I stopped to watch my little girl busy playing in her room. In one hand was a plastic 1 ; in the other a toy broom. I listened as she was speaking to her make-believe little friend and I'll never forget the words she said, even 2 it was a pretence.

    She said, “Suzie's in the corner because she's not been very 3  . She didn't listen to a 4 I said or do the things she should. “In the corner I saw her baby doll all dressed in lace and pink. It was5 that she'd been put there to sit alone and 6.

    My daughter 7 her “conversation”, as I sat down on the floor. She said, “I'm all fed up. I just don't know what to do with her any more. She cries whenever I have to work and wants to play games, too. She never8   me do the things that I just have to do.

    She tries to help me with the dishes, but her arms just cannot 9 . And she doesn't know 10  to fold towels. I don't have the 11  to teach. I have a lot of work to do and a big house to keep clean. I don't have the time to sit and play—see 12 I mean?”

    And that day I thought a lot about making some13  in my life, as I listened to her innocent words that14me ‘like a knife. I hadn't been paying enough attention to what I hold most15 I'd been caught up in responsibilities that increased throughout the year.

    But now my 16to life has changed, because, in my heart, I realize that I've17the world in a different light through my little darling's eyes. So, let the cobwebs（蜘蛛网）18  the corners and the dust bunny rabbit rule the floor. I'm not going to worry about keeping up with them19.

    I'm going to fill the house with20of a child and her mother, for we are granted only one childhood, and we will never get another.

    Once a wise man was walking from one town to another with a few of his students. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They  1 there and the wise man told one of his students, “ I am  2. Get me some water from the lake there.”

    The student  3 up to the lake. When he reached it, he  4 that some people were  5 clothes in the water, and, right at that moment, a cart (四轮车) started  6 the lake. As a result, the water became very  7. The student thought,“ How can I give this muddy water to my teacher to drink!” So he  8 and told the wise man, “ The water there is very muddy. I don't think it is  9 to drink.”

    After about half an hour, again the wise man asked the  10 student to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The student obediently (顺从的) went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely 11 water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to drink. So he 12 some water in a pot and took it to his teacher.

The wise man looked at the water, and then he looked up at the student and said, “ See 13 you did to make the water clean. You let it be … and the mud 14 on its own — and you got clear water… Your mind is also like that. When it is15, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to 16 any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

    What did the wise man 17 here? He said, “ It is effortless.” 18 peace of mind is effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that 19 permeates (蔓延) to the outside. It20around you and in the environment, so that people around start feeling that peace and grace.

    It was the last day of the final examination in a large eastern university. On the steps of one building, a group of engineering seniors gathered, discussing the exam due to begin in a few 1. On their faces was confidence. This was their last exam before they went on to 2and jobs.

    Some talked of jobs they already had; others talked of jobs they 3get. With all this assurance(确信，自信） of four years of college, they felt ready and able to take 4of the world.

    The approaching exam, they knew, would be a(n) 5task, because the professor had said they could bring 6books or notes they wanted, requesting only that they did not 7each other during the test.

    After they entered the classroom8, the professor passed out the papers. And smiles9on the students' faces as they noted there were only five essay-type questions.

    Three hours had passed 10the professor began to collect the papers. The students no longer looked confident. On their faces was a frightened expression. Papers in hand, no one spoke as the professor faced the class.

    He looked at the11 faces before him, and then asked, "How many completed all five questions?"12a hand was raised.

    "How many answered four?" Still no hands.

    "Three? Two?" The students moved restlessly(不安地) in their seats.

    "One, then? Certainly somebody finished 13."But the class remained silent.

    The professor put down the papers. "That is exactly what I 14," he said. "I just want to impress upon you that, 15you have completed four years of engineering, there are still many things about the 16you don't know. These questions you couldn't answer are relatively 17 in everyday practice." Then smiling, he added, "You will all 18this course, but remember — even if you are now college graduates, your education has just 19."

    The years have 20the name of this professor, but not the lesson he taught.

    While I was waiting to enter university, I saw in a newspaper a teaching job 1 at a school about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short of 2 and wanting to do something 3 I applied (申请), 4 as I did so, that without a degree and with no 5 of teaching my chances of getting the job were 6.

    However, three days later, a letter arrived, calling me to Croydon for a meeting with the headmaster. It proved to be a 7 journey: a train to Croydon station, a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at 8 a quarter of a mile. As a result I arrived there, feeling too hot to be nervous. It was clearly the 9 himself that 10 the door. He was short and round.

    "The school," he said, "is made up of one 11 of twenty-four boys between seven and thirteen." I should have to teach all the subjects except art, 12 he taught himself. I should have to divide the class into 13 groups and teach them in turn at three different 14, and I was 15 at the thought of teaching maths—a subject at which I wasn't very 16 at school. Worse perhaps was the idea of 17 to teach them on Saturday afternoon because most of my friends would be 18 themselves at that time.

    Before I had time to ask about my salary, he got up to his 19. "Now" he said, you'd better meet my wife. She is the one who really 20 this school.

    It's not easy for me to forget the guy, whom I call Bean. For the past year and a half, I1Bean almost every workday morning. In the beginning I2Bean. After all, he's just a beggar on the freeway off-ramp (匝道) who3people at a stoplight that seems to always be red.

    Over time a few things dawned on me. The first was that it was always the4guy at this off-ramp. The next was that he never actually5anything. He just danced and waved at everyone. Then6, and perhaps the most important, was that he was ALWAYS7. Some days he was dancing and playing a guitar. Most days he'd wave a cardboard at cars, smiling.

    Bean slowly became part of my8routine(常规). I noticed this one day, only because he wasn't there and9danced and waved at me. I10him. I worried something had happened to him. I11to look for him every morning as I came down the ramp to that red light.

    One morning, after one of these12, I was so relieved to see him that it was like the sun had come out after a week-long storm. I sat at the red light, watching his morning13. I realized that I, too, was smiling and14myself waving back. Wow, something as15as a wave brought16to my whole day. I finished the drive to work that morning, feeling lighter and happier.

    I17you now. Look around you. Look at your life, your surroundings, and18just your grocery store with eyes that truly see. What19lies in front of you. Do you have a Bean in your life you haven't noticed yet? Watch for them. They will20your life in ways you can't even dream.

Yardley has a long history as a community that cares. For the past four decades, the members of St Andrew's community service center have been selfless,1meals for elderly and shut-in residents in the region every month.

Barbara enjoyed this2twice. "When I broke both my legs, the service center fed my husband and me in such abundance (丰富) that with great gratitude I had to say3," she says. "My husband —4asked me to break my legs every month because he5the food." When he passed away, the cards and calls were "6", Barbaba says. They helped her know she was never7.

A disaster happened, ending their proud 37-year8of making meals together, but it didn't break the spirit of 9far from it. Instead, the volunteers in the service center took to10in their homes, Soon, volunteers were 111000 meals each week. And many ingredients in those meals were12. In spring. St Andrew's provided seeds — tomatoes, beans, basil, and more — to Yardley residents to13at home. The gardeners then brought their vegetables back to the center to14with it.

What a spread of 15! That's what makes Yardley charming!