Children all round the world are familiar with fairy tales such as “The Little Mermaid”(美人鱼), “The Princess and the Pea” and “The Emperor's New Clothes”. The colourful 1 from the stories made us laugh and cry throughout our 2.

    The stories are the creation(创作) of Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson. He was born into a 3 family in Odense, Denmark, on April 2, 1805. His 4 life was not easy. His father was a shoemaker and his mother a washerwoman. He 5 very little education. As a child he was very6 and was laughed at for being feminine (女性化的) and tall.

    In 1816 his father died and Anderson was 7 to go out to work, first in a tailor's shop and 8 at a tobacco factory. 9 the age of 14 Anderson moved to Copenhagen to start a career as a singer and actor. He struggled for three years 10 he had to leave the theatre when his voice 11 in 1822.

    12, Anderson went to a grammar school. Having done well, he was admitted to Copenhagen University in 1828. He began to publish his fairy tales in 1835. They 13 in small volumes (量) until his death.

    14 Anderson lived a 15 life, he tried to make people 16 in all his stories. He wrote because he didn't want children to have a 17 childhood as he did. The works 18 Anderson world fame(声誉), but he remained a 19 man. He never married and his friends were the people who paid for his work. Anderson 20 on August 4, 1875. His home in Odense is now a museum and thousands of people visit it every year.

    Yesterday, I posted a photo of a pile of cross stitch kits (十字绣) on my blog. To my1many readers say I do well in them. 1 couldn't use them all,2 finally I decided to 3the rest to ladies in my neighbourhood who like to 4a project with their own hands.

    I 5them all up into a box and decided to start with the lady who 6a pub. She's perfectly7and she served me with a cup of coffee. I took her out to my car and showed her the 8I was holding it in my arms beside my car when another car 9up next to us with two other10in it. Within moments I was pushed against the 11behind the weight of three elderly ladies and I had to 12my way to pick up the empty box. The three ladies had taken every single item in that box with13expressions on their faces and lots of thanks. One of the ladies has a son who is a firefighter. She decided to give some cross stitch kits to the14station. Her decision did make me 15I had in my mind a wonderful picture of all these 16and strong firemen sitting around all working on their cute cross stitch Christmas stockings while they17for fire alarms to be called in.

    Finally,18 and laughter all went around, and then I e-mailed another 19who often visits me and also likes cross stitch kits. She promised to send me her extra cross stitch kits, too. I just know kindness will finally 20on to others.

    As a child I was always good at drawing and art. I won1 got constant attention, and even saw my face in the2 and on television because of my natural ability to 3.

    Most people who4 to come across something that they are good at are 5 to take it and run with it. Of course, my life was no6. From teachers, to principals, to family members7 seemingly had a ton of advice to give me in regards to art.

    All the while, my true desire was8 I entered poetry, essay, and short - story contests and9them all. It was such a contrast from my artistic10 experience! It was so bad that I11 a good friend of mine who told me once, “If you are so good at drawing why do you even care about writing?12 drawing!”

    Though well intended, eighteen years later I'm 13I didn't take his words to heart. Years went by with me still writing and still occasionally entering 14.It wasn't until my first year in college that I finally got honorable 15 in a poetry contest. As a writer I've truly 16.

    I'm sure there are things in your life that are17and yet, rewarding. Endurance (忍耐), especially when it comes to things you truly love is18. Take some time to devote some more 19to the “thing” that didn't come 20and see what happens.

    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.

    In one of my college classes, we were required to do an act of kindness. My project included 1lunch for an elderly person. When I2the elderly person with the food I cooked, it never3to me that it would result in a new friendship and the discovery of a4.

    The person I visited was Bill, who was unable to5much. A nurse came regularly to help him move to and from the wheelchair because he has no6. Bill said he was delighted to see me and it was a7for him to eat a meal with me because he usually eats8. He said the food was great, but he enjoyed having9even more than the food.

    Bill had had a10life when working on the railroad and had many11stories to tell about his travels to many places. I was12a trip because of his stories. I had once13about traveling by train. However, I would14be going by train after meeting Bill.

    Perhaps the biggest15of this project was that I suddenly realized that I am 16 of working with the elderly. Spending time with them was fun­­they have so much life experience to 17 On the one hand, I am a good 18. On the other hand, older people want someone to know their inner world, so it is a perfect 19. I decided to focus my studies on the 20. Hopefully in the future, I will work with them to help even more people like Bill.

    While my friends went away to their universities in great delight, I restarted my senior high school life. My spirits1at the prospect of starting all over again.

    2by strange classmates, I felt as though I was in a maze(迷宫)and felt3for my-self. There were some complex feelings in my mind. I was frightened, nervous and lonely.

    To make4worse, I recalled my failure again and again,5put more pressure on me than I could bear. As a result, I was always feeling6during class.

    One of my teachers noticed my depression and one day he asked me to come to his office, where he told me about his7towards life. He said we might8from making mistakes, but it's important to model ourselves into people we9. All the growing10and the embarrassing things we11are parts of the process. We never stop12, so learn from it and keep up your spirits up! If you are optimistic, things you want may13to you!14feelings rushed through me. I15saw the sun shining again when I stepped out of his office.

    With the teacher's help, I finally16my depression. From then on, I no longer17my head but began smiling at my classmates. I put up my hand18in class and tried to answer the teacher's questions correctly.

    I19have a thirst to go to my dream university,20I'm not afraid of failure because I can benefit from it.