I'm told that during an international game of chess, many beautiful moves could be made on a chessboard. In a decisive 1 in which Marshall was matched with a Russian master player, he found his queen under serious attack. There were several ways of2, and since the queen is the most3 piece, the audience thought Marshall would 4 move his queen to safety.

Deep in thought, Marshall used all his time to5 the condition. And then, he6his queen, paused, and placed it down on the most 7  square of all — a square from which the queen could be8 by any one of three enemy pieces.

    Marshall had sacrificed (牺牲) his queen — an unthinkable move. Everyone else was 9 .

    Then, the Russian and the players realized that Marshall had actually made a 10  move. It was clear that no matter how the game was taken, the Russian would soon be in a losing 11. Seeing this, the Russian 12  his defeat.

    When the audience 13  from the shock of Marshall's daring, they showered the chessboard with money. Marshall had achieved14 in a very unusual and daring way — he had 15 by sacrificing the queen.

    To me, it is not important that Marshall won,16  what counts is that he had 17standard thinking to make such a18 He had looked further the usual patterns of play and had been 19to consider an imaginative risk on the basis of his judgment alone. No matter how the game20, Marshall was the winner.

    A little boy invited his mother to attend his elementary school's first teacher-parent conference. To be little boy's1 she said she would go. This would be the first time that his classmates and teacher met his mother and he was embarrassed by her 2.Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar that 3nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy 4wanted to talk about why or how she got the scar.

    At the conference, the people were5by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother6the scar, the little boy was still embarrassed and 7himself from everyone. He did8 got within earshot of a 9between his mother and his teacher, and heard them speaking.“How did you get the10on your face?” the teacher asked.The mother replied, “When my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught on fire 11was too afraid to go in because the fire was12so I went in. As I was running towards his bed, I saw a beam(横梁) coming down and I placed myself over trying to13him. I was knocked14but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us.” She touched the 15side of her face. “This scar will be 16but to this day, I have never17doing what I did.” At this point, the little boy18running towards his mother with tears in his eyes. He hugged her and felt a great sense of the 19that his mother had made for him. He held her hand20for the rest of the day.

    I often go to France to visit my grandmother who is very dear to me. She's now 76 years old, so every time I go to1 the two of us are very aware that it might be the2time we see each other for she has cancer.

    Last time I visited her in December of 2012. I did a series of short video3about her life. I asked her about her greatest memories and life learning so far, her 4books, food and stories. I learned a large quantity of amazing new things about her I5knew before.

    This year, I did not really have 6 only a great urge for her to know how much she is loved. I cooked for her and read her stories.

    Before leaving, I was7a way to leave something8behind besides the memory of our 9together. So I wrote her five different 10and gratitude notes to let her know how much she11to me, and hid them in different places where I knew she would 12find them. One under her pillow. Another one 13from the lamp cover by which she reads in the evening. Another one by her toothbrush. One in her14which she eagerly checks every day. And the last one on her car's steering wheel.

    I left 15knowing that these cards would surely 16her up after I left. She called me as I was departing for Paris to catch my plane back to the US and said, “I17your three cards! By the time I discovered the third card, I was laughing out loud!18 they did me so much good. Thank you so much!” I19to myself, knowing she still has two more to go! It was Sunday, so my 20was that she had not checked her mailbox and had not yet driven her car!

    A woman professor walked around in a classroom while she was teaching stress management to her students. As she 1 a glass of water, everyone 2 they would be asked the "half-empty or half-full" question.

    3, with a smile on her face, she asked, "How 4 is this glass of water?"

    Answers called out 5 from eight to twenty ounces (盎司).

    She quieted the students down and then replied, "The absolute weight doesn't 6. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a 7. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my 8. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel 9 and paralyzed. In each case, the 10 of the glass of water doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. Do you know why?"

    All the students kept silent and listened carefully, lost in thought.

    She continued, "our 11 and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and 12 happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to 13. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed— 14 to do anything."

    It's important to remember to 15 your stresses. As early in the evening as possible, put all your 16 down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night. Remember to put the glass down!

    More often than not life gets terrible 17 we think too much. And the moment you remove your burden, you'll find yourself feeling so much more 18.

    So rather than moping around and feeling sorry for yourself, 19 doing something about it. After all, life is too short to 20 yourself to anything that's not making you happy.

    I'm not a person who loves collecting, but the TV room of my house is full of things. In it are things that there's no other place to put, and things I can't decide1to throw away, such as a lot of old bottles and boxes, some books and out-of-date magazines and a wood stove (炉子) I2use. The TV itself could actually work, but I only turn it3every four years to watch the presidential election.

    The other night, scratching (抓) sounds from the TV room4me up. Quietly, I entered the room,5the stove and opened its front door. There it was, a trembling squirrel,6me desperately.

    I decided to give it a(n)7escape way. Therefore, I opened the outside door, stepped back and8. The squirrel jumped out of the9, but didn't head outside.10, it run through my magazine pile and then struggled among the bottles.

    "Why didn't it11?" I wondered for a while until I12 that I probably put13into that small squirrel's heart. So I quickly14myself in the kitchen and watched the uninvited guest through the window. In my15, the squirrel became16enough to look around and assess the situation. Suddenly, it17merrily.

    The animal actually did a great18: I couldn't stand my19TV room for so long, so after the unexpected guest's leaving I spent half a day cleaning and throwing. I eventually got a tidy TV room and some20space.

Defeat Disability

Yang's ambition was to get an architect certificate or become a bowling master.But when he{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(conduct) experiments with a microscope in the basement,a tank on the bench exploded,sending him flying outwards through the exit.In other words,he was disabled.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(feel) clumsy,he was annoyed at first though nobody made fun of him.He cut out going outdoors and just sat{#blank#}3{#/blank#} at home talking to his parrot or tortoise silently.His sister resigned to help him in many ways.Her assistance and encouragement were so{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(benefit) to his psychology {#blank#}5{#/blank#} he adapted to his disability soon and became outgoing again.In a college accessible to him,he studied politics and literature.He always sat in the front row near{#blank#}6{#/blank#} entry without any absence and,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} the help of his handy laptop,he studied well by means of dictation.His thesis (论文),Abolishing Slavery,met with all professors' approval.After class,he and his companions often played drum music,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} was noisy but suitable for his hearing.After graduation,he made high profits by {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(design) software for a firm.

All in all,in his community,he won his dignity and people's congratulations.He always wished all the best to his{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(disable) fellows and encouraged them,"Never mind! All you have is adequate to get your achievement!"