Several years ago，we planned to move out of the city and buy a country house. The first ___________ was finding a suitable country house that we could afford. We started to ___________ the real estate（房地产）listings online and thought we had found a really ___________ one. My wife Catherine went to look at it. I was expecting a positive result. ___________，my wife told me the house wasn't suitable for us at all. While this was not the ___________ of the world，it prevented us from carrying out our plans as we had expected. So，what did we do？Could we ___________ and decide to stay where we were？No. We decided to ___________ looking.

To make a long story ___________，it took us two years of weekly visits to the real estate listings before we ___________ found three houses that might be suitable. The next ____________ seemed obvious-we had to take some time off work and drive down to ____________ these houses. So，off we went and after 15 hours of steady driving，we ____________.The next three days were tight-looking，then looking again and then finally making an ____________. The final story has a ____________ ending-we found our house，and ____________ several months later.

Sometimes, ____________ show up out of nowhere to destroy the best of plans, and some of these difficulties can be the final play. ____________, if you adopt the philosophy that every obstacle has a solution, then you can find your ____________ through. Obstacles will appear no matter who you are or what you are trying to ____________, but it is only those who know there is a solution and keep digging until they find it that will ____________ one day.

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.

   My aunt came to my home with her six-year-old daughter Alice this morning. While my aunt was talking with my mom at home，my cousin felt a bit __________. So I suggested that I go out with her. My aunt happily __________. So we went to the park near my home together. There we bought two __________ and started flying them. While we were doing that，Alice couldn't help __________. She jumped up and down and I __________ she was truly having great fun. And I must __________ that I haven't enjoyed myself like that for a long time.

Afterwards，we sat down on a bench，looking at the garden. As we were __________ there，Alice looked up at me and said，"What a __________ day today！"I smiled at her and agreed. I then started __________ what we had done today. We did something quite ___________，yet we were very happy.

Many people wait for their "best days". But I think today is our ___________ day. That's a lesson I ___________ today. As adults，we often make plans ___________in order to have a great day. Some people think that they can have a nice day through spending a lot of ___________. I think we should be more like ___________.They don't think about money or what will happen tomorrow. They really live in the moment and enjoy the ___________！

We often hear the expression that we should live in the ___________. How do we do that？We're not doing such a good job. ___________ today is important as we are exchanging（交换）a day of our life for it. Yesterday is ___________. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present, ___________ seize（抓住）the day！

   Sometimes you meet an ordinary person doing something extraordinary. On a recent trip I met Normand Gallant. Normand is someone you could _____ on the street and never notice but he is a very special person who _____ recognition.

Norm lives in a remote area far from the _____ big hospital, so when his wife _____ cancer several years ago, Norm was faced with a four-hour _____ to where she could be treated. That meant lots of _____ for meals, fuel, hotels and so on. But in the end the cancer took his wife’s life _____.

Norm was obviously _____ by his wife’s passing, and he was quite upset, _____ he realized that other people were ______ the same sorts of hardships. He wanted to do something but he didn’t want to give money to the ______ that support cancer research because he didn’t know how much would actually get to the researchers. What he did was to ______ parties.

About every three weeks on Saturday evenings, there is a party in Norm’s garage. ______ during the evening Norm tells about a family who is having difficulty ______ the cost of supporting a cancer patient in undertaking ______ far from home. Then a pail is passed around and the money is ______, every cent of it goes ______ to that family.

Norm’s personal loss has ______ an act of kindness in ______ of the wife he has lost. Wouldn’t it be ______ if we had more people in the world like Normand Gallant? He makes the world a better place.