A large cat arrived at a farm where many mice lived. None of them dared go outside for fear of being _________by the cat.

The mice decided to hold a _________ to find a way of stopping themselves from being in _________.One day，when the cat was out，mice of all ages _________ into the meeting room.

"Let's build a big trap，"one mouse _________.When this idea was _________，another said，"What about poisoning（毒死）her？"But _________ knew where to buy the poison. One young mouse，whose mother had become the cat's food，_________ said，"Let's cut her teeth，so she can do no more harm." But the meeting did not accept his _________.

At last，one mouse，__________than the rest，jumped onto a table. Waving a bell，he called for __________，"Be quiet！Let's __________ this bell to the cat's tail，so we'll always know where she is！We'll have __________ to escape，and the slower and weaker mice will hear her coming and be able to __________！"Hearing the words，everyone got __________ and they congratulated him on his good idea.

"We'll tie it so tightly（牢固地）that it will never __________！"

"She' ll never be able to __________ quietly again! The other day, she suddenly appeared right in front of me! Just imagine..."

However, the wise mouse said, "We must __________ who is going to tie it to her tail." There was not a sound in the room. Nobody was __________ enough to put the plan into action. The meeting ended without any decision made.

It's often very __________ to have bright ideas, but putting them into practice is a more difficult matter.

   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.

   There have been many times in my life when I have felt very confident about myself and the outcomes of events, even when there was no reason why I should be.

For example, when I was in my internship (实习期) in my ex-company, I was fully confident that I would perform well and secure the internship — even though it was my first internship, first time working in an actual corporate role and I knew absolutely nothing about what I was going to get.

Another time was while I was still studying in university as a first year student. The people around me constantly discussed the monthly starting pay for graduates, which was around two grand. At that time I simply brushed that aside and was confident I would get a starting pay of at least three grand. The funny thing was that this was simply an arbitrary (任意的) number I picked out of the air which I felt I was comfortable with. There was absolutely no basis or research I did which made me point out that figure.

A more recent example would be when I left my job to pursue my passion. While I had a broad vision of what I wanted to do, I had not developed my plan to the level of specificity, and I was not worried about it at all either. I wasn’t worried about money, about how it would work out, or about the challenges I would face. All I knew was I was going to reach my end goal and I would do everything it took to reach that goal.

In all of the cases, there was totally nothing present that proved my self-confidence. Yet, in the end, everything turned out as well as I wanted, if not better. In my internship, I was one of the few interns to secure a preplacement job offer with my ex-company. For my starting pay, I received a figure which was higher than what I targeted. And for my personal development work, it is currently moving along well toward my vision. Honestly, the self-confidence I had was probably one of the reasons why I achieved those outcomes eventually.

   Life is filled with ups and downs. When you feel like you're experiencing more downs than ups，sometimes it helps to get a little tough love. That's why we put together this list of five harsh（残酷的）truths that will help you grow.

1. Life isn't fair.

Life will hand you lemons, often when you least expect it. 【小题1】

2. The first step is always the hardest.

Changing bad habits is tough. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said," 【小题2】 "So if you want to change something, start with small steps.

3. You may be better off without some of the people you currently care about.

Chances are that there's someone in your life you care about deeply who is holding you back. 【小题3】 However, there comes a time when you need to make the tough decision to say no to people who can't help you grow.

4. 【小题4】

If you don't take risks you will have a hard time accomplishing what you want in life. People who truly change the world are the biggest risk-takers. And they treat each failure as an opportunity to grow and get better.

5. You are the only thing to hold yourself back from greatness.

Often we get so caught up in hoping for the next great thing that we don't realize what's unfolding right in front of our faces. 【小题5】 Instead, focus on the positive things you have in your life. Choose to be happy right now.

Once a traveler came into a village, 【小题1】（hunger）. The villagers tried to stop the traveler from staying, 【小题2】（fear）he wanted them to give him food. They told him that there's no food anywhere 【小题3】（find）. The traveler gave an 【小题4】（explain）that he didn't need any food and that, 【小题5】 fact, he was planning to make a soup to share with all of them. The villagers watched 【小题6】（strange）as he built a fire and filled a large pot with water. Then he pulled a stone from a bag, dropping the stone into the pot. He tasted the soup and said 【小题7】delicious the stone soup was. As the villagers began to show interest, he said how good the soup 【小题8】（be）with just a little cabbage in it. A villager brought out a cabbage to share. This event repeated 【小题9】（it）until the soup had cabbage, carrots and onions-indeed, a large soup that fed everyone in the village.

Are you like one of the villagers, holding back？If you come forward and share your gifts, you will encourage others to do the same. The reward is 【小题10】 gift that can benefit（使受益）many.