Forever friendship

Twenty-one years ago，my husband gave me Sam，an eight-week-old dog，to help me ease(减轻；缓解) the loss of our daughter. Later my husband and I moved from New York to New Jersey where our neighbor，whose cat had   (1)  had kittens，asked us if we would like one.We were afraid that Sam would not be  (2)  ，but we made up our  (3)  to take a kitten.

We picked a little，gray，playful cat. She  (4)  around running after imaginary mice and squirrels and jumped from table to chair very   (5)  ，so we named her Lightning(闪电)．

At   (6)  ，Sam and Lightning were not close to each other. But slowly，as the days went on，Lightning started   (7)  Sam.They slept together，ate together and played together.When I took   (8)   one out of the house，the other was always   (9)  by the door when we returned.That was the   (10)   they lived for years.

Then，without any   (11)  ，Sam suddenly died of a heartache. This time，there was no Sam for Lightning to greet and no way to   (12)  why she would never see her friend again.

In the   (13)  that followed，Lightning seemed heartbroken. She could not   (14)  me in words that she was   (15)  ，but I could see the pain and  (16)  inher eyes whenever anyone opened the front door. The weeks  (17)  by，and the cat’s sorrow seemed to be lifting(消失). One day as I walked into our living room，I   (18)  to have a look at the floor next to our sofa   (19)  we had a sculptured replica(雕塑复制品)of Sam that we had bought a few years before. Lying next to the statue(雕塑)，one arm wrapped around the statue’s neck，was Lightning，sleeping with her best   (20)     

Each spring brings a new blossom(开花期) of wildflowers in the ditches(沟) along the highway I travel daily to work.

There is one  (1)  blue flower that has always caught my eye. I’ve   (2)   that it blooms only in the  (3)  hours. The afternoon sun is too  (4)   for it. Every day for about two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.

This spring, I   (5)   awildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of   (6)  window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I’ve often   (7)   that those lovely blue flowers from the ditch(沟壑) would  (8)   great in that bed alongside other wildflowers. Every day I drove past the flowers  (9)  , “I’ll stop on my way home and dig them. ” Gee, I don’t want to get my good  (10)  dirty. Whatever the reason, I  (11)   stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a folding shovel（铲子）one year to be used for that expressed  (12)   .

One day on my way home from work, I was  (13)   to see that the highway department had mowed the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were  (14)  . I thought to myself, “Way to go, you   (15)   too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring. ”

A week ago we were shocked and saddened to  (16)   that my oldest sister-in-law has a terminal brain tumor（晚期脑肿瘤）.  (17)   we haven’t been as close as we all would have liked. I couldn’t help but see the   (18)  between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband’s sister and us.

And yes,   (19)  I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I’ll stop and   (20)   them to my wildflower garden.

  Sharpen your axe（斧头）

A young man came to a logging camp and asked for a    (1)  . “That depends. ”replied the foreman（工头）. “Let’s see you   (2)   this tree.”

The young man   (3)  and skillfully cut down a great tree.   (4)   , the foreman announced, “You can start Monday.”

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and on Thursday afternoon the foreman   (5)   the young man and said, “You can pick up your   (6)   on the way out today.”  (7)  , the young man replied, “I thought you paid on Friday.”

“Normally we do,” said the foreman. “But we’re letting you go today because you’ve   (8)  . Our daily felling   (9)  show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to last place today.”

“But I’m a hard worker,” the young man   (10)   . “I am the first to arrive and the last to leave, and even have worked   (11)   my coffee breaks!”

The foreman,   (12)  the young man’s honesty,   (13)  for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening your axe?”

The young man replied, “No, sir, I’ve been working too hard to do that !”

Our    (14)  are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don’t    (15)  time to sharpen the axe. In today’s world, it seems that everyone is busier than    (16)  , but less happy in the end. Why is that?    (17)   it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

There’s    (18)  wrong with activity and hard work. But we shouldn’t get so busy that we ignore the truly    (19)   things in life. We all need time to relax, to think and plan, to learn and grow. If we don’t spend time sharpening the axe, we will become dull and lose our    (20)  .

    Eventually all suns will   36  their fuel, explode and then become cold and dark. Matter itself will disappear and the universe will become   37  for the rest of time.

     This was the general drift of my thoughts as my wife and I   38  my eldest son as a freshman at college. That moment at the dorm is   39  at the kindergarten door, at the gates of summer camp, at every occasion of parting and   40 . But it comes surprising, taking what you   41  most.

   Our ancestors thought this parting should take place   42 . In many societies adolescents were sent away to live with friends or relatives right after adolescence. This was supposed to   43  the conflicts that come from   44  teenagers and their parents very near.

     Eighteen years is not enough. The days pass uncounted, until they   45 . The adjustment is upsetting. My son is on the   46  side --- observant, thoughtful, a practitioner of companionable silence. I know this is hard on him as well. He will be homesick. Among thegreatest   47  of college students is they won’t have a room at home to return to.

      But with due respect to my son’s feelings, I have the   48  of parting. I know something he doesn’t --- incomprehensible to the young. He is experiencing the   49  that come with beginnings. His life is starting for real. I have begun the long letting go. Put another way: He has a wonderful future in which my part   50  decreases.

     I’m sure my father realized it at a(n)   51  moment. And I certainly didn’t notice or understand. At first, he was a giant who held my hand and   52   my sky. Then a middle-aged man who paid my bills. Now, decades after his passing, a much-loved   53 . But I can remember the last time I hugged him in his home, where I always had a room. I can only hope to leave my son the same.

My son, those days have been the greatest wonder and   54  of my life. And there will always be a   55  for you.

        I used to abandon(放弃）myself to despair（绝望）. Last year, my mother   41  from a stroke(中风）and had a operation on her brain. I felt my whole life turn upside down and I had no   42  what I could do to help her to relieve her   43 . Tears welled up in my eyes whenever I was alone.

  Last month I  44  a precious watch, which was an 18-year-old birthday gift from my father. I could not fall asleep for a couple of nights because I felt   45  about the loss.

  There have been many   46  like these in my life. I could never figure out how to deal with such tough things   47  I read “ If You Have a Lemon, Make a Lemonade” by American writer Dale Carnegie.

  “When the wise man is handed a lemon, he says, ‘What  48  can I get from this? How can I  49   my situation? How can I turn this lemon into a lemonade?’” He wrote.

  I suddenly   50 that life is full of ups and downs, so I need to stay 51 all the time. Now when I think of my past, I wish I could have handled things   52  . When my mother was fighting for   53 , I should have held her hands in mine, telling her things would get better instead of 54 and crying.

  Several weeks ago, I took part in a campus singing competition. I didn’t   55  a prize. If I had not   56  the article, I would definitely have felt   57  again. But instead, I smiled after the competition. I was happy that at least I had got some stage   58  .

  Life is not just a bed of roses. There are thorns as well, but these thorns help us become   59   and strong. When life   60  us a lemon, let’s try to make a lemonade.

One night, when I was eight , my mother gently asked me a question I would never forget. “Sweetie, my company wants to 41 me but needs me to work in Brazil. This is like your teacher telling that you’ve done    42  and allowing you to skip a grade(跳级), but you’ll have to   43  your friends. Would you say yes to your teacher?” She gave me a hug and asked me to think about it. I was puzzled. The question kept me 44 for the rest of the night I had said “yes” but for the first time, I realized the 45  decisions adults had to make.

  For almost four years, my mother would call us from Brazil every day. Every evening I’d   46  wait for the phone to ring and then tell her every detail of my day. A phone call, however, could never replace her   47 and it was difficult not to feel lonely at times.

  During my fourth-grade Christmas break, we flew to Rio to visit her. Looking at her large 48 apartment, I became 49 how lonely my mother must have been in Brazil herself. It was then 50 I started to appreciate the tough choices she had to make on   51  family and work. 52 difficult decisions, she used to tell me, you wouldn’t know whether you make the right choice, but you could always make the best out of the situation, with passion and a   53 attitude.

  Back home , I 54 myself that what my mother could do, I could, too. If she  55  to live in Rio all by herself, I, too, could learn to be   56 . I learn how to take care of myself and set high but achievable 57 .My mother is now back with us. But I will never forget what the    58  has really taught me. Sacrifices 59 in the end. The separation between us has proved to be a   60 for me.

I live in a big city with a lot of homeless people. Luckily there’re small ways of helping them and you needn’t have a lot of　____　. One way to help is to buy their monthly magazine. _____ doing this one day, I got to ___ a young homeless man. He was often ____ the magazine at the trainstation.Hewas a poor farmer from another country. After a while, I discovered that his____ was close to mine. It ____ that we were born in the same month.

    I met him last year ____ after his birthday, and after congratulating(祝贺) him, without ____，I asked if he had had a good day. He ___ and said that he hadn’t really celebrated. I felt so ____. I just couldn’t bear the thought of(不敢想) this nice, young man being ____ on his 25th birthday with no presents, no cake, nothing! So I went home and looked in my yarn(纱线) basket. ___ for me, I had enough yarn ___. I set to work and knitted(编织) a ___for the young man. The yarn had become a little dirty ____I didn’t knit very often. Then I washed the yarn so the scarf would be ___ when he got it.

   I met him on my own birthday as I was going shopping. I had ____ to meet him so I had ____ the scarf and a piece of my own birthday ____ around with me. He was very happy with these gifts and so was I. The ____ in his eyes was the best present he could have given me!

We took our kids for dinner at Pizza Express. There was a veryfriendly old lady   41  alone at the next table who clearly had special   42 . When the time came for her to   43  the bill, her bank card could not be used. The   44  told her, in a very   45  way, that there was a problem and that she would call her manager for   46 . Jeremy, my husband,   47  got up and told the waiting staff that we would pay for the old lady’s meal.   48 , when the manager arrived, he explained to the old lady that she couldn’t use her bank card to pay, but that there was no need to   49 .

Pizza Express allows the restaurant to   50  two meals per month. On this occasion, they would like to provide her with a free meal. The old lady said she was very   51  for being unable to pay. We were relieved (放心的) that she had been   52  in such a great way and that she was not placed in a   53  position.

Then, the manager walked to our   54 . He gently said that,   55  wehad shown such generosity (慷慨), he would like to give the secondfree meal to us. We were absolutely   56 ! I’ve never heard of any   57  behaving in such a generous way. We really felt grateful to the manager. I   58  that the old lady was able to get home OK; then we   59  the staff and left ourselves. I was really   60  by how they had treated the old lady.

It happened on a Saturday afternoon about 12 years ago. I volunteered to take my daughter to the local     41  while my wife did the housework. As soon as we got there, my daughter rushed to the   42  and asked for a push. As I was helping my daughter to go higher and higher, I noticed   43  trying to get her own swing going, but  44 . Her grandmother was sitting quietly on a nearby bench and took no notice of it at all.

   After giving my daughter a big   45 , I walked over to the little girl and asked if sheneeded a push too. She  46  and said “Yes!” I soon had her feet flying towards  47 whileshe laughed happily. For the next two hours I  48  myself pushing swings and playing games with my daughter and the little girl on the playground. By the time we  49  home, I was physically exhausted, but my spirits were still   50  higher than those swings.

One day 2 years later, as usual, I needed to   51  my daughter from school before going home. I stood tiredly in the parents’  52 area watching for my kid.  53 , I felt two tiny arms going around my stomach. I   54  and there was the very little girl on the playground smiling up at me. She gave me one more big   55  before running off to catch her school bus. As I watched her   56 , I didn’t feel so   57  any more and my   58  were once again up in the heavens.

   In this life every single bit of   59  we share finds its way back to us again. It may travel from heart to heart or it may blossom in the soul  60  it was planted.