Of course, she wasn’t really my aunt and, out of fear, I never called her that to her face. I only referred to her as “My Aunt Fannie” because the name always made my father laugh quietly and gave my mother cause to look strictly at both of us — at me for being disrespectful to my elder and at my father for encouraging my bad behavior. I enjoyed both reactions so I looked for every opportunity to work the name into as many conversations as possible.

As a young woman, my mother had worked in the kitchen of a large Victorian farmhouse. During those years my mother helped Aunt Fannie make the best blueberry jam ever tasted by anyone in Glenfield. She was well-known for her jam and for never sharing the recipe (食谱) with others. Even though my mother knew the recipe by heart, as long as Aunt Fannie was alive, she never made the jam without Aunt Fannie in our kitchen to direct the process and kept the secret.

Each August, my mother would prepare me for Aunt Fannie’s visit. One year, after I had helped with the jam process Aunt Fannie gave me a coin and then made me promise that I would never spend it. “Hold onto this coin,” she said, “and someday you will be rich. I still have my very first coin, given to me by my grandmother.” So I kept the coin in a small box and waited to become rich.

I now have the blueberry jam recipe and the coin from Aunt Fannie. In people’s eyes Aunt Fannie’s success resulted from that secret recipe. But to me, it was just a common recipe. Neither has made me become a rich person, but 1 keep them as reminders (提醒人的事物) to hold onto the valuable things in life. Money can make you feel rich for a while, but it is the relationships and the memories of time spent with friends and family that truly leave you wealthy. And that is a fortune that anyone can build.

Grandpa’s Investment Pays Off

When I was a student, my family went through a few rough financial years. We _______, but with much effort and many worries.

I had a pick-up truck that was _______ breaking down and the thought of the 600 km drive to school in it was a（n）_______ one. As I drove away from home one day, my uncle walked up. I stopped and he _______something onto my dashboard（仪表板）.

He leaned against the window, speaking softly. “Years ago,” he said, “when I was a _______ student myself your grandfather once did this to me. I _______ one day I would return the _______. And now I have.”

Then he _______ without looking back, and I _______ he did so in order to hide his emotions.

A few miles later I opened the __________. It contained a few bank notes. It was a gift __________ more than two decades later to a second generation; it is almost like a full circle, __________ I’m the only one who bears my grandfather’s name. The amount（金额）was not large. Twenty years ago it had been __________ to buy a full trolley of groceries，or a few tanks of fuel. At this moment it was just a（n）__________, something to express his good intentions. But my uncle was jobless at the time and I almost had no money. Therefore for both of us, it was a（n）__________ amount.

I paid it forward some years later to another poor boy with an old car, __________ the amount for inflation（通货膨胀）. As far as I can __________ that boy has been the only one I’ve told this __________ to-until now. I can only __________ that one day he will pay it forward too.

I couldn’t help but feel that Grandpa made a good __________ all those years ago.

Being responsible is actual not that difficult. I used to think it was hard to growing up into a responsible member of society. An incident happening in a rainy Sunday afternoon changed my attitude. I was on my way to the bookstore and was waiting for the green light while a girl was knocked down by passing car，which drove off quickly. A man immediately gave her first aid and I had joined in without hesitation. Soon many help was given to the girl. Because we sent her to the nearest hospitals in time, she was able to receive proper treatment. Not badly injured, he expressed gratitude to those giving help. Comparing with the escaped driver, I was proud of what I did.

   Since finishing my studies at Harvard and Oxford, I’ve watched one friend after another land high-ranking, high-paying Wall Street jobs. As executives (高级管理人员) with banks, consulting firms, established law firms, and major corporations, many are now ____ on their way to impressive careers. By society’s ____, they seem to have it made.

On the surface, these people seem to be very lucky in life. As they left student life behind, many had a ____ drink at their cheap but friendly local bar, shook hands with longtime roommates, and ____ out of small apartments into high buildings. They made reservations at restaurants where the cost of a bottle of wine ____ a college year’s monthly rent. They replaced their beloved old cars with expensive new sports cars.

The thing is, a number of them have ____ that despite their success, they aren’t happy. Some ____ of unfriendly coworkers and feel sad for eight-hour workweeks devoted to tasks they ____. Some do not respect the companies they work for and talk of feeling tired and ____. However, instead of devoting themselves to their work, they find themselves working to support the ____ to which they have so quickly become ____.

People often speak of trying a more satisfying path, and ____ in the end the idea of leaving their jobs to work for something they ____ or finding a position that would give them more time with their families almost always leads them to the same conclusion: it’s ____. They have loans, bills, a mortgage (抵押贷款) to ____, retirement to save for. They recognize there’s something ____ in their lives, but it’s ____ to step off the track.

In a society that tends to ____ everything in terms of dollars and cents, we learn from a young age to consider the costs of our ____ in financial terms. But what about the personal and social costs ____ in pursuing money over meaning? These are exactly the kinds of costs many of us tend to ignore — and the very ones we need to consider most.

   I was at the post office early that morning, hoping to be in and out in a short while. Yet, I _____ myself standing in a queue that went all the way into the hallway. I had never seen so many people there on a weekday. It seemed someone might have made an announcement, _____ customers to carry as many packages as they could and bring them in when I needed to have my own package _____. The queue moved very slowly. My patience ran out and I got _____. The longer it took, the angrier I became. When I got to the counter finally, I finished my _____ quickly and briefly, and then walked past the queue that was then extending past the front door.

“Excuse me,” I said, trying not to be too pushy. Several people had to move _____ to make room for me to get to the _____.

I stepped out, complaining about the _____ conditions. Thinking I was going to be late for my dentist appointment, I headed into the parking lot.

A woman was coming across the parking lot in my direction. She was walking with determination, and each step sounded very heavy. I _____ that she looked as if she breathed fire. It stopped me in my tracks. I ______ myself and it wasn’t pretty. Had I looked like that? Her body language said that she was having a ______ day. My anger melted away. I wished I could wrap her in a hug but I was a ______. So I did what I could in a minute ______ she hurried past me — I smiled. In a second everything changed. She was astonished, then somewhat ______. Then her face softened and her shoulders ______. I saw her take a deep breath. Her pace slowed and she ______ back at me as we passed each other.

I continued to smile all the way to my ______. Wow, it’s amazing what a simple smile can do.

From then on, I became aware of people’s ______ and my own, the way we show our feelings. Now I use that ______ every day to make me ______ that when facing the world, I can try a smile.