There was an old mule(骡子). One day accidentally he fell into the farmer's well. The farmer thought for a while and said to himself that neither the well nor the old mule was important to him. So he decided to use soil to bury the old mule in the well.

    Then the farmer called his neighbours and they started to put the soil into the well together. The old mule was quite afraid in the beginning. But soon one hopeful idea came to his mind - every time when a shovel(铁铲) of soil landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

He said these words to himself again and again, "Shake it off and step up." This way he could fight against the panic (恐慌) and encourage himself. After some time, the mule had stepped over the well's wall. Although terribly tired, he was the winner and he saved his own life. He decided to face his difficulty bravely and not to give up, and finally he won.

    A businessman was once deep in debt（债务） and could see no way out. He sat on a park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company.

    Suddenly an old man appeared in front of him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said. After listening to the businessman's trouble, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."

    He asked the man his name, wrote out a check（支票） and pushed it into his hand, saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared.

    The businessman saw his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller. One of the richest men in the world.

    "It can solve my problem at once!" the businessman realized. But instead, he decided to put the check in his safe. Just knowing it was there that might give him the strength（力量） to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    After that, he did better in his business. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

    Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the check. At the agreed-upon（约定的） time, the old man appeared. But just as the businessman was about to hand back the check and share his successful story, a nurse came running up and caught the old man.

    "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been troubling you. He's always escaping from the hospital and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller."

    And then she led the old man away by the arm. The businessman just stood there, suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence（自信心） that gave him the strength to achieve anything he went after.

In a temple, a little monk（和尚） was complaining（抱怨） to an old monk, "Master, no matter what I do, why do I always meet with more difficulties than others and pay more? Please tell me, am I born with this kind of 1 life?"

The old monk led the little monk to the 2 field outside the temple. They saw that a little road 3 the field into two. In both of the pieces, some carrots were grown. The old monk told him that the carrots were planted at different times. The carrots in one piece were planted 4 than those in the other piece.

The old monk asked the little monk to pull up a carrot from the first field. The little monk did it 5 . However, the carrot was very small.

Then the old monk asked the little monk to pull up another carrot from the other field. The little monk did it with some 6 this time. At last, he pulled the carrot up with hard work. They could see clearly that the carrot had grown very long and 7 .

The old monk 8 the two carrots on the ground, and said to the little monk, "So you can see now. When you use the energy for pulling up the carrots differently, what you get is 9 . This is like the difficulties you meet with in life. You pay more, but what you 10 will also be greater and more. So don't just complain about your difficulties, but also see what you can get from getting over them."

How did you spend your summer holiday last month? I'd like to tell you 1 happened to me during my holiday. 

My 2 planned a relaxing and happy trip. We didn't need to keep up with our work and studies. On the first day, 3 we started out for Shanghai, we saw on TV that the traffic was heavy. So my parents 4 not to drive our car but to take the bullet train(高速火车) to Shanghai. It was the first time that I had ridden on the bullet train, so I was really 5 .

On the way, an American girl sat next to me and I talked to her. She told me that she came here for a short stay—her father came to China on business. In one year he would 6 to his company in the US. "How are you getting along here?" I asked. "Pretty good. I 7 the life here. China is a beautiful and great country. Besides, Chinese people are pretty 8 , "she said. Hearing that, I felt proud that I'm Chinese! With new friends around, the girl still missed her friends in the US very much. "It doesn't matter. I could always connect with them by writing letters and emails or making phone calls, " she said with a sweet9 . It was so great for her to be able to go through life in10 countries and cultures. I hope I can experience different cultures in other countries some day. 

 What do you often do on weekends? Watch TV? Go out with your friends? For Wang Licheng, he helps his father {#blank#}1{#/blank#} ( sell) pancakes at his father's pancake store.

 Wang Licheng is {#blank#}2{#/blank#} eleven- year- old boy from Zaozhuang, Shandong. Many people know him {#blank#}3{#/blank#} there is a short video about him on the Internet. In the video, Wang is wearing a blue T- shirt. He is busy cutting pancakes and putting{#blank#}4{#/blank#}( they) into bags at the store. It looks like he is good at {#blank#}5{#/blank#} ( make) it.

 Every weekend Wang gets to the store with his father {#blank#}6{#/blank#} bike and works for over ten hours a day, from early morning to late night. After that, he does the{#blank#}7{#/blank#}( dish). Sometimes he gets tired. But when he sees his father in the kitchen, he thinks what he does is not a big thing.

" My father {#blank#}8{#/blank#} ( usual) works in the kitchen all day long. He works very hard. I know he is more tired than me. Now I {#blank#}9{#/blank#} ( do) what I can do to help him," Wang says.

 The {#blank#}10{#/blank#} ( boy) story touches many people. They all say he is a good boy.