When I was in Grade 6, I knew a girl. She 1 to point out my shortcomings and always said I was very thin, I wasn't a good student, and so on. I tried not to care what she said. 2 , I became very 3 in the end. I cried and ran to Daddy.

    Daddy asked, “Are the things she says true or not? Lisa, didn't you ever 4 what you're really like? Well, you now have that girl's 5 . Go and make a 6 of everything she said and 7 the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

    To my 8 , I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't 9 (like being very thin), 10 a good number I could and suddenly I11to change. For the first time I got a clear 12 of myself.

    I brought the list back to Daddy. He 13 to take it. “That's just for you,” he said. “You know better than anyone else the 14  about yourself. But you have to learn to 15 . Don't just close your ears in anger, feeling 16 . When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be 17 to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don't 18 your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you think is 19 .”

    In my life, this is the best 20 that Daddy has given me.

    A boy from a farmer's family stopped from school due to poverty, and went back farming to1the family. When he grew up to 19 years old, his father died. After that, all the family2 him including his mother and grandma in sickness.

    At first, he 3a pool and wanted to feed fish. But others told him it couldn't be used to feed fish, but only to grow crops. What he could do was to cover the pool and thereafter he became a  4.

    Then he heard raising chickens was a way of making money.  He borrowed some money from relatives and  5  chickens.  6  a flood attacked the town, and after that all the chickens got sick and        almost  7. His mother could hardly 8  it and died in the gloom.

    He 9the businesses of making wine, fishing or even digging embrasures (炮眼) on the cliff for others.

    When he was 35, he had no wife, no money, but only lived in a house made from earth which would 10in any storm. But he still wanted to 11 . He borrowed some money to buy a truck. But when he   drove it on the road after a short while, he had an  12  and broke his leg. He became crippled. Everyone said he was  13 .

    But later he became a boss, who owned a capital of 200 million. Now lots of people know his past and his business experiences. A journalist made a(n) 14with him.

    “Why do you  15after so many failures?”

    He was sitting in front of a broad table and just had finished a cup of water. Then he held the16cup in hand and asked, “If I loose my hand, what will happen to this cup?”

    “Broken!” answered the journalist.

    He 17his hand and the cup fell to the floor, with a bang sound, but not 18.

    “Even if ten people were there they would believe it was broken. But, it isn't a(n)  19cup. It is made of  20.”

    I often remembered the lesson Father taught me.

    We were standing at the top of a church tower. My father had 1 me to this spot in a small town not far from our home. I wondered2.

    "Look down, Elsa," Father said. I gathered all my 3 and looked down. I saw the square in the centre of the village. And I saw the crisscross (十字形) of twisting, turning streets leading to the 4.

    "See, my dear," Father said gently. "There is more than one way to the square. Life is like that. If you can't get to the place where you want to go5 one road, try another."

    Now I understood why I was there. Earlier that day I had 6 my mother to do something about the terrible school lunches. But she 7 because she could not believe the lunches were as 8 as I said.

    When I turned to Father, he would not help. Instead, he brought me to this high tower to give me a9 the value of an open, searching mind. By the time we reached home, I had a 10.

    At school the next day, I11 poured my lunch soup into a bottle and brought it home. Then I asked the cook to serve it to Mother at dinner. Everything went on smoothly. She swallowed one12 and spat it out. Quickly I told her what I had done, and Mother stated13that she would take up the matter of lunches at school the next day!

    Years later，I began to work as a fashion (时装) designer. Two years ago. I was busy getting ready to show my winter fashions. But just 13 days before the presentation the sewing girls all stopped working. I was as 14 as my models. "We'll never make it," one of them cried.

    Accept the failure? 15 use wisdom to find another road to my goal? Then a great idea flashed through my mind—why not 16 the clothes unfinished?

    And, exactly 13 days later, our showing turned out to be so 17 that it was a great success. What a showing it was! Some coats had no sleeves; others had only one. Many of our clothes were still in an early stage. Our different showing caught the18 of the public, and orders for the clothes 19 in.

    Father's wise words had20 me once again, "There is always more than one way to the square."

    I sat down at my desk and started writing a letter of thankfulness, but when it came to actually putting the letter into the mailbox... I 1 ...I couldn't do it. I suddenly felt a sense of 2and insecurity (不安).

    The letter was to an old teacher with whom I kept in 3 on Facebook. For months, I read about what she 4 on her Facebook page, which helped me to live my life differently. Her volunteer (志愿者) work wasn't huge. 5, she was doing small, local good deeds.6 , she changed my views on the world and for some reason, I felt I should let her know how her example7 influenced me.

    I could have easily sent her an email, but that seemed not enough for such an important thank-you. That's why I ended up8 the letter. But now here I was, standing before the mailbox, unable to put the envelope inside. What was stopping me? It suddenly hit me that I was 9 of being too nice. I guess I felt strange 10 it wasn't like she was my best friend or a relative. Maybe my 11 was too heartfelt. Thinking this over, I put the envelope in the mailbox 12.

    Weeks later I received a message from her. It turned out she was 13 a hard time and my note 14 a lot to her. She said she had no idea she was playing such a big 15in others' life.

    Not only did this letter make her happier, but her response to it brightened my world and 16my level of happiness as well. I was so 17 that it had such a great influence on her that I decided to write a(n) 18 letter to someone each month. Now it's easier for me to19 the goodness in others and be more20 for this beautiful life I'm living.

    Once upon a time, a group of businessmen were sailing on the Atlantic Ocean, 1 much American goods back to Paris, however, they 2 a terrible thunderstorm, both the men and ship 3 into the Atlantic Ocean 4 their goods.

    The only survivor of the shipwreck was washed up on a small, 5 island. He prayed 6 for God to rescue him, and every day he 7 the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. 8, he eventually managed to build a little hut(小木屋) out of driftwood to 9 him from bad weather, and to store his few 10. But then one day, after searching for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was shocked with 11 and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

    Early the next day, 12, he was awakened by the 13 of a ship that was 14 the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the 15 man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke 16," they replied. It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and 17.

    Remember, next time your little hut is 18 to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that calls for the grace of God. For all the 19 things we have to say to ourselves, God has a positive 20 to it.

When I was in the eighth grade, my class was assigned (指派) to be friends with the second-grade kids. I got this little girl named Shelley. The first time I saw her, she was silent and cold. She was small for her age, and she didn't play with the other kids in her class.

I tried all kinds of things to get her to talk to me. I bought her toys, crayons and candies. But try as I might, nothing worked. One time, I gave her a coloring book and said, "Shelley, now you can color at any time."

Shelley looked at the coloring book and then looked up at me, and finally looked away. By that, I didn't know how I was going to get through to the little girl, but I knew I wouldn't give up on her.

One Friday, I decided to tell her a story about my childhood. I told her that I felt lonely when I was with my classmates, and how I thought only my teachers liked me. I also told her that every day was a battle(战役) for me and that I fought back tears so people wouldn't know how much I was hurting.

She sat there just listening, trying to decide whether I was lying or not. Finally, when my story ended, there were tears in her eyes. And then she did the unthinkable, She said, "Thank you." From then on, Shelley was a different little girl. She started smiling and talking with other kids.

Looking back at this,I'm in awe(惊叹), because all I did was to help her realize that she wasn't alone. I didn't ask her to tell her story, because her story is my story,