As Mrs. Thompson stood in front of her 5^th grade class on the first day of school, she told the children a ___  (1)  ____. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front, sitting sadly in his seat was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. She found that the boy didn’t play__  (2)  ___ with the other children and his clothes were always dirty.

At the school, Mrs. Thompson had to review each child’s past records but she left Teddy’s for last. However, when she reviewed his file(档案), she was very ____  (3)  ____.

Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright and happy child. He does his work neatly and has good ___  (4)  ___. He is a joy to be around.”

   His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, liked by his classmates, ___  (5)  ___ he is troubled because his mother has a bad illness and life at home is a hard.”

   His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to___  (6)  ___but his father doesn’t show much interest in him. His home life will soon affect him if nothing is done to help him.”

Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy doesn’t talk to anyone and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself.

Mark lived in a village far away. One day he became very ill and everyone thought he would die soon. They sent for a doctor. Two days   (1)  the doctor came and looked over the sick man. The doctor asked for a pen and some paper to write down the name of the medicine. But there was no pen   (2)  paper in the village, because no one could write.

   The doctor   (3)  up a piece of burnt wood from the fire and wrote the name of the medicine on the   (4)  of the house. “Get the medicine for him,” he said, “and he will soon get well.” Mark’s family and friends did not know  (5)  to do. They could not read the strange words. Then a young man   (6)  an idea. He took off the door of the house, put it on his carriage(马车) and drove to the nearest hospital. He bought the medicine there, and Mark was soon well again.

Two reporters(记者), Rick and Peter, visited Brad’s new school. “We need some of you to be in the   (1)  .” they told the kids in Room 5. The kids started    (2)  “I’m beautiful, I should be in the photos!”and doing their hair. But Brad kept quiet. He   (3)    hecouldn’t be in the photos.

Brad was  (4)    . Kids always made jokes about how short he was. On the outside Brad always tried to smile at them, but inside he felt sad. “Time to take photos,” Peter said. “   (5)     do you want, Rick?” “I want three girls.” He picked(挑选) Angela,Bella,and Cathy.“And three boys.” He picked Henry, Fred and Brad. Brad could      (6)   believe it. Rick asked the  (7)     kids to stand in front of the library’s big picture. “I want all of you to kneel(跪在) in front of   (8)     , so it looks bigger.” Some kids    (9)    . Brad still gave a smile as he usually did. But Rick said, “I pick him    (10)     he has a big smile.”

He looked at Brad and said to him,”I know you’re big inside”.

Turtle was walking around through fallen leaves when he saw many birds gather together. “What is happening?” said Turtle.

   “We will fly to the south for the winter. Summer lives there all of the time and there’s plenty of food.”

   “Can I go with you?” Turtle asked.

   “You are a turtle and you can’t fly !” said the birds.

   But Turtle would not give up. He begged and begged. Finally, the birds agreed. “Put this stick in your mouth and hold on tight. These two birds here will each grab one end of it and carry you along.”

   Turtle was so high off the ground and wanted to ask about all the lakes and hills below. He tried to move his legs and make some noise, so the birds would pay attention to him. Turtle finally started to shout, “Why don’t you listen...”

   Oops! Turtle opened his mouth and fell down on the ground. He walked into a pond, and swam to the bottom. Then, he fell asleep and slept all through the winter.

   From that day on, only birds fly south for the winter, and turtles sleep through the winter.

Barry Parker was a very successful businessman. He lived in a large house and drove a car. He wore expensive clothes and ate his meals in famous restaurants. His name was often in the newspaper. One day a newspaper reporter asked him, “What is the secret of your success(成功)?”

Barry thought for a few moments and said, “I eat a special kind of fish.” “You eat a special kind of fish! What does that do?” “It makes my brain work better.” Barry said. “What kind of fish is it?” the reporter asked. “Give me fifty dollars and come back tomorrow. I’ll have some for you.”

  The reporter gave Barry fifty dollars and returned the next day. “Have you got any special fish?” “Yes. Come into the house. It’s in the refrigerator.”

  Barry took the reporter into his kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and took out a very small fish. “Here you are. Have this for dinner.”

  The next day the reporter called on Barry again. “Did you eat the fish?” Barry asked her. “Yes, I fried it.” “Good, do you feel different today?” “No, I don’t. And I think that fifty dollars was a lot to pay for such a small fish.” “Well done!” Barry said. “You see, the fish is working. You’re using your brain now.”

An old carpenter（木匠）was ready to retire（退休）. He told his boss of his plans to leave the house-building business. He would miss the pay each week, but he really needed to. And he wanted to live a more casual（轻松的）life with his wife.

The boss was to see his good worker go and asked if he could help him build just one more house. The carpenter   , but this time he did not do his job as   as he did before and used bad materials(材料).

When the carpenter finished his work, his boss came to  the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, “This is your house... my   to you.”    

The carpenter was shocked!

What a shame! If he had known he was building his house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is the same with us. We build our lives just that carpenter, often putting up less than our best into the building. Then with a shock, we realize we have to live in the “house” we have built. We would do it differently we had realized it.

But you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and every day you hammer a nail（钉钉子）, place a board, or build a wall. Someone once said,“Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your life today is the result of your attitudes(态度) and choices（选择）in the past. Your lifewill be the result of your attitudes and the choices of today.

Once a king got two nice falcons(猎鹰)from his son. He had never seen such beautiful falcons before. He loved them so much and he ordered the best falconer to train then to fly.

After several months, the king came to see how the training was going on. He found that one falcon had already been able to fly high in the sky, while the other was staying on the branch(树枝) of a tree quietly, just keeping still.

The king called all his falcons together and ordered them to try every way they could to make the other falcon fly. But none of them succeeded. One day, while the king was taking a walk in the forest, an idea came to his mind. Maybe someone who knew the natural environment well could solve this problem. He spent for a farmer who lived in the forest into his palace to train it at once.

The next morning, the king saw the other falcon flying above in the sky freely. “ it is unbelievable !” shouted the king. How could you make it happen?”

The farmer replied,“It’s very easy. I just cut off the branch where the falcon rested.”

It is always the same to human beings. We all have “two flying wings” in our hearts as well, but we often seem not to notice them and stay where we just for safety and comfort. We won’t realize we can fly so high and freely until the “branch” we are resting on breaks.