A young painter just completed his course from his teacher. The painter decided to check his own 1, so he put his best painting at a busy crossroad. And just down below a board read. “Gentlemen, I've painted this piece. Since I'm2 to painting, please put a cross (叉) wherever you see a 3 in my painting.”

    4 he came back in the evening to collect it, he was shocked. The whole painting was filled with 5. The young painter ran to his teacher's place and burst into tears. He 6 told his teacher about what had 7 and showed him the painting. This young painter cried. “I'm 8 and I could not become a painter at all. I fed like 9.”

    His teacher smiled and suggested, “I'll prove that you are a great 10.” The young painter couldn't believe it and said, “I've lost11 and I don't think I'm good enough. Don't 12 me.”

     “Do as I say without asking 13. Just paint the same painting once again and give it to me. It will work,” his teacher persuaded (劝服) him. The young painter finally 14 and two days later, he painted the same painting once again and 15 it to his teacher.

    “Come with me,” his teacher said. They reached the same street-crossing and put the same painting there. His teacher took out another 16 which read. “Gentlemen. I've painted this piece. Since I'm new to painting, there might be some disadvantages in my painting. I've put a box with 17 and brushes (画笔) just below. Please do me a favor. If you see a disadvantage, kindly pick up the brush and 18 it.” They both visited the place in the evening. The young painter was 19  to see there was not a single corection done!

    It is easy to criticize (批评), but difficult to help others 20 .

    “Mom, you're always on the computer！” Laure complained.

    “No, I'm not，” I1.

    “Every day I come home from school you're working on the computer.”

    “Well, at least I'm here 2you！”

    My daughter was right. Day after day, in my home office, I would stare into space as my 3 typed out the thoughts of a speaker or research completed for an article.It seemed that my work as a writer and speaker 4 my fingers to the keyboard and my mind to valuable ideas.What Laure did not 5 was that during her day away, I'd also be doing a lot of housework.It was only around three in the afternoon that I'd 6 seat myself at my desk for a few 7 moments of deep thought.Then she'd come from school.

    I was8of myself on being available to my children.After all, I am a speaker on child behavior and parenting.But Laure's observation9 my heart.In her eyes, I must have been a mom who was 10 but unapproachable.I wouldn't make such an image (形象) before her.My relationship with my children is more 11 than any other work.

    “Laure，” I called, “come here a minute.”

    She wandered to my doorway.I had decided to have her 12 me when I was too devoted to work.I wanted her to have the 13 to let me know when she thought I was cold.

    After I explained my 14 and the fact that I chose home office to be accessible to her and her sister, I offered Laure the following 15.

    “Whenever you feel I'm ignoring you or you need my 16 ， I want you to 17 me，” I said.“Just come up and give me a little hug.That'll be our signal that you 18 me.”

    Years later we still have that 19 sign.I've become much more sensitive to my daughters' comings and goings.20 she always gives me a little hug to remind me of the real reason why I work at home.

    Li Hua felt lonely when he arrived in Shanghai last August.

    The 24-year-old 1 at a publishing house had plenty of spare time to kill.“ 2 the Internet, I have found like-minded friends without much 3 ,”says the lover of traditional Chinese culture, who comes from Xi'an, Shanxi Province.

    Li began 4 kungfu when he was 5 and studied I Ching（Book of Change）at junior high school.

    His 5 interest is guqin, a seven-stringed Chinese zither（筝）6 .He tried to learn it by watching videos on the Internet but found it very 7 .

    Li joined an on-line chatting group at www.QQ.com in order to 8 a teacher and fellow students.There he met people from 9 parts of the country, who shared a（n）10 in Chinese guqin music and classic 11 .They exchange ideas online and also have offline 12 .

    “The gathering of guqin players was very exciting for me, a beginner,” he recalls.He was 13 with guqin songs which were played 14 by Fan Yumei, an experienced guqin player from Sichuan, and Pan Kun, a young guqin15 and musical major at Shanghai Dance Academy.

    Fan and Pan are students of Zeng Chengwei, a guqin master from Sichuan School in Chengdu.

    Their performances staged in a small apartment near the Shanghai University 16 less than 10 netizens (网友).Through the window of the quiet room where Fan 17 her students, one can see the bustling Northern Third Ring Road and two shopping centers.“But being together, drinking a cup of tea, 18 poetic guqin music and guqin songs, one may find an inner peace and nourishment 19 a week's hard work,”says Fan, who is 20 a calligrapher, painter and writer.

    Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter（伐木工） went to a timber merchant to ask for a job and he got it. The 1was really good and the work conditions were good ,too . For those2,the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

    His boss gave him an axe(斧头) and 3him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees. The boss offered  4to him and told him to5that way .Encouraged by the boss's6, the woodcutter tried harder the next day,7he could only bring 15 trees. The third day, 8he tried even harder, he could only bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing fewer and fewer trees. 9 ，he had to go to the boss and apologized to him, wondering whether he was losing his 10 ."When was the last time you sharpened (磨) your axe?" the boss asked. With a(an)11 look on his face, the woodcutter answered, "I had no12 to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to13trees..."

    Our lives are like that. It seems that everyone is14 than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that ? There's 15 wrong with activities and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we16 the truly important things in our 17 life, such as taking time to read and 18 more time with our family. We all need time to relax, to think, and to 19 .If we don't take the time to sharpen the "axe" , we will become20 and lose our effectiveness.

    Axel Winch was born nearly 13 weeks prematurely (早产地). He 1 2 pounds, 12 ounces and had bleeding in his brain, vision and hearing 2. After a week in the 3 in Grand Junction, where parents Melissa and Adam Winch live, he 4 a life-threatening intestinal (肠道的) condition. Doctors 5 to airlift (空运) Axel and Melissa more than 200 miles to Children's Hospital in Aurora.

    His health remained 6 over the next few weeks as his lungs shut down. "There were many times we didn't think he was going to 7." Adam said. 8, support was on the way. Melissa, 39, is a police officer. The police department in Grand Junction 9 officers in Aurora. Soon, members of the Aurora police department 10 the hospital with offers of help. One brought them banana bread. A detective gave the 11 a place to stay.

    But then things got 12 again. After weeks of caring for Axel in Aurora, the couple had to briefly return to Grand Junction on two separate 13. First, their house had been under contract and they had to 14 in two days. The second time, Melissa's 15 had run out, so she had to return to work for a few days. They hated having to abandon their son, who had improved but was still facing 16 surgeries.

    "We were afraid he was going to die while we were gone," Adam says. Aurora police Mike set up a 17 for his officers to spend time with Axel—when his 18 couldn't he there. They 19 the parents photos of themselves asleep with Axel and updates from the nurses. After four months in the hospital, Axel was 20 enough to go home.

    It's been a long time since I wrote a creative essay. Recently, with lots of time and lack of inspiration, I accepted a 1 to teach creative nonfiction. 2 I couldn't get myself to write my own stories. I could require that my students tell theirs.

    "You're going to be 3 a journal in this class." I said. "And I want you to tell your stories like they matter."

    "Why do they matter?" a boy named Michael asked. "I mean, who 4 about our stories?"

    No one said a wont. Perhaps they were just tired from their 5 lives. Many worked full-time while in school full-time. Most might not have the faintest 6 that their stories did matter. They didn't even know that their stories were stories — as beautiful and hard — as their own lives.

    7, I looked at Michael. "They matter because they do." I said. "Because you're here and you can tell them. Stories allow us to make 8 of what we're 9. When you 10 your experience into a story, it becomes yours and not just something that 11 to you."

    Michael didn't look 12 , but he didn't challenge me either.

    Later, Michael wrote about how he grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Boston and how his high school teacher, who saw his 13, helped him fill out a college application.

    I 14 Michael to read his essay out loud. After he finished, the class went so 15 that we could hear the sound of each other's breath. I looked at Michael and saw a softening and 16 in his eyes.

    After a moment, I said, "That's 17 you tell your stories." That night, I picked up my journal from where it 18, dusty and 19. For the first time in months. I had 20 to write.