Like many perfectionists, I truly believed that self-sufficiency was a virtue. And1my brain was so good at finding what it was looking for, I noticed every single time that idea got proved2 and so I always had lots of3for why it really was better if I just handled everything myself.

    This kind of thinking, friends, was the 4in disguise (伪装).

    My self-reliance came in handy when I was a kid in the seventies and in adulthood when I was an independent 5Then, in the first years of 6the Organized Artist Company, I found myself 7everything I could about websites, copywriting, graphic design, etc. Later whenever one of my business friends 8about how her website was being held hostage (人质) by her designer, I9felt too satisfied10if mistakes were made in my business, they were all mine.

    Now this was where my false11showed up—in not wanting others to know I made mistakes. If I had other people12me, they would see my errors and13. Working alone, I could keep up a pretty good display of 14.

    But as the Organized Artist Company became increasingly 15, I realized I was doing harm to the people I was trying to serve by attempting to do everything myself. I was16my growth and the depth of my work.

    I had built a business with my own two hands, and I 17with a business that I could hold in my own two hands. Cozy,18limited in scope (范围).

    Once I was willing to control my ego( 自负) and admit that my vision of self-sufficiency was a 19my business took a remarkable leap forward, and revenue 20 Little change, big difference.

    When Dave was eighteen, he bought a secondhand car for 200 so that he could travel to and from work more 1 than by bus.It worked quite well for a few years, but then it got so old, and it was costing him 2much in repairs that he decided that he had better 3 it.

    He asked among his friends to see if anyone was particularly  4 to buy a cheap car, but they all knew that it was falling to pieces, so 5 of them had any desire to buy it.Dave's friend Sam saw that he was6when they met one evening, and said, “What's  7, Dave?”

    Dave told him, and Sam answered, “Well, what about advertising it in the paper? You may  8 more for it that way than the cost of the advertisement!” Thinking that Sam's9was sensible（合理的）,he put an advertisement in an evening paper, which read “For sale: small car, 10 very little petrol, only two owners.Bargain（要价）at 50.”For two days after the advertisement first appeared, there was no 11.But then on Saturday evening he had an enquiry（询问）.A man rang up and said he would like to12 him about the car.“All right,” Dave said, feeling happy.He asked the man whether ten o'clock the next morning would be13or not.“Fine,” the man said, “and I'll 14my wife.We intend to go for a ride in it to 15it.”

    The next morning, at a quarter to ten, Dave parked the car in the square outside his front door, 16 to wait there for the people who had17 his advertisement.Even Dave had to18that the car really looked like a  wreck（残骸）.Then, soon after he had got the car as clean19 it could be, a police car stopped just behind him and a policeman got out.He looked at Dave's car and then said, “Have you reported this20 to us yet, sir?”

    This was one of my experiences at work. When I was1, I was working for a large international company which had its head office in London. I was working in the2department.

    The company had a training centre which was just outside London. Different courses were3there throughout the year and I4go on one training course a year. These usually started5a Sunday evening and lasted six days.

    Once I was6a week's training course with about forty7sales people. I was in the bar on the Friday evening and suddenly a woman who was 8behind the bar asked me a curious question. "I hope you don't 9my asking," she said, "But I've been 10 about it all week. Have you got a sister11Mary?" The woman's name was June, and she used to do various jobs at the training centre. She worked in the office, she organized all the food and drink for the centre and she worked in the bar at lunchtime and in the evening.

    My answer12June's question was "Yes", and June said, "I thought 13. I met her last September when she was organizing a course here." At that time, my sister was working for14company but in a different part of the country. That was15she came to be at the training centre.

    16 surprised me was how June guessed we were brother and sister. Three things made it even more17. First, she had met my sister six months before she met me. Second, they have about sixty new people every week at the training centre. So about one thousand five hundred people had18the centre in those six months. And 19, my sister is married, so she doesn't have the same family name as me.

    We're not 20, but I guess we must look quite like each other.

    I was correcting students' homework in my office when I came across a piece of work which was quite similar to what I had read on line. At that moment, a 1 picture was called to my mind.

    It was in a Chinese class that my teacher praised me for my 2 composition. After giving some positive 3 on it, he asked me to read my composition 4 as a model to the whole class. I stood in front of the class 5 and proudly, reading it in my best voice. "The mountain stands there like a…"the mountain stands there like a…" I 6the first part of the sentence, but could not move on. What was worse, I heard some murmured voices which made me more7.

    "Did she write it?"

    "Hey, you must have8 it from others!"

    I stood there, staring at the notebook, mind totally9.

    10, at that moment, a low and gentle voice from my teacher saved me. I looked up at him and saw a friendly smile 11 his face. I realized that I was 12to continue. So, again, I raised my voice and 13 on my composition successfully.

    I did copy those words from a famous work. When I 14my composition I found a few beautiful lines in a book. "They will 15 color to my composition if I use them as mine." I thought 16 . Finally, those sentences became an important part of my homework.

    After class, I looked at my teacher 17 and waited for his criticism. But to my 18, he said, "You did quite well, but you can do better next time." Then he left, without any critical words.

    From then on I never copied others' work; 19, I wrote authentic compositions.

    Coming back from my memory, I 20 to correct my students' homework. I carefully underlined the part copied and just put down a question mark. Everyone makes mistakes. To error is human, to forgive, divine.

    I was ready to pay for my bananas at the grocery one night, when fear seized me. My wallet was gone. I could only have left it on the G9 bus, which was now speeding in the dark to some1station.

    The2moment was quickly followed by mental math. How much time and money would it cost to replace the3of that little wallet？The credit cards, the driver's license, the cash, all lost to the bus.

    Two hours later, back at my house, I heard a knock on the door. My husband 4it while I was on the phone in the dining room. "Does Jennifer live here?" I heard a lady say. In my husband's hand was my wallet, with not a penny5. She left before I could 6 make it to the door to offer my thanks.

    After sharing the story online, I heard from someone, who 7 the lady as Erin Smith. Without 8 , I called to thank her. She said she 9 my wallet on a bus seat. She10that going to a stranger's house was a 11 move, but she decided to take the chance. "If I were in that 12. I would want someone to try to find me," she said.

    This one stranger responded beautifully to my small 13 , but she actually wasn't the only one. Right after Erin 14 my wallet on the bus, she posted a picture of my driver's license to an online forum（论坛）, trying to see 15 anyone knew me. No sooner did she leave my doorstep than I had emails from two women whose kids go to my son's nursery and who recognized my face. I've never 16 words with those moms beyond small talk, but they wanted to help. I read that people are more divided than ever, but that's not how the people I17tend to act.

    18, I feel blessed someone had wanted to help a stranger. Erin had gone 19what almost anyone would have done, finding my house on a bitterly cold night, and for that I was extremely 20 .

    When I was 13 my only purpose was to become the star on our football team. That meant 1 Miller King, who was the best 2 at our school.

    Football season started in September and all summer long I worked out. I carried my football everywhere for 3.

    Just before September, Miller was struck by a car and lost his right arm. I went to see him after he came back from 4. He looked very 5, but he didn't cry.

    That season, I 6 all of Miller's records while he 7 the home games from the bench. We went 10­1 and I was named most valuable player, 8 I often had crazy dreams in which I was to blame for Miller's 9.

    One afternoon, I was crossing the field to go home and saw Miller 10 going over a fence­which wasn't 11 to climb if you had both arms. I'm sure I was the last person in the world he wanted to accept 12 from. But even that challenge he accepted. I 13 him move slowly over the fence. When we were finally 14 on the other side, he said to me, "You know, I didn't tell you this during the season, but you did 15. Thank you for filling in for 16."

    His words freed me from my bad 17. I thought to myself, how even without an arm he was more of a leader. Damaged but not defeated, he was 18 ahead of me. I was right to have 19 him. From that day on, I grew 20 and a little more real.