A group of graduates got together to visit their old university professor.

The conversation soon turned into complaints about 1 in work and life. To offer his 2 coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and 3 with a large pot of coffee and a 4 of cups—plastic, glass, metal, porcelain (陶瓷), crystal, some plain-looking, some beautiful. The professor told his students to 5 themselves to hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, “lf you have 6, all the nice-looking expensive cups have been 7, leaving behind the plain and 8 ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the 9 of your problems and stress.”

    The professor continued, “Believe that the cup itself adds no 10 to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases it even 11 what we drink. What all of you 12 wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went 13 the best cups.”

    Now 14 this: life is the coffee; the jobs, money, and 15 in society are the cups. 16 are just tools to hold and contain life, and the different types of cups we have don't decide, nor 17 the quality of life. If we concentrate only on the cups, we will 18 to enjoy the coffee in it. So don't let the cups 19 you enjoy the coffee instead." At these words, the graduates looked at each other in 20 embarrassment.

    Norman Cousins was a businessman from the United States who often traveled around the world on business. He enjoyed his 1 and traveling.

    Then ,after returning to the United States from a2 trip to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR),Mr. Cousins got sick. . Because he had pushed his body to the3  of its strength on the trip ,a change began to take place 4 him .The material between his bones became  5 .

    In less than one week after his return ,he could not 6  .Every move that he 7   was painful . He was not able to sleep at night .The doctors told him that they did not know how to cure Mr. Cousins' problem and he might never8 over the illness . Mr. Cousins , however, refused to give up 9 .

    Mr. Cousins thought that 10   thoughts were causing bad chemical changes in his body .He did not want to take medicine to cure himself . 11,he felt that happy thoughts or 12might cure his illness.

    He began to 13 on himself while still in the hospital by watching funny shows on television . Mr. Cousinsquickly found that 10 minutes of real laughter during the14 gave him two hours of pain-free sleep at night .

    15 the doctors could not help him , Mr. Cousins left the hospital and checked into a hotel room where he could 16  his experiments with laughter .For eight days , Mr. Cousins rested in the hotel room watching funny shows on television , reading funny books ,and sleeping 17he felt tired .Within three weeks ,he felt well18  to take a vacation to Puerto Rico where he began running on the beach for 19 .

    After a few months , Mr. Cousins returned to work. He had laughed himself back to 20 .

    It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s came to the hospital. I heard him saying to the nurse that he was in a hurry for an appointment (约会) at 9:30.

    The nurse had him take a 1 in the waiting area, 2 him it would be at least 40 minutes 3 someone would be able to see him. I saw him 4 his watch and decided, because I was 5 busy — my patient(病人) didn't appear at the appointed hour, I would examine his wound. While taking care of his wound, I asked him 6 he had another doctor's appointment.

    The gentleman said no and told me that he 7 to go to the nursing home (疗养院) to eat breakfast with his 8. He told me that she had been 9 for a while and that she had a special disease. I asked if she would be 10 if he was a bit late. He replied that she 11 knew who he was, and that she had not been able to 12 him for five years now. I was 13, and asked him, “And you 14 go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?”

    He smiled and said. “She does not know me, but I know who she is.” I had to hold back my 15 as he left.

    Now I 16 that in marriages, true love is 17 of all that is . The happiest people do not 18 have the best of everything; they just 19 everything they have. 20 isn't about how to live through the storm, but how to dance in the rain.

    Having returned from her round trip, the angry woman stood outside the ticket office of the station. “The railway owes (欠债) me $12,” she said to Harry Jenks, the young man working at the 1. “You sold me a ticket 2 May 22nd, but there was no ship from Jersey that night. So my daughter and I had to stay in a hotel. It 3 me $12.”

    Harry was 4. He remembered selling the woman a return ticket. “Come into the office, Madam,” he said politely. “I'll just 5 the Jersey timetable for May 22nd. The woman and her little girl followed him 6. She was 7 right, as Harry soon discovered, there was no 8 on May 22nd. How could he have 9 such a careless mistake? He shouldn't have sold her a ticket for that day. Wondering 10 to do, he smiled at the child. “You look sunburned,” he said to her. “Did you have a nice holiday in Jersey?”

    “Yes,” she answered, shyly. “The beach was 11. And I can swim too!” “That's fine,” said Harry. “My little girl can't 12 a bit yet. Of course, she's only three…”

    “I'm four,” the child said proudly. “I'll be four and a half.”

    Harry 13 the mother. “I remember your 14, Madam.” he said. “But you didn't get 15 for your daughter, did you?” “Er, well,” the woman looked at the child. “I mean, she hasn't started school yet. She's only four.”

    “A four-year-old child 16 have a ticket, Madam. A child's return ticket to Jersey costs…, let me see… $13. So 17 the railway pays your hotel, you will 18 $1. The law is the law, but since the 19 was mine…”

    The woman stood up, 20 the child's hand and left the office.

    At the age of 60, my father was hit by a car when he walked to a nearby supermarket to buy vegetables. After 1 for two months in hospital, he finally woke up. His waking up 2all our family. 3, he didn't know any of us. Doctors said his brain was hurt so 4 that he had lost all his memory. And his mental age(心理年龄) was only five. We were sorry to hear about the bad news.

    Since I was his only child, it was my 5 to look after him. He forgot6 everything, but he did remember he liked sweets. I used the sweets as a way of 7 bad behaviors. I would gave him one sweet 8he didn't sit on the ground, a second for stopping painting on the wall, and another for not trying to put clothes on the dog.

Dad became the 9 child in town. He climbed up the tree to catch a bird and couldn't get down after it 10 away. He broke my window with a ball and 11 our telephone in water like washing clothes. When I told him he was doing 12 things, he would answer smilingly, "I like that!" My son, then aged five, and two eight-year-old daughters, welcomed their 13 playmate. He would happily make them real cigarettes, 14 his sweets with them, and carry them high in the apple tree to15 apples.

    It is eight years since the 16. Dad has accepted the fact that he is the 17 of his three playmates but not a brother. He has also accepted that they grow taller but his 18 stays the same. Though it is still 19 to take care of him, he brings us a lot of fun. In some way I think it is a(n) 20 thing to look after dad like looking after a child. How many people can have the chance to care for a child-like parent?

    Realizing that our family cat, Misty, had disappeared was a1experience for me. We had recently moved into a home in a new suburb and on a far2road with cars coming and going. I had kept Misty locked up in the house for recommended two weeks.3, with everyone busy and excited for a new life, she disappeared not long after. We4for her everywhere. We tried our neighbor,5the railway track running along the back of our property and returned to our old house. We6looked for her whenever we went out, hoping to find a(n)7little cat hiding behind a tree or something.

    It was several weeks8Misty turned up. She must have tried to find her way back to our9home after all and then, when she didn't find us, decided to return.10and untidy, she let us make a big fuss over her.11was slow but eventually she looked plump and healthy once more. Yet Misty still wasn't content. A nervous cat12, she was as unsettled as she had been. But with so many other problems13on my shoulders at the time, I wasn't sure what to do about it.

    One morning we woke up to find that Misty was14again. After a quick search, my son found her body near our house, wrapped in an expensive sports jacket and left15on the side of the road. There was a16pinned to the jacket, expressing how very sorry the driver was that he didn't see her, and how he didn't have a chance to stop as she dashed out in front of him. I cried17because of the unknown driver's kindness, and also because I felt that I had let Misty down.

    We18Misty in our backyard. It helped me a lot to know that she had been19, when so many animals killed on the road aren't. The consideration of the stranger who had20to stop, wrap her up in his own clothing and write that heartfelt note in the early hours of the morning will always be remembered.