Year after year my brothers，sister and I would lie in bed awake on Christmas morning. We were just   (1)  to hear my father’s voice saying it was all right to   (2)    .

 One of the most successful and influential women in American history, Eleanor Roosevelt once said that she had one regret: she wished she had been   (1)  . Who hasn’t felt the same way? We are all too aware of our physical imperfections. To overcome them, we   (2)    billions of dollars every year to cosmetics, diet products, fashion, and plastic surgery.

  Why do we care so much about   (3)  we look? Because it matters. Because beauty is powerful. Because even if when we learn to value people mostly for being kind and wise and funny, we are still  (4)  by beauty. No matter how much we argue  (5)  it or pretend to be immune（免疫）, beauty   (6)    its power to us. There is simply no  (7)  .

  Aristotle said, “ Beauty is a greater recommendation than any form of   (8)   .” It’s not fair, but it’s   (9)  . We simply treat beautiful people better than we do others.   (10)   a photograph of a beautiful author to an essay,   (11)     people will think that is more creative and more intelligently written than exactly the same essay   (12)   by the photo of a homely author.

  Our   (13)   to physical beauty is not something we can   (14)   at will. We are born with it. Experiments conducted by psychologist Judith J. Langlois   (15)    that even small babies prefer to look at attractive faces and are  (16)  to the same faces which adults have   (17)  to be attractive.

  There are more important things in life than beauty. But as Etcoff   (18)   it, “We have to understand beauty, or we will always be a (n)   (19)   to it.” If you aim to be wise and kind and funny, it doesn’t follow that you can’t also try your best to look beautiful. There is no reason to feel  (20)    about being moved by beauty’s power. It moves us all.

  We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic defects(缺陷) that can never be changed. “I’m impatient.” “I’m always behind.” “I always put things   (1)   !” You’ve surely heard them. Maybe you’ve used them to describe   (2)  .

   These comments may come from stories about us that have been   (3)  for years—often from   (4)   childhood. These stories may have no   (5)  in fact. But they can set low expectations for us. As a child, my mother said to me, “Marshall, you have no mechanical（操作机械的）skills, and you will never have any mechanical skills for the rest of your life. ” How did these expectations   (6)  my development? I was never    (7)  to work on cars or be around   (8)  . When I was 18, I took the US Army’s Mechanical Aptitude Test. My scores were in the bottom for the entire nation!

   Six years later,   (9)  , I was at California University, working on my doctor’s degree. One of my professors, Dr. Bob Tannbaum, asked me to write down things I did well and things I couldn’t do. For my strong points, I  (10)  down, “research, writing, analysis, and speaking. ” For thE   (11)  , I wrote, “I have no mechanical skills. ”

    Bob asked me how I knew I had no mechanical skills. I explained my lifE   (12)  and told him about mY   (13)   performance on the Army test. Bob then asked, "   (14)  is it that you can solve   (15)  mathematical problems, but you can’t solve easy mechanical problems?”

   Suddenly I realized that I didn’t   (16)   from some sort of genetic defect. I was just living out expectations that I had chosen to   (17)  . At that point, it wasn’t just my family and friends who had been   (18)  my belief that I was mechanically hopeless. And it wasn’t just the Army test, either. I was the one who kept telling myself, “You can’t do this!” I realized that as long as I kept saying that, it was going to remain true.    (19)  , if we don’t treat ourselves as if we have genetic defects that we can never get over, we can do well in almost   (20)  we choose.

 I'd been travelling for long hours on a lonely country road when I had a flattyre．So I had to stop and get the tools to  （1）         the problem．It certainly wasn't   （2）           doing this with a white shirt and suit on．

Nightfall was approaching．Suddenly a car pulled   （3）           from behind me．A man got out and offered to  （4）           me．Seeing his unpleasant appearance and tattoos（纹身） on his arm, I became  （5）          as thoughts of robberies flashed through my mind．But   （6）            I could say anything he had already begun to take the tools to change the   （7）          ．While watching him I happened to look back at his car and noticed someone sitting in the passenger seat．This had   （8）           me．

Then, without  （9）          , it began to rain．He suggested that I wait in his car because my car was unsafe．As the rain increased, getting us wet within seconds I    (10)                agreed．When I settled into the back seat, a woman's voice came from the front seat．"Are you all right?" She turned around to me．"Yes, I am," I replied with much  (11)           when seeing an old woman there．It must be his Mom, I thought．To my  (12)            , the old woman was a neighbor of the man who was helping me．        "Jeff insisted on stopping when he saw you   (13)           with thetyre．" "I am grateful for his help," I said．”Me, too!" she said with a smile．He helped drive her to see her husband twice a week in a nursing home．She also said that he   (14)  at the church and tutored disadvantaged students．

The rain stopped and Jeff and I changed thetyre．I tried to offer him money and of course he  (15)           it．It was shameful that I judged people by the way they  (16)          .   As we shook hands I began to apologize for my  (17)          . He said, "I experience that same   (18)  often. People who look like me don't do nice things．I   (19)           thought about changing the way．        But then I saw this as a chance to make a   (20)          . So I'll leave you with the same question I ask everyone who takes time to know me．If Jesus returned tomorrow and walked among us again, would you recognize Him by what He wore or by what He did?"

That holiday morning I didn’t have to attend school. Usually, on holidays, mother  (1)  me to sleep in. And I would certainly take full advantage of it. On this particular morning,  (2)  , I felt like getting up early.

   I stood by my window overlooking the   (3)  , having nothing better to do. But as it turned out, I was soon to learn about something   (4)  in life.

   As I watched several people go by, get into their cars and drive off, I  (5)  an old man on a bicycle with a bucket on its  (6)  and abasket of rags and bottles on its back－carriage.He   (7)   from one car to another, washing and cleaning them. From the water on the ground, it seemed that he had already  (8)  washing and cleaning about a dozen or more cars. He must have begun to work quite early in the morning.

   Several thoughts   (9)  my mind as I watched him work. He wasn’t well－dressed. He had on a pair of shorts and a(n)   (10)  T－shirt. The bicycle he rode was not by any means the kind modern  (11)  would want to be seen riding on. But he seemed   (12)  with life. There he was, working hard at his small business,  (13)  at passers－by and stopping to chat now and then   (14)  elderly men and women on their way to the market nearby.

   There was a noticeable touch of   (15)  in the way he seemed to be doing things－  (16)   the windscreen(挡风玻璃), then standing back to admire it; scrubbing(擦净) the wheels and  (17)  , standing back to see what they looked like after the scrub.

 Natisha Luke lost her hearing when she was born. Luke likes dancing and singing, and   (1)   as a cashier (收银员) for a large company. She’s also the new "Miss Deaf Utah". The 19-year-old girl    (2)  inUtah, and not only won the crown but also was   (3)   "Miss Photogenic (最上镜小姐)". Luke was pretty   (4)  about all the experiences she had.

    Next month she’ll be competing to be named "Miss Deaf America". "I want to take part in it   (5)  it will open many doors for me, and it’ll be a great   (6)  ,"she says. "It will also help me get closer to my   (7)   , which is to enter a nursing school." She has always had   (8)   for kids and wanted to help the sick. She hasn’t let deafness stop her from  (9)   her dreams.

    Luke studied at the Desert Hills Ward Church for years, and it   (10)   influenced her decisions and her  (11)  of life. It helped her  (12)  many difficulties that she had to face due to her hearing   (13)  . What’s more, as a spokesperson (代言人) for the   (14)  , Luke believes she can more effectively (有效地)    (15)  her message of hope with others. She believes in the positive nature of life. "I focus on my ability   (16)  than my disability. I look forward to showing other deaf girls how to be positive, and just love   (17)  for who they are," she says. "I hope I can   (18)  others to think positively.  (19)  my example of positive thinking, I know I can  (20)   and change lives." What a great girl!

Running for a Dream

I will never forget that November day. It was hotter than normal. This was the __(1)__ my father and I had waited so long for, because we had been working towards this race for three years. Dozens of familiar faces from church and school flashed across my view. They had come __(2)__ me. I saw worry and __(3)__ on my father’s face. Then the race began!

For the first two and a half miles，I felt __(4)__ about myself, for I had been so ready for it. The weeks leading up to the race were filled with controlled __(5)__ and a strict diet. My friends hadn’t seen me in weeks, but they understood the _(6) _ required to make my dream a reality. As in all of my races，I didn't start out in the front，I loved the pleasure of __(7)__ people as my strength overtook(超过) their speed.

Then without warning，my strength began to decrease. Neck and neck with one of my greatest competitors, I __(8)__ see the finish line. I had begun the final dash（冲刺，猛冲） into _(9)__ when my knees became weak and my legs gave way. Nothing I could do would make them __(10)__my weight.

 I watched as runners rushed by me. __(11)__ I knew my dreams of victory were destroyed， I had to finish the race. However, my legs hurt badly. With all of the __(12)__ left in me, I got on my hands and knees and crawled (爬), inch by inch, across the finish line. Voices, both _(13)__ and familiar, cheered me on. They gave me the courage to keep __(14)__ until the very end.

The doctors were there in seconds, but my eyes searched the crowd for him. There was only one person I wanted to __(15)_ to. I whispered, “I’m so sorry , Dad, I'm so sorry I __(16)__ you.” He looked at me, saying, “You could never disappoint me. Sometimes these things __(17)__. All that matters is that you did your best.”

“But we worked so __(18)__. What about our dream?” He reached over for my hand and said, “Don't you know that you are my dream and it has come true?”

It wasn't long before my running shoes were back on, marking a _(19)_ path for my journey, I learned that all of the miles, the tears, the sweat, and the pain my dad and I experienced together were not for a __(20)__. What I realized, though, was that to him, I was the greatest prize he had ever won.