I sit outside of my daughter's nursery school classroom, patiently waiting for her. When the door opens, my daughter runs out with a broad smile. She 1 the excitement of school .

    “How was your 2?”I ask casually, while 3 wanting to hear every single detail. “It was so good, Mommy!” my daughter replies. That's it. That's all I 4.

    On the car ride home, I ask her a lot of questions. She answers me with a few words, but never goes into much 5. Usually she tells me that she wants to 6something else.

    It has only been a few weeks, but I still find it so 7 that my daughter has a whole morning in school without me. I 8 ask the teachers for details and I am often provided with the same 9 answers that my daughter gives.

    Now, three mornings a week, I close her classroom door behind me and she has her own 10. I am given some 11 of her days like apples glued onto paper trees and paint dirt under her fingernails.

    I know she 12 this privacy and the time to 13 a new environment and meet different kids. 14, I can't help but want to know about the details of her days. The ride home is the 15 time that she will provide me with some 16 about her morning.

    When we pull into the driveway, I change the 17 to something else. I am sure that my constant questions annoy her, so I try to 18 them to the car ride after school.

    I am 19 that my daughter doesn't quite know our driving route yet; she can't tell that I sometimes take the long way home, 20 we have those few extra minutes together.

    Another person's enthusiasm was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved. That person was my stepmother.

    I was nine years old when she entered our home in rural Virginia. My father1me to her with these words:“I would like you to meet the fellow who is2for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no 3than tomorrow morning.”

    My stepmother walked over to me, 4my head slightly upward, and looked me right in the eye. Then she looked at my father and replied, “You are 5.This is not the worst boy at all, 6the smartest one who hasn't yet found an outlet（释放的途径）for his enthusiasm.”

    That statement began a(n) 7between us. No one had ever called me smart, My family and neighbors had built me up in my 8   as a bad boy. My stepmother changed all that.

    She changed many things. She 9my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors. She moved our family into the county seat, where my father's career could be more 10and my brother and I could be better11.

    When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand12and told me that she believed that I could become a writer. I knew her ernthusiasm,I13it had already improved our lives. I accepted her 14and began to write for local newspapers. I was doing the same kind of15 that great day I went to interview Andrew Carnegie and received the task which became my life's work later. I wasn't the 16beneficiary (受益者).My father became the 17man in town. My brother and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president.

    What power 18 has! When that power is released to support the certainty of one's purpose and is 19strengthened by faith, it becomes an irresistible（不可抗拒的）force which poverty and temporary defeat can never 20.

    You can communicate that power to anyone who needs it. This is probably the greatest work you can do with your enthusiasm.

    Being jobless for the last three months, I am upset nowadays. My son has lost his 1 from a good school and he might have to go to a less qualified school. I have moved from a spacious (宽敞的) apartment to a small one in order to 2 my living expenses. My wife has built extra stress. On top of that, my father in-law 3 a week ago, which has added fuel to fire, 4 our family into a more terrible state.

    In these circumstances I have two mental 5: either to feel upset and keep losing my peace of mind, or 6 my negative thoughts with super mental powers about self-confidence and consistency, and 7 applying for new jobs with positive attitude.

    I choose the second option because I believe that the pain I am 8 today will build up my 9. My strengths will then increases my confidence and make me a good times make me a 10 man one day. I understand that good and bad stages are part of 11 . While good times make me happy, bad times 12 the ‘inner' me.

    Two months later, 13, I have finally landed on a job which is very exciting and offers a nice salary. Time has healed my wife's mental stress 14 the death of her father. My son has already been accepted by another good school because the admissions for new academic year were still 15 !

    As I am back on the track of normal life, I can 16 say that the most important things that helped me 17 the crisis (危机) were my consistent character of patience, and 18 attitude towards life. So, while I wish you all the best life can 19 you, I would highly recommend taking the same attitude towards life 20 you are trapped in any of such situations.

    Lucy didn't have a lot of friends. She was a bit 1. She never really wanted to be popular, but did want to have someone to2 secrets and laughs with. All through high school, 3, she didn't find a lot of comfort or companionship.

    When it came to going to college, Lucy still felt 4. She was going to be rooming with a 5 classmate and living in a town 300 miles away from home. There wouldn't be a single person she 6 in town. She had no idea how she was going to make7in this new environment.

    The first week of classes, something happened that 8 Lucy's life forever. In her English Composition class, she was asked to share a little about herself. She 9 everyone where she came from and all of the other 10 details that students share in such 11. The final question for each student was always the same: "What is your 12 for this class?" Now, most of the students said it was to get a good13, pass the class or something similar, but for some 14, Lucy said something entirely 15. She said that her goal was to make just one good friend.

    While most of the students sat in silence, one student came to Lucy and 16his hand and introduced himself. He asked if she would be his friend. The whole room was 17—all eyes focused on Lucy and the hand extended just in front of her. She 18 and reached out to take his hand and a friendship was formed. It was a friendship that 19all through college. Lucy learned the20of asking for what she wanted, being honest and taking action.

    One day, when I was a teenager, I was home along doing two of my favourite things: I was eating a huge plate of spaghetti and mealbails and I was 1.

    At the time, my family pet bird - a big white cockatoo named Luke was free from his 2 and flying around inside the house. Luke, which wasn't3 to use real words, was chucking (咯咯地叫) away, 4 me, but I wasn't paying attention to him. I was 5 on reading my detective book. 6 Luke decided to get closer and before I 7 it, he'd landed right on top of my spaghetti and meatbails! I was so surprised - my mind went8. My reaction was the same as yours would be: I shooed (用"嘘"声吓唬)him off my food! This wouldn't have been so bad 9 one thing: Luke had 10 my spaghetti. So when he 11 again, the spaghetti still winded in his12 went flying everywhere. He landed on my shirt. He hit me in the 13. As I pulled noodles out of my hair, Luke 14 spaghetti sauce all the way. He wasn't15, except for his16the sauce in his beautiful white 17 turned him splotchy (油渍斑斑的)orange for several weeks.

    See how funny spaghetti can be? And see how 18 reading can be? So go ahead and enjoy a good book. But if you like to read while you eat, you'd better keep an eye on your food. And if you find a19 novel at the 20 with red, splotchy (油渍斑斑的)spots on two pages near the middle, you'll know that I've read that book, too!

A lot of people admired our neighbor. One day a delivery truck unloaded a large 1 system at their house. And the kids discussed the new sound equipment my neighbor had just bought. Meantime, we were living in a house decorated 2 and dressing our kids in second-hand clothes. We lived a 3 life. 

My poor mother-in-law, in town for a visit, got to hear my complaints that night. "I feel so 4 sometimes," I told her, as we 5 the table after dinner. "I know we're doing the right thing, living frugally (节俭的), saving money, but it feels so hard. There're so many things I'd like to 6 , so many things I'd like to do, but we just can't."

She 7 as she folded a cloth napkin in silence. Then she turned to me and said, "When you make a comparison between yourself and others, it's easy to 8 what you don't have. But there's one thing you two do that many other couples may 9 to do. You two often go out together and take time to focus on your 10 . And that's a very important thing."

I stopped wiping the table and 11 for a minute. I thought of the movie my husband and I had seen a week earlier. I 12 the bike rides, the hikes and the picnics. Most of all, I remembered how 13 we were together, even after twenty years. How many people can say that? 

I looked around my home in a new 14 . Our refrigerator was too small for a family of six, but it was 15 filled with delicious food. Our kitchen was small and we had no big TV, but we're happy! And that's enough!