Like most people these days，I can't imagine life without e-mail. But there's something about a letter，something more personal，more meaningful.

During my freshman year of college I was _____ . I loved to sing，and I was cast as the lead in the fresh play. The _____ didn't allow much time for studying，and then there were _____ to make and parties to go to. _____ my straight A average in high school，I didn't have good study habits. My first college report card _____ it. I sat on my dorm-room bed，staring at C's and D's.

I knew my parents had gotten a copy of my _____. My mother was an advocate for women's education. My dad ran his own business and was a leader of the community. They'd been so _____ I was following in their footsteps. I could have called home，but long-distance calls were expensive then. _____ ，telling my parents“I'm so sorry I've disappointed you”hardly seemed _____ .

I got two letters from the student union. My dad's letter was typed on his business paper. I could hear his voice，quiet，______ and kind.“I understand you are struggling. We have all been there. We all fail sometimes. We ______ ourselves and our family. ______ those who deserve to be at the top, when they fail, get right back up to the top again. And I know you will.”Dad wasn't ______ of me. He believed I could succeed. If only I had believed in myself as he did!

Then I opened the envelope from Mom. As I read, the miles between us disappeared and her words went straight to my _____ “I suspect you are ______ burdens. Perhaps you feel guilty about ______ that you are not proud of. This is the time when everything we' ve taught you — persistence, forgiveness and diligence — will ______ .”

I did, often. College got much better. My grades ______ . I joined a group that sang at dinners and concerts.

A letter can change the ______ . The message is simple and true: letters can touch our lives mysteriously and ______ .

   Carl Kenton is a wealthy businessman. Five years ago, after returning from abroad to his motherland, he _____ his small company. Speaking of success, Kenton often tells us a story about his extra（额外的）expensive "school" fee. He always owes his _____ to it.

At that time, Kenton, who already got a Ph. D. degree, decided to return to the homeland, starting a company. Before _____, he bought a Rolex watch with the _____ made through years of work after school and the scholarships. At the airport he had to accept the routine customs check. The watch on his wrist was also asked to be _____down for a check. Kenton knew that carrying the _____ goods out had to pay the tax, and he worried about paying _____ for his watch. So when he was checked, he told a lie that his watch was a _____ fake（假货）. When he was proud of his "smarts", immediately, in the _____ of Kenton, the officers hit the watch, which ______ nearly $ 100, 000, into pieces on hearing Kenton's words. Kenton was ______. Before he understood why, he was taken to the office to be examined ______. For many times of entry-exit ______ he knew that only those people on the "blacklist" would "enjoy" this special ______.

The officers looked over everything carefully in the box, and ______ him no matter what time of entry and exit he must accept the check and if ______ using and carrying fake and poor goods again, he would be charged according to law! Suddenly, his face turned red, and he had nothing in mind even after ______ for long.

After returning to the homeland, he often told the story to his family, and his employees, too. He said that this made a deep ______ on him, because the extra high "school" fee that he had ever paid made him realize the value of ______, which he would ______ as the secret of his success forever.

I 【小题1】（normal）wake up before my alarm clock goes 【小题2】. It takes me less than 15 minutes to wash, get 【小题3】（change）, have breakfast, leave home and get on a bus，because I hate being late for work. I am always the first person 【小题4】（get）to the office. Whenever a day's work starts，I always find that the mornings are always very busy and the afternoons are even 【小题5】（busy）！Every minute of the day 【小题6】（fill）with urgent matters. When I get home at about ten，I look at some documents 【小题7】 I bring back from the office. I seldom have time for fun and many other 【小题8】（activity）with my family. My family complains about it. But I try to work hard so that I can make more money for 【小题9】（they）. Besides，I like being busy. Someone even says I am totally 【小题10】workaholic.But I still feel happy，as long as I am occupied with work.

   I was reading an article the other day about a man by the name of Steven Callahan. In 1982, he was crossing the Atlantic Ocean alone in his sailboat when it _____ something and sank. He was out of the shipping lanes and _____ in a life raft, alone. He had few _____ and his chances of survival were small. Yet when three _____ found him seventy-six days later, he was _____ 一 much skinnier than he was when he started.

His account of how he survived was _____ Somehow he managed to catch fish and even made a device to make fresh water from sea water. The most remarkable thing, _____, was how he managed to keep himself _____ when all hope seemed lost. _____ how often he must have thought there was no point in continuing with the ______ He was suffering a great deal. His life raft was punctured (刺破) and even after trying for more than a week to ______ it, it was still leaking air and it was wearing him out to keep pumping it up. He was hungry, totally exhausted.______ would have seemed to be the only choice.

Whenever you read about people who ______ these kinds of situations, you will ______ that they do something with their minds ______ give them the courage to keep going. However, there are many people in similarly hopeless situations that give in or go ______. The survivors do something with their ______ that help them find the courage to carry on.

For Callahan, he wrote simply, “I told myself I could ______ it. Compared to what those have been through, I was ______. I told myself these things over and over.”

Next time when it seems as if your own goals are far-off or when your problems seem too overwhelming, repeat that ______ over and over again, “I can handle it. I can handle it.”