An old farmer lived with his grandson. Each morning, the   (1)   got up early and read his Bhagavad Gita(薄伽梵歌).

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the book like you,   (2)   I can’t understand it and I forget it easily. What’s the   (3)   of reading it?”

The grandfather said, “ Take this coal(煤炭) basket down to the   (4)   and bring me back a basket of water.”

The boy did as his grandfather   (5)   , but all the water ran   (6)   he got home. The grandfather laughed, “You’ll have to move faster next time.”

This time the boy   (7)   faster, but again the basket was empty. He told his grandfather that it was   (8)   to carry water in a basket. He wanted to use a bottle instead (代替), but the old man said, “ I just want a basket of water. “ You’re not   (9)   hard enough.”

The boy wanted to show his grandfather that the water would surely run. He again put the   (10)   into the river and ran hard. But there wasn’t anything in it again. He said   (11)   , “ Look, grandpa, it’s useless!”

“ Watch the basket,” said the grandfather.

For the first time the boy realized (意识到) the basket was different. It had changed (变化) from a dirty old coal basket into a   (12)   one, inside and out.

“ Boy, you might not understand or remember   (13)   when you read the book, but when you read it, you will be   (14)   , inside and out. That’s   (15)   you get from it.”

As teenagers, you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize, or they can be  (1)    . You may just want to become   (2)   of the ten best students in your class.

Once you find a     (3)   , what do you do with it? Do you ever    (4)     to make your dream real?

"Follow Your Heart" by Australian writer Andrews   (5)   us that making our dreams real is life’s    (6)    challenge（挑战）.

   You may think you’re not very good   (7)     some school subjects, or that it is impossible for you to become a writer. These kinds of thoughts stop   (8)   from getting to your dream, the book says.

In fact, everyone can   (9)     his dream come true. The first thing you must do is to    (10)  what your dream is.

Don’t let it leave your heart. Keep telling yourself what you want. Do this step by step and your dream will come truefaster.

There will    (11)     difficulties on the road to your dreams. But the biggest difficulty comes from   (12)    . You need to decide what is the most   (13)     . Studying instead of（代替）watching TV will lead to（导致）  (14)  exam results. When you get closer  (15)      your dream, it may change a little. This is good as you have the chance to learn more skills and find new interests.

I am one of the people who love roses very much. And all over my garden I've planted ____  (1)  ____ but roses. They are so sweet and—if looked at them from a faraway ___(2)____—as bright and beautiful as the sunset clouds.

   I will be very happy if anyone of my visiting friends ____  (2)  ____ that he or she picks and takes some for their homes. I am so glad to see them ____  (3)  ____ the roses and disappearing into the distance—I always feel satisfied and ____  (4)  ____.

   A close friend came for a visit the other day. I know she is a lover of flowers and plants. And for that reason I told her that she should pick a bunch of roses and ____  (5)  ____ them in her bedroom. I promised that the smell of the roses would ____  (6)  ___ not only in the room, but also in her heart.

   That girlfriend of mine, tiptoeing(蹑手蹑脚地走) into the garden in high spirits, ____  (7)  ____ here and there. But in the end she didn't pick a single rose. I said there were so many of them that she would pick as many as she'd like to; I also told her that I was not a flower farmer and didn't make a ____  (8)  ____ out of them. Saying so I raised the ____  (9)  ____ for the sacrifice(牺牲) of the flowers, but she stopped me, crying no, no, no!

   To cut such beautiful roses would hurt one, she said. With her hands seizing at my sleeves, she told me that ____  (10)  ____ should they be cut. Roses are just the smiling face of the earth, and who could be so iron-hearted as to destroy a smile so ____  (11)  ____?

   My mind was ____  (12)  ____ shocked by her words.

   The earth is always so ____  (13)  ____, but it was also helpful and important, not only to the human beings, but also to the plants. To protect the plants is to show our ____  (14)  ____ to the earth, I think.

I sat down to read under an old tree in the park. I felt my life was   (1)  , for  (2)   was dark.

A young boy ran up to me, out of breath.He stood right before me with his head down and said  (3)  , “Look at what I found!” In his hand was a flower, and what a poor sight! The flower was dry and   (4)  . I gave him a small smile and then turned my eyes away so that he could take his dry flower and go off to play.

  (5)  , he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his   (6)   and said in surprise, “It smells sweet and it’s beautiful, too. That’s   (7)   I picked it. Here, it’s for you.” The flower before me was dead. But I knew I must   (8)   it, or he might never leave. So I accepted the flower, and replied, “This is just what I   (9)  .” Just then, for the first time I noticed that the boy could not   (10)  －he was blind.

Tears(眼泪) came down my face as I   (11)   him for picking the best one. “You’re welcome.” he smiled, and then ran off to  (12)  . I sat there and wondered how he was able to learn about my pain(痛苦).

Through the eyes of a blind child,   (13)   I could see the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. And for all those years I myself had been   (14)  . I decided to see the beauty in life, and   (15)   every second of my life. And then I held that dry flower up to my nose and breathed in the smell of a beautiful rose.

Do you sometimes try something new and expect to be successful for the first time? Are you angry with yourself if you aren’t?

Do you know a baby how to learn to walk? When a baby falls, the loving parent   (1)  her, “That’s OK. Try again.” Can you imagine if after many falls, the parent  (2)   the baby and said, “well, I guess you’ll   (3)  be good at walking,” and didn’t let the child continue to try?

Remember the first time you   (4)   your bike? I do. I didn’t lose my confidence. I went back and tried again. Didn’t you?

When I was a kid, my dad told me, “You know, I invented 4UP（一种汽水饮料）, but it wasn’t very good, I went back to the lab and   (5)  5UP and still, it wasn’t right. Finally I tried 6UP, but it didn’t sell. So I stopped. If I went on trying, maybe 7UP would  (6)  !” he told me. Time after time, he said he   (7)   too soon. He told me, “If I  (8)   one more, I could have been a rich man.”

Thomas Edison failed over a thousand   (9)   before he found the filament (灯丝) material that would make an electric light bulb shine.

  (10)  we try something new, we need practice. No matter how well we plan, there are unexpected problems happen.

Success really is not an option(选择). It is a chance only for those who try.

 Many years ago, there was a place known as the House of 1,000 Mirrors(镜子) in a small village.

   A small, happy little dog learned about this ____  (1)  ____ and decided to visit. When he arrived, he jumped happily up the stairs and to the gate of the house. He looked through the gate with his ____  (2)  ___ lifting up. To his great surprise, he found himself looking at 1,000 other happy little dogs with their ears lifting up. He smiled and was ____  (3)  ____ with 1,000 great smiles that were just as warm and ____  (4)  ____. As he left the house, he thought to himself: "This is a ____  (5)  ____ place. I will come back to visit often."

   In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the other one, decided to ____  (6)  ____ the house. He slowly climbed the stairs as he looked into the gate. When he saw the 1,000 unfriendly-looking dogs ____  (7)  ____, he growled(咆哮) at them. He was ____  (8)  ____ when he saw 1,000 little dogs growling back. As he left, he ____  (9)  ____ to himself: "That is a terrible place. I will ____  (10)  ____ go back there again."

   All the faces in the world are mirrors of you.

Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very  (1)  trying to make money in order to   (2)  the high tuition（学费）for my brother and me. I never hear them say “I love you”, or see them send birthday   (3)  to each other. My father has a bad temper（脾气）. When he’s very tired from work, it is   (4)   for him to lose his temper.

One day, my mother was preparing dinner. I sat down  (5)  her.

“Mom, I have a question to ask you,” I said after a while.

“What?” she replied,  (6)   doing her work.

Is there love between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low   (7)  . My mother stopped her work and   (8)   her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn’t answer and went on cooking.

I was very worried  (9)   I thought I had hurt her. I didn’t know what I should do.

A few days later, my father suddenly got sick  (10)  . My mother had to stay with him in the  (11)   for a month. After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk（黄昏）, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so  (12)  . It seemed they were the most harmonious（和谐的）  (13)  .

“Dad, how are you   (14)   now?” I asked him one day.

Susan, don’t worry about me. To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom. I   (15)  this kind of life.” Reading his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply. 

Smiling is the best way of making friends.

“Who would you like to change your life with if possible?”Last week, we asked many middle school students this question. The following are some of their   (1)  .

Zhang Yike,12

I want to change my life with my friend, Wang Xiaohui. She is studying in England now. She has   (2)  to many countries, such as the US and France. They are the places I wish to visit. What’s more, she   (3)  much better English than me. If I change my life with her, I can visit many beautiful countries, eat delicious   (4)  and meet different kinds of people there.

Qiu Haoran, 14

I’d like to change my life with my Chinese teacher Miss Zhao. Miss Zhao is a very kind lady. She   (5)  a lot, so she always has so many   (6)  stories to tell us. We all like her classes. I also want to be such an excellent teacher and be   (7)  with my students.

I will change my life with my elder brother. My brother is a college student now. He doesn’t have to go to class all the time. He can study   (8)  he is interested in. And he even has a part-time job to make money. To   (9)  , all of these sound very interesting. I really wan t a life   (10)  this.