The greatest source of inspiration for me has always been my father. Though he's been gone for 17 years, his 1 still resonate (产生共鸣). He taught me how to run my own race in life. But the most inspiring thing he taught me was to 2.

One incident is 3 in my mind. It happened when I was a teenager. My sister and I weren't very fond of a so-called friend of 4. Dad was a very generous man, and as he'd done with so many people, he'd given this fellow great help. But when he asked for a favor 5, the guy didn't deliver.

Dad's outlook (人生观) on most things was "Live and let live." In this case, however, his calmness 6 Terre and me, and we let him know it.

"How can you be nice to that man?" we said to him. "You've been so kind to him, and he's not being kind back. Why would you want to give him the time of day again?"

My father shrugged (耸肩) and said to us, " I do not bend my back with 7." I didn't get it at first, but over the years I came to understand the 8. Holding a grudge (怨恨) doesn't 9 the person you're angry with, but it changes you. It makes you heavier and gives you more weight to drag around.

After my father died in 1991, a (n) 10 came from a fellow I'd had a quarrel with years before to 11 his sympathy. He wrote: " I thought I'd tell you how sorry I am 12 the loss of your father. I know he 13 the world to you. I just wanted to let you know that you are in my thoughts."

Much moved, I wrote back. I thanked him for his 14. And then, because he'd 15 our disagreement, I recalled Dad's inspiring words. "I am my father's daughter," I wrote. "And like him, I do not bend my back with yesterday."

    Once upon a time, there was a rich man and a poor tailor(裁缝). They lived in {#blank#}1{#/blank#}same house. The rich man lived upstairs and the poor{#blank#}2{#/blank#}lived downstairs. The tailor liked to sing when he made clothes. He sang one {#blank#}3{#/blank#} after another. But the rich man liked to sleep a lot, and he couldn't get to sleep because of the singing. He felt very {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    One day, the rich man said, "Tailor, I will give you a bag full of {#blank#}5{#/blank#}every day if you stop singing. "Fine, "said the tailor. And so the tailor {#blank#}6{#/blank#}singing and became richer and richer. But the more money he got from the rich man, the {#blank#}7{#/blank#}he became, because he wanted very much to sing again.

    At last he brought all his money {#blank#}8{#/blank#}to the rich man. "Here, "he said, "take your money back. I won't be happy {#blank#}9{#/blank#} I can't sing. "He gave the money back to the rich man and went away singing. {#blank#}10{#/blank#}sang and sang and was happier than before.

"Can I watch TV this evening?" Leo asked. "No. We have to watch your brother Victor's soccer game," Mum said and got her car keys.

"Must I go?" Leo didn't want to go. He wanted to watch TV and played computer games in his room.

"Sorry, but this is Victor's first soccer game in the school team. Come on and take your jacket. It's cold outside." Mum said. Leo didn't say anything in the car. He was not happy.

After they got to the field, Leo said, "Mum, I don't want to watch the second half. This isn't interesting for me." "But Victor always says you can give him good luck. He likes having you here," Mum said. Leo thought about it and he found that supporting his brother is the right thing to do. "Come on, Victor!" Leo shouted. Victor scored. Soon the game was over.

"Hey!" Victor gave Leo a high five. "I played well, right?"

"You are great," Leo said, "I want to watch your next game."

I started learning English at the 1 of 22. It is kind of 2 to start studying a language. However, age is never a problem if you really want to 3 something.

I was preparing myself to study engineering in the USA. To enter my dream university, I had to 4 a TOEFL score of 90 or higher. After careful thought, I signed up for a six-month program to study English.

It was difficult to get 90 in six months for someone who started learning English from the very beginning, but I decided to have a try. In order to join the 5 ,I moved to a different city and rented (租用) a house with a friend. We were in the same program. We did not have any distractions(使人分心的事物) in 6 house, such as televisions, computers or smartphones.

We had classes every day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with a lunch break only. After the classes were over, we had something for dinner and started 7 what we had learned and doing homework. We would study 8 we became sleepy and usually, we would finish it by midnight.

My friend and I encouraged each other and we did our best.9 , we 10 got perfect TOEFL scores and went to the USA at last.

It's true that three-roommates from the US had an amazing discovery(发现). They paid $20 for a sofa from a store. 

One night, they were sitting on the sofa and felt something must be in the sofa. Mr Werkhoven opened one part of the sofa and found an envelope(信封)with around $ 4, 000 in it. The roommates started opening other parts of the sofa, and kept finding more envelopes. At last they found over S 40, 000 in the sofa. 

At first, the roommates said that they were very excited. They said they even started to talk about how to spend the-money. But then the roommates found a phone number on one of the envelopes. The next day, they called the person to say what they had found. 

The owner was a 91-year-old lady. She put the money in the sofa. However, her family did not know about the money and gave the sofa away. 

The roommates drove to the woman's house to return the money. When they gave the money back, the old woman cried and gave the three roommates $ 1, 000 to express thanks. Miss Guasti said that they thought about keeping the money at first, but they knew that they would have felt wrong to use it,