I've come to the conclusion that I'm terrible at saying "No". For example，last Sunday I was sitting at my desk alone，totally ________ in my own business，when a colleague of mine phoned and asked me to get involved in ________ with her. I found myself getting all caught up in her enthusiasm and didn't want to ________ her. So I said "Sure，why not？" even before the talk ________

I found myself agreeing，without giving any ________ whether it was worth doing. We are both window-shoppers who go to shops but buy nothing and ________ a whole day in the street. Actually，I hardly have any time to spare because I am very busy ________  my normal job-I've also got a book to write，a business to ________ and a family to look after. And then there are my other projects to ________—my voluntary work and a couple of other interesting investments that I want to _________.I'm going to have to be more ruthless（残酷无情的）and not just agree to _________  people ask me to get involved in. In other words，I'm going to have to get _________ at saying "No". Usually I hate saying "No"，because having to disappoint someone usually _________ me. Now I realize _________  I haven't learned to say "No"，I've been feeling very _________.

We had better do what we think is right and what we are _________ to do. Sometimes it does not seem that bad to _________ others. In my case, if I _________ want to be involved in it, I' ll pay more _________ to it and do it quite well I' ll be enthusiastic and motivated and do something that is good for everyone and everyone will be happy. It' ll be a win-win _________. What's not good about that? So sometimes, we have to say "No".

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 have received many Christmas gifts over the years. I remember many of them, from the tape recorder I _____ from my dad in 1975 to the black guitar my wife gave me several years ago. The best gift I ever received was presented to me by a _____. I never even knew his name and I only had contact with him for less than 60 _____. His Christmas present to me changed the way I thought about _____ and about Christmas.

It was several years ago when my wife asked me to meet her at the local _____. They had advertised a kind of _____ for children that she wanted to purchase for our son. We stood with a very large crowd, waiting for the manager to blow the whistle, _____ his employees to cut the shrink-wrap off the box. After a while the whistle was blown. It was like _____ a bucket of bait (鱼饵) into a tank of sharks. I knew this was going to happen.

As the bikes began to _____ decrease in number, I saw my opportunity to wrap my ______ around the corner of one of the boxes. I ______ one box and suddenly felt some mild resistance. I ______ to see one of the largest gentlemen I had ever seen in my life. I felt somewhat ______. Obviously, tattoos (文身) were his hobby.

I started to ______ the box but he gently pushed it back in my direction and back into my hands. He then ______ it into my shopping cart. He looked at me, ______, and said, “Merry Christmas.” My wife and I went to the ______, paid for the bike and went home. All the way home I was thinking that this moment was by far the best Christmas ______ I had ever received. I will never forget the ______ of a stranger and the gentleness of a human heart in a ______ act.

   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.

   Just like everyone，I have experienced ups and downs in my life. I am an aerospace engineer（航空工程师）from India. I was told by my relatives，close friends and others that it was _________ for a non-IT student to pursue（继续进行）a master's degree in IT and graduate from a US university.

I had never taken courses _________ to computers or programming. I was never interested in being a _________，but things changed. Computers became my companion and I _________ how dependent on them I was. I _________ imagining the backend processes happening inside the CPU and they amazed me. That's why I _________ to pursue a master's degree in IT.

At first，it was too _________. Coming from a middle-class family，the huge cost was a big _________. My English accent was terrible. Most _________，the course seemed impossible at first. But I never __________.

I got a few offers，but I decided to choose my university __________ it promises students to help them learn practically. During my first month，it was difficult to understand the American's __________ and finish my assignments. But I never gave up. I walked two miles to the __________ every day so that I could use my travel money to buy a meal. I started looking for __________ and I got an offer to work as a student assistant.

I took it as a __________, and I believed that hard work was my strength. Right now I am graduating with good grades and a job offer from a company that has asked me to start right after ________.

If you want to achieve something, you need to __________ yourself and start working on your __________.

Hard work always pays off. To be __________, you need to start from somewhere and always question yourself about the limits of how far you would go to __________ your goals.