Recently, my family and I attended a neighborhood oyster(牡蛎)roast. While standing at the large tables 1 and eating oysters, I noticed a school aged boy across the table from us. He was being 2 oysters and by a man having a great deal of 3 and displeasure trying to swallow them down.

    At first, I thought the man wanted the boy to 4 the oysters and it would stop.  But 5  we stood there, it continued. And with  6 oyster the suffering of this boy becoming more and more  7 as he fought back tears and struggled to swallow them. I  8  learned that the man felt the boy had been impolite and this was his 9 .

    I couldn't watch. I hesitated whether to get involved or 10 . Then I had an idea. I grabbed my daughter and our frisbee(飞盘) 11 walked our way next to the man and the boy, attracting their attention 12. Then we introduced ourselves as not to knowing many 13 there, we invited the boy to come and play frisbee with us.

    The man allowed it and 14 the boy's situation changed. He became friendly and 15. He ran up and down happily to 16 the flying dish. We pulled another child into our 17 and played frisbee for a good 30 minutes together. I was so relaxed to 18 the suffering I was witnessing in that moment. And it made me feel 19 that trying to help in that or any situation where you 20 suffering is the best thing to do.

    Years ago, I worked at the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. One day, as I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, 1by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front legs. It was 2that they could, at any time, break free, 3strangely enough, they didn't. I asked a trainer the 4for this.

    He said, “When they were very young, we used the 5 size rope, and it was enough to hold them. As they grow up, they believe the rope can 6 hold them, so they never try.”

    Like the elephants, how many of you believe you cannot do a thing, simply because you7 once before? Do you often tell 8 “I cannot dance” or “I'm not good at math”?

         These are 9 of self limiting beliefs. You must realize you're 10 for them. A limiting belief that says you're poor at math may have 11 as a reaction to the embarrassing experiences related to math, or the remarks made by someone important to you which12 you. The cool thing is that because you create the 13you can choose to change it! Here is how:

    First, 14 it with “I am good at math”. Once you change your 15 , your subconsciousness(潜意识) will make this 16 by driving you to act. That might be to take a math course or to go online 17 help, etc. Gradually you'll really see your math skills are 18 .

    This is such a simple process that you can 19 it today. Don't be like the poor elephants and make your life 20 in a place because of a limiting belief you developed years ago.

    It happened when I was in Grade 4. My teacher Ms. Orange asked us to bring cards, candy and other 1to class. She wanted us to celebrate Thanksgiving Day as a class. I 2this activity and thought it would be fun, 3I asked my mom to help me make some nice cookies. I 4bought some Thanksgiving cards. I couldn't wait to give them to my classmates.

    When the day finally5, things went very well. People gave each other cards and candy. Everyone seemed very6. I gave out all of the things I took to school to my classmates. However, I received7. I was surprised at what was happening. Ms. Orange then asked us to8 what we received and say whom it came9. When my name was called, I couldn't hold back my10because I didn't get anything from anyone. I was 11 by the people who said that they were my 12.

    It was surely a 13Thanksgiving Day for me. I was angry. But I didn't want to 14 my classmates. I kept being kind to them and 15hard. And what I did paid off. I became one of the 16 students in my class. My teachers and classmates were proud of me. Now I have many good friends by my side. The_17from them alone will always be the best gift I will value forever. I 18that the best gifts in life don't come from stores. It's the things that we value in our 19that count. I'm glad that I made the right decision and 20 my classmates' friendship in the end.

I could have easily gone through life without getting to know one of the most romantic feelings—love for a dog.

    For at least ten years my 1had been suggesting that we get a dog. There were several reasons why the idea 2. We had noticed that, on our block, couples with no children as a rule3one large or two small dogs. So we got one puppy4we too had no children.

    He flew into the house with the 5 of a Formula 1 (一级方程式赛车). In several minutes he ran over all the house, 6from my shoulder onto the bed, and ended up in the 7 , where my wife washed him with motherly 8. From that day on, the invisible（看不见的） 9for the love of the new member of our household began at my home.

He seemed to 10 that at once. Most of the meals that my wife had 11 for him with greater care than those for me—he didn't 12 look at.

    Every evening I went out walking with him. I could not know who was walking whom 13 one evening, when, tired from work, I 14 the walk. The dog was very angry and dragged me out.

    Last night our dog pulled me by the ear with his teeth, 15 me up in my dream, and dragged me into the kitchen to make me turn off the 16which had disturbed（干扰） his sleep. I meekly（乖乖地）17 that I had forgotten to switch off the light, but that was not 18 . He looked at me like a teacher at a pupil who repeatedly makes 19.

    Now we finally know who's the 20 at home, and for twenty years we had seriously argued whether it was my wife or I.

    Once upon a time, there was a poor man. His 1 was also very poor—a small and empty house, which was 2 with spider webs (蜘蛛网). People tried to 3 coming into his house as they didn't want to come to such a 4 place. And the poor man thought that poverty (贫困) was the 5 for his unlucky life.

    Then, the poor man 6 a wise man and told him about his poverty. The man felt sorry for the poor man and gave him a vase. "This will save you from 7," the wise man 8. The poor man took the 9 from the wise man and wanted to 10 it at first and then spend the money on drinking, as usual. Besides, why would he 11 such a beautiful thing? But then he started 12 the vase carefully and decided not to take it to the market. He brought the vase back to his 13, put it on the table and started watching it again.

    "It's not 14 for such a beautiful thing to be 15," the poor man thought. So he 16 some flowers and put them into the vase. It became even 17. "Not good that such a beautiful thing stands next to a spider web," the poor man 18 again.

    So the poor man started 19 his house. He cleaned the dust, washed the floor and whitened the walls. And it became clear that his house wasn't poor, 20 rather warm and comfortable. And the poor man wasn't a poor man anymore, but a hard-working host, who had no time to think about poverty.

From the age of eight or so, I had to contribute my share of labour along with my father and two elder brothers. Kneeling in a rice field, I was up to my thighs in the1 . It splashed all over me, wet, sticky and 2 . When mud splashed into my eyes and onto my lip, I'd stand up, find the kettle of fresh water and try to 3 it away; but it was always a long 4 .

In midsummer, the sun beat upon my back, making me feel like hot bread 5 the side of a pan.6 ran down my mud-covered arms and legs. It felt as if ants were 7 all over me. To prevent the sweat from running into my eyes, I kept my face as8 as possible.

I told myself, be9 ! If my parents and brothers could10 taking it, so could I. A kind of 11 took place of the hurt in me. So thinking, I slowly pulled myself together and I crawled on.

I 12 hard in the countryside, and I am proud of this. Crawling in the mud had taught me to take sweating as part of my life and not to be afraid in the face of 13 . More importantly, I had learnt the 14 of "you reap what you sow". Plant your feet15 on the ground, work hard and you will be rewarded.