthrough that summer because it taught me so much about life, love and people. Itshowed me that when you have nothing left but love, for the first time you see thatlove is enough.

An old carpenter was ready to retire. His boss was 1 to see the good worker go. He asked the carpenter 2 he could build one more house. The carpenter said yes, but his mind was no 3 on his work.

    He used poor materials and worked on the house 4. When the carpenter finished his work, the boss 5 the front-door key to him. "This is your house," he said. "A 6 for you."

    What a surprise! What a 7! If he had known he was building his 8 house, he would have done it differently. Now he had to live in the house he had poorly built.

    9 it is with us. Sometimes we build our 10 carelessly. At important points we do not try our best. Then with a pity we look at the situation we had 11. We find that we are now living in the house we have poorly built. But we don't have a 12 to make it all over again.

    Think of 13 as the carpenter. Think about your life. Build it 14. It is the only life you will ever build because life is a do-it-yourself project.

    Your life today is the 15 of your attitudes and choices you made in the past. Your life tomorrow will be that of your attitudes and choices you make today.

It was the summer before my third grade. Our girls' softball(垒球) team was facing real pitchers(投球手)1 the first time. Before that, we could just hit the ball on the tee (球座). When the coach started pitching, hitting became 2 for me. I missed every single pitch. From the side, I heard my teammate Emily laughing at 3 . My face turned red. At that moment, I was starting to 4 playing softball.

The next afternoon, when Mum said it was time to play the game, I told her I was 5 . She allowed me to rest for a while. So I went to my room and 6 myself in bed. This was difficult for me because I was OK and just 7 to keep away from softball.

Soon Mum came in and said, "Time to go!" She didn't even ask if I felt 8 . I imagined Emily laughing at me, and 9 I really did feel sick to my stomach. I began crying loudly. Still, Mum pulled my team T-shirt over my head. She said, "You have to 10 for the rest of the season, and only after that can we talk about 11 you'll go on next year." She added that practice was what I needed, not 12 . She promised to practise with me.

I got two hits that afternoon, and Emily didn't make a 13 . Every week after that, I practised at home 14 I got to be one of the best hitters on the team.

That 15 taught me being afraid is part of life, and I can do whatever is expected of me if I keep working and practising.

Zhu Yanjun won the second place in the Chinese Poetry Competition for his excellent poetry skills.

Born in {#blank#}1{#/blank#} village in Jingning County, Gansu Province, Zhu only received primary and middle school education. His love for {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(read) poetry and books came from his Chinese teacher who has published many {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(article) in magazines. "I also wanted to publish stories, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} I started to read," he told China Daily.

Although Zhu left school so early, he didn't stop his poetic journey. He worked {#blank#}5{#/blank#} more than 10 cities. Whenever he got to a city, he visited the bookstores and libraries there. He took a notebook to write down paragraphs from books and recite（背诵）{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(they).

Most of his favorite poems from the Tang Dynasty, and some of them {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(write) by Chairman Mao Zedong. Why? Because he found them easy {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(remember). Over the years, he has read thousands of poems and he can recite more than 1,000 of them now.

Reading poetry {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(help) Zhu stay calm and he never complains about hard work. "Whenever I face any difficulty, I think of a famous saying 'Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it'," he told China Daily.

Zhu's children were {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(interest) in poetry too. They were accepted into universities in different cities.