The other night, I had to go to a meeting, which lasted past my daughter’s bedtime. I _36__ home and was brushing my teeth when I __37_, and there on the bathroom mirror was a note in the __38__ of a heart. It said, “ Hi, Mom! I Love You. Laurel.” __39__, I cut a heart out of a piece of paper, and taped a(n) __40__ next to hers, saying, “ I Love You, Too, Laurel. Love, Mom.” Which she __41__ the next morning.
Our family has __42__ that by integrating (融合) writing into our __43__ activities, we become more thoughtful of each other. Meanwhile, our daughter is learning to enjoy writing and becoming a(n) __44__ writer.
While teaching in a primary school, I __45__ how influential parents can be as children learn to write. __46__ when our daughter first began to scribble (乱涂), I became __47__ by her work. I offered praise for her __48__, for I found that scribbling is far more complex and important than I had __49__. It’s obvious that her scribbles, __50__ being lovely art objects, showed a lot about her __51__ of the world of writing.
Gradually, our family began writing a great deal. I sensed that writing helped Laurel learn __52__ to read. As a matter of fact, by __53__ my own child and her friends and by reading professional books, I became more and more __54__ about how writing develops and how __55__ can help chidren become eager writers.

Ricky didn’t help much around the house, so his parents bought him a butler (管家) robot. As soon as it arrived, off it went, cooking, cleaning, and   36  dirty clothes from Ricky’s bedroom   37  . On that first day, when Ricky went to sleep, he had left his bedroom in a   38  . When he woke up the next morning,   39  was perfectly clean and tidy.
But now Ricky couldn’t   40  his favorite T-shirt, nor his favorite toy. However much he searched, the two items didn’t   41  , and the same was starting to happen with other things.   42  the butler robot, Ricky thought of a plan to   43  on it, and finally caught it red-handed (正在作案的), picking up one of his toys to  “ 44 ”  it.
He told his parents that the butler was   45  and asked them to have it   46 . But his parents didn’t believe him at all for they were   47  with the butler for its good service. Ricky kept on telling them how much good stuff the butler was hiding, until one day the butler heard the boy’s   48.  Then it returned some of the boy’s toys and clothes to him.
“Here, sir. I did not know it was   49  you,” said the butler.
“How could it not, you thief?! You’ve been stealing my stuff for weeks!” the boy answered  50.     “The objects were left on the floor;  51  I thought that you did not like them. I am programmed to collect all that is not   52  , and at night I send them to those who can use them. I’m a highly efficient machine,” the bulter said.
Ricky started feeling   53  . Since then, Ricky decided to put real  54  into how he treated his things. He also often bought things and took them to help out those who are  55  -- along with his good friend, the butler of course.

Tuesday the twelfth was my birthday. I  16 a day of cake and presents  17__     it turned into a day of mystery(神秘). Someone sent a bottle with a letter and a treasure map   18 . It said there was a treasure of over 20 million dollars. I didn’t know if it was a trick(恶作剧) or if I should   19  it. If it was   20  , it would be the best present I had ever got. I decided to  21 . Two of my friends came and we rented a truck.   22 , I thought about turning back twice during this trip, but I didn’t think it was a 23 decision for me to make. I   24 to give this trip twice the effort(努力) I had been putting in. This would take all my trust in order for me to find the  25  .
“The map says you have to turn when you see a large stone with a red circle,” said one of them.
“What do we do after the turn?” I asked   26 .
“It says we should see a tree. We are   27  to turn 20 meters north of it and dig.　
We got there and dug. We had   28  at first digging but we got better and worked very   29 . My trousers were dirty but I kept digging   30  I hit something. It was a large metal box. We   31  the lock and looked inside. There was a letter. It read:
　　“The lesson you have learned will be very   32  . If you put as much   33 in anything you do as you did in finding the   34  , you will have found the key to making over 20 million dollars.”
　　This was a trick from my parents. I thought I would never forget this   35    birthday present.

For many people today, reading is no longer relaxation. To keep up their work they must read letters, reports, trade publications, interoffice communications, not to mention newspapers and magazines: a never-ending flood of words.
In   16  a job or advancing in one, the ability to read and comprehend  17  can mean the difference between success and failure. Yet the unfortunate fact is that most of us are  18__  readers. Most of us develop poor reading    19  at an early age, and never get over them. The main deficiency（缺乏）  20  in the actual stuff of language itself — words. Taken individually, words have little meaning until they are strung together into phrases, sentences and paragraphs.   21 , however, the untrained reader does not read groups of words. He laboriously reads one word at a time, often regressing（退回） to  22 words or passages. Regression, the tendency to look back over what you have just read, is a common bad habit in reading.
Another habit which   23  down the speed of reading is vocalization — sounding each word either orally or mentally as one reads.
To overcome these bad habits, some reading clinics use a device called an   24 , which moves a bar (or curtain) down the page at a predetermined（预先确定的） speed．The bar is set at a slightly faster rate   25   the reader finds comfortable, in order to “stretch” him. The device forces the reader to read fast,   26  word-by-word reading, regression and sub-vocalization（默读）practically impossible.
At first   27  is sacrificed for speed．But when you learn to read ideas and concepts, you will not only read faster, but your understanding will   28 . Many people have found their reading skill greatly improved after some training.  29  Charlie Au, a business manager, for instance, his reading rate was a reasonably good 172 words a minute before the training, now it is an excellent 182 words a minute. He is delighted that how he can    30  through a lot more reading material in a short period of time.

One day, a teacher was speaking to a group of students about how to manage time. He gave such an interesting example that his students would never   26  .
He put a wide-mouth jar(罐) on the table. Then he    27  some rocks and carefully placed them into the jar, one at a time. When   28  rocks would fit inside, he   29  , “Is this jar full?”
Everyone in class shouted, “Yes.” “Really?” The teacher pulled out a bag of small stones. He put   30  small stones in and shook the jar. The small stones went   31  into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group   32  , “Is this jar full?”
“Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” the teacher replied. He brought out a box of sand and   33  some sand on the jar and it went between the rocks and small stones. Again he asked the   34  question, “Is this jar full?
“No,” the class shouted. Once more the teacher said, “Good.” He poured a cup of water into the jar   35  it was full. The he asked, “What is the point here?” One student   36  his hand and said, “The point is that if you try really hard, you can   37  put more things in.”
“No,” the teacher replied, “that’s not the   38  . What I want to tell you is that if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you will never get others in at all.   39  are the ‘big rocks’ in your life? Time with your friends, your education or your dreams? Remember to put the   40  in first, or you’ll never get others in at all?”

One day my math teacher asked me to help him save back-up copies of his work in the computer. I then realized I was able to   1  the grades for all of his classes. I showed him how to copy files from one disk to another and he   2  me.
A few days later he asked me to help him again, because he   3  how to do it. When I began to show this to him, some students in my class   4  and began to talk among themselves   6 . Later that day, at lunch time, I was   5  by several of them.
“Hey, could you help us change our grades in math? We’ll   7  you…”
I could not believe what I was hearing．I could get paid for something very   8 ．" All right．I'll do it．" The next day my math teacher   9  me to help him out．When he was not paying attention, I began to change their grades from F’s to A’s．
I soon became very   10  among my friends. They began to treat me like a god with a magical   11 . I began to change the grades of students．Word    12  quickly and I became very rich．
Everything was going fine    13  I was called into the headmaster's office．When I got there, my teacher was mad, and the headmaster had an angry   14   in his eyes．  "I have known you for three years now．I don't want to   15   what your teacher said, but I'm afraid that I must．He has too much   16  , " he said．" Do you have anything to say   17  yourself?" he asked．
"No．" I said finally．I did not realize how serious my actions had been．I had violated the   18  of my teacher, and the headmaster．And there was no way   19 ．I was forced to leave my school．
That was a good   20   for me．

Dear son,
The day that you see me old and I am already not in good health, have patience and try to understand me.
If I get dirty when eating, if I can not dress, have patience and remember the hours I spent   1   it to you. If, when I speak to you, I   2  the same things thousand and one times, do not   3    me, listen to me. When you were small, I had to read to you thousand and one times the same story until you got to sleep. When I do not want to have a   4   , neither shame me nor scold me. Remember when I had to chase（追逐） you with thousand excuses I   5 , in order that you wanted to bathe. When you see my  6  little about new technologies, give me the necessary time and do not look at me with your mocking( 嘲弄 ) smile. I taught you how to do so many things: to eat good, to dress well, to confront life（面对生活）….
When at some moment I lose the   7  , let me have the necessary time to remember. When my   8   legs do not allow me to walk, give me your hands, the same way I did when you gave your first   9  . And when someday I say to you that I do not want to   10   any more ---- that I want to rest forever, do not get   11   . Someday you will understand.
Try to understand that my age is not lived but survived. Some day you will discover that, despite（尽管） my mistakes, I always wanted the   12   thing for you and that I tried to prepare the way for you. You must not feel sad, angry or impotent( 无可奈何 ) for seeing me  13   you. You must be next to me, try to understand me and to help me as I did it when you   14   living. Help me to walk, help me to end my way with love and   15   .
I love you, Son.
Your father

Shaping a child is like shaping clay（粘土）— you have to start from the beginning and work your way to the end with extreme caution but with gentle and loving   16 . However, unlike clay, you don’t get a second   17  with a child. You can put all the clay back together and start again but with a child, what is done is done.   18  it’s even more caution with care.
Building a child’s esteem is no small play; it makes your black hair   19 , steals away years of your life and still will not look done. Therefore you have to learn how to build self-esteem and   20  your child from the beginning. After all, parenting begins from babyhood.
Small case could leave large   21  on your child’s mind. Reason why you should not overlook something that went wrong. If another child   22  your kid, everyone laughed and you told your son to   23  it, that’s the first wrong step. You have to teach your child to   24  up for himself. Don’t let your child fall down inside. Tell him to ask the child why he is hitting him or   25  to the nearest adult he can reach.
Most of all before you speak to a child you have to be a   26  example. If you go around laughing at people, your kids will do the   27 . If you are a coward（懦夫）yourself and do not stand up to situations, do not   28  your child not to follow you. Children are like monkeys—they copy every   29 , from how you eat to how you handle situations.
Building self-esteem begins at home. Small self-confident acts make a(n)   30  impact on your child.

How do people pass on messages? When you write a letter or make a telephone call, your words _ 1___ a message. People communicate with words. Do you think you can communicate _2__ words?  A smile __3_ your face shows you are happy and friendly. Tears in your eyes tell__4__ that you are sad. When you __5_ your hand in class, the teacher knows you want to say something __6___ ask questions. You shake your head, and people know you are saying no. You nod and people know you are saying ____ .7
Other things can also give some information. For example,  a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus __8___. A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library. Signs on doors tell you __ 9___ to go in or out. __10___ you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages __11__ them all the time? People can communicate __12___ many other ways. A (An) 13__  can use his drawings to tell about beautiful mountains,  about the blue sea and many other things. Books __14___ to tell you about all wonderful things in the world and also about people and their ideas. Books,  magazines,  TV and radio and films all help us to communicate with other people. They all help us to know __15__ is going on in the world.

My chance came at last. Our school was going to hold a sports meeting. I knew what it   51  to me, so I got up very early to prepare for it. I  52   running and jumping. When I was   53  , I   54 myself of my promise and went on.
As the time approached, I felt quite  55   . On the first day I   56  fourth in the 1500m race, but I was far from   57  because what I wanted most was the highlight of the sports meeting—250×8 relay race. I would run the last leg for my team.
With a shot, the race began. All the students were   58  for their team. The competition was so 59  that I began to feel nervous. Before my turn came, my team was   60  the others. Even worse, I almost dropped the stick when I was trying to   61  it.
  62  after that, there was nothing in my mind except to run as fast as possible. Just when I was approaching the finish line, my legs    63  . Then my promise came to mind again and   64 me on. To my   65  , I was the first to cross the finish line!
  66   , I had proved to myself and those who had often laughed at me that I am not   67  at all! My classmates greeted me warmly and I hugged them tightly. I had won the prize as well as their   68   .
From the sports meeting, I learnt that sometimes things are not so difficult as they   69  to be. Just try your best without fear and you might be surprised at the   70  .