One day, a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They waited anxiously at their desks for the test to begin. The professor  (1)  the question papers, with the text facing down as usual.  (2)  he handed them all out, he asked his students to  (3)  the page and begin. To everyone's surprise, there were no  (4)  , just a black dot in the center of the page. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone's face, told them the following:

“I want you to write what you  (5)  there. “

The students,   (6)  , got started on the inexplicable (费解的) task.

At the end of the class, the professor  (7)  all the answer papers and started reading each one of them aloud in front of all the students. All of them, with no  (8)  , described the black dot, trying to explain its position in the middle of the sheet, etc. etc. etc. After all had been  (9)  , the classroom silent, the professor began to explain:

“I'm not going to grade (打分)this. I  (10)  wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the  (11)  part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot, and the same happens in our  (12)  . We have a white paper to observe and  (13)  , but we always focus on the dark spots. Our life is a  (14)  given to us with love and care, and we always have  (15)  to celebrate: nature renewing itself every day, our friends around us, the job that  (16)  our livelihood and the miracles we see every day.

  (17)  , we insist on focusing only on the dark spots: the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the  (18)  relationship with colleagues, the  (19)  with a friend, and etc.

The dark spots are very  (20)  compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds. ”

When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular  (1)  she had made breakfast after a long,  (2)  day at work.

On that  (3)  so long ago, my mom  (4)  a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely  (5)  biscuits in front of my dad. I remember  (6)  to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was  (7)  for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. . . I don’t  (8)  what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him  (9)  biscuits happily!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom  (10)  to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never  (11)  what he said: “Honey, I love burned biscuits. ”

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy  (12)  night and I asked him if he  (13)  liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s really  (14)  . And besides, a burned biscuit never  (15)  anyone! ”

Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I’m not the  (16)  at hardly anything, but what I’ve  (17)  over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults, which is one of the most important keys to  (18)  a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, as  (19)  is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!

God Bless You. . . Now, and always. . .

So please  (20)  me a biscuit, and yes, a burned one will be fine!

 Although it was only autumn, everything outside was covered in white. Unexpectedly, we were hit with a big   (1)  . storm and no one was prepared.

   We have two apple trees in our backyard. Prana, our dog, loves.  (2)  . When she goes outside, she usually grabs a dirty apple from the ground to eat later on. Prana knows that when she brings her treasure into the house, I am not always   (3)   , so she tries to hide it from me. It is our little game.

   On the day that it snowed too   (4)  in the season, Prana went outside and I  (5)   her from the window. I noticed that she was(  (6)   lots of holes and bringing out the apples buried beneath the snow. She seemed to be   (7)  to dig up as many apples as she could.

   But when she came back inside, she brought back only one. About five minutes later, I looked outside. The yard was completely   (8)  with birds. Prana had dug up all those apples for her bird friends to eat. She knew that they hadn't prepared   (9)  food for the early winter.

   This beautiful act of unconditional love from a (an)  (10)  taught me what real kindness was.

"Do you like my dress?" she asked a stranger. "My mum made it just for me," she said with tears in her eyes.

"Well, I think it's very pretty, so tell me, little girl, why are you crying?" The little girl answered in a low voice, "After mum made me this dress, she went away. My dad says that she's up in heaven now with Grandfather."

Finally the woman realized why she was crying. She felt very sorry for the little girl and gently held the child in her arms.

Then suddenly the little girl did something a bit strange. She stopped crying, walked back from the woman and began to sing. She sang softly. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard, almost like the song of a very small bird.

After the child stopped singing, she said to the lady, "My mum often sang that song to me before she went away, and she asked me to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop."

"See," she said loudly, "it did, and now my eyes are dry!"

Just before the lady wanted to go, the girl showed her a spot (印迹) on her dress, and said, "Right here is where my mum kissed my dress, and here," pointing to another spot, "and here is another kiss, and here, and here. Mum said that she put all those kisses on my dress so that I would forget my sadness."

Then the lady realized that she wasn't just looking at a dress, no, she was looking at a mother. The mother knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away her daughter's hurts any longer.

So the mother gave all her love to her beautiful daughter and put it into this dress. Now her child was wearing it so proudly.

The lady no longer saw a little girl wearing a simple dress. She saw a child wrapped (包) in her mother's love.

The following true story moved me deeply. I canˈt forget it even many years have passed.

Thirty years ago, I got to know a   (1)    lady named Rose. She had no kids and lived alone.

I was working in a cafe at that time.  (2)   I went to visit her, I always took Rose some coffee and food. One day she said she was inviting me to have  (3)   .

We walked from my work place to a little cafe on David Street.  (4)   the way, I began to worry: I know she had no money, but if I offered to   (5)  the lunch, Iˈm afraid I would hurt her.

There were many people in the  (6)   , and all of them were happy, even the workers. Rose told me to sit and drink coffee by the window. Then she went to  (7)  inthe kitchen. After about 20 minutes, she came out and sat with me. She just paid for one meal and we started to  (8)   the delicious food together. She told   (9)   that the cafe let people work for a meal if they had no money, or would give them a free meal if they were not able to work. To my surprise, she also explained that the workers   (10)   were working there were all volunteers.

I   (11)   remember the beautiful afternoon I shared with Rose.   (12)   we had a meal together only once, it was paid by Roseˈs work. The weather was   (13)  and bright, and everyoneˈs smile was warm and bright as well.

Sometimes life could be not easy to us, but we could still do   (14)   for our friends and neighbors. The world would be   (15)   if everybody would like to share happiness with others. It would never be dark if there was a light in everyoneˈs heart.

A Very Special Special Olympian

The professor was searching for student volunteers in the lecture room for a Special Olympics event. As the sign-up sheet went up and down the rows, I started to come up with my  (1)  . Maybe it was the distance to the college where the event was to take place, or the early hour that   (2)   had to report for duty. Whatever the reasons that made me hesitate, I am thankful to this day that I   (3)   up volunteering. If I had missed the event, I would have missed one of the most unforgettable moments that I have ever   (4)  .

   I arrived at the volunteer tent bright and early. My task was   (5)  . I was to stand at the finish line only and wait until the event was over and then take the   (6)   to the announcing booth(公告处). Standing at the finish line, I was able to witness many amazing efforts and close races. I was most impressed by the effort each athlete put into his or her   (7)  . What also impressed me was the sincere   (8)   each athlete expressed while participating though sometimes the joy of participating in a sporting event can get   (9)  inthe fierce competition of winning and losing.

Then an amazing moment happened right before my eyes. A group of athletes were   (10)   up to run a short race. One of them was in a wheelchair, a little girl with a   (11)   smile, wearing bright bows in her hair. Her smile filled the stadium that day. I couldn’t help but smile back at her.

   The gun sounded. They were off. Runners sped upinthe   (12)   with all their might. My eye  (13)   for the little girl with the bright bows. There she was, pumping her arms with all the   (14)   she had. Her efforts were getting little result, but that did not stop her. I noticed as she got closer that she also had an injured arm. But that did not stop this bright star. The race was long over   (15)   the young athlete kept pumping her arms. As she finally   (16)   the finish line, the noise of the crowd was thunderous. There I stood  (17)  , with tears falling down my cheeks.

After all these years, I can still hear those cheers. I wish I could thank that remarkable athlete for what her efforts   (18)   this unmotivated college guy. I grew up a lot that day because of the   (19)   of that little girl in the wheelchair. I was   (20)   that day of a poem from a book that states, “Whatever you do, do it with all your might.”

A lady wanted a birthday gift from her husband. For many months she had liked a beautiful   (1)  , and knowing her husband could   (2)  it, she told him that was all she wanted. On the morning of the   (3)  , her husband told her how  (4)  he was to have such a good wife, and how much he loved her. He  (5)  her a beautiful gift package (纸盒). She opened it and   (6)  a Bible.  (7)  , she raised her voice and said to her husband, “With all your money, you give me a Bible?” She was so  (8)  that she left him.

Many years passed and the lady was very  (9)  in business. She owned two large companies. She  (10)  her husband was very old, and thought perhaps she should go to  (11)  him. But before she could, she   (12)  a letter telling her that he had died, and gave all of his possessions (财产) to her. She needed to come back and   (13)  things.

When she arrived at his house, sadness  (14)  her heart. She saw the still new   (15)  , just as she had left it years before. With   (16)  , she opened it and began to turn the pages. A ring  (17)  from the Bible to the floor and a   (18)  could be seen. She picked it up and found it was the ring she wanted in those days. And on the card was the date of her birth, and the words “LUV U ALWAYS”.

       (19)  your gift is not packaged the way you want it, it’s because it is better packaged the way it is! Always appreciate little things they usually lead you to bigger things! The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched for they must be felt with the   (20)  .

When my sister Martie told me she had put out tomato plants last summer, I was quite impressed.

   She was a garden-beginner. Once they were planted, she tended to water them daily, anxiously awaiting the juicy tomatoes to appear. But, day after day, her plants were tomato-less while all of her neighbors who had also put out tomato plants were already enjoying the fruit of their labor.

   Frustrated, Martie gave in and went to the market to search fresh tomatoes. While paying, Martie told the farmer her troubles. The farmer paused to think for a moment and then asked, "Well, what kind of tomatoes did you plant?"

   "I think they were called Big Boy," Martie remembered.

   "Well there's your problem," the farmer explained. "Big Boy and Better Boy tomatoes have a 95-day gestation (孕育) period whereas regular tomato plants produce fruit in as little as 70 days...you just have to wait a little longer for the Big Boys."

   With that new knowledge, Martie went home with excitement, knowing they would be worth the wait.

   Thinking about my sister's gardening experience, I had to smile. She just didn't know that Big Boy tomatoes took longer--neither did I--but once she discovered that information, she was no longer discouraged and upset about the lack of tomatoes on her plants. Instead, she was encouraged and excited to

see them a few weeks later.

   It makes me wonder how many of us have "Big Boy' dreams in our hearts, yet we just don't realize that they are of the "Big Boy" variety so we are discouraged and worn out with the waiting process. Instead of waiting with excitement, we give up on our dreams and figure we must have done something wrong to stop them from coming to pass. Frustrated, we see other people's dreams coming true, and we wonder why ours haven't yet been achieved.

D

Envy seems to be bad－but it doesnˈt have to be. Researchers are finding that, if approached the right way, there can actually be an advantage.

Psychologists classify envy in two ways: negative and positive. With positive envy, you are motivated by another personˈs success and struggle to follow it. With negative envy, you want to cut the advantaged person down so you look better by comparison. Letˈs say you feel sufferings of envy after your rival(对手) at another firm gets promoted. Negative envy might drive you to destroy his success, but positive envy would inspire you to work harder and get promoted, too.

Studies show positive envy can be a great motivator(动力). In a 2011 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers in the Netherlands conducted a series of experiments with more than 200 university students. Researchers found that when they caused feelings of positive envy----as opposed to admiration or negative envy----in the students, it drove them to want to study more and perform better on a test measuring creativity and intelligence. While admiration may feel better, the researchers found, it doesnˈt motivate performance like the pain and frustration of envy.

“Those painful sufferings of envy are there for an evolutionary(进化的) reason,” says Texas Christian University researcher Sarah E. Hill, “warning us that someone has something of importance to us.” Building on this theory, Dr. Hill and others conducted a series of experiments, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, to test whether envy improves attention and memory----the tools needed to copy a rivalˈs steps to success. In one experiment, half of the participants were asked to recall past feelings of envy; the other half werenˈt. The two groups were then shown mock(模拟的) interviews of imaginary peers. The group filled with envy paid closer attention and better recalled details about the interview subjects. In other words, envy made them more astute（机敏的）. Not only can envy motivate us to reach for higher goals, it may even give us the cognitive push to get there.