As a popular saying goes, “Time is money.” But does time definitely mean money? In fact this is not the case.

   I was fifteen months old, a happy kid until the day I fell. It was a(n)_______ fall. I landed on a glass rabbit which cut my eye badly enough to make it blind. Trying to save the eye, the doctors stitched(缝合) the eyeball together where it was _______, leaving an ugly scar(疤) in the middle of my eye. The attempt _______, but my mother, in all of her wisdom, found another doctor who knew that if the eye was removed _______, my face would grow up badly distorted(畸形的), _______ my scarred, sightless, cloudy and gray eye lived on with me. As I grew, this sightless eye in so many ways _______ me.

I walked with my face looking at the _______ so that people would not see the _______ me. Yet my mother would say to me, at every turn, "Hold your head up high and _______ the world. If you hold your head up high, it will be OK, and people will see your ________ soul. " She continued this ________ whenever I was trying to hide.

Mother’s words were of great help for me to face the world ________. As a teenager, even though I tended to look down to ________ my shame, I found that sometimes when I held my head up high and let people know me, they ________ me. In high school, I was ________ both academically and socially. I was ________ elected monitor. My mother’s words helped me begin to realize that by letting people look at my face, I let them ________ the intelligence and beauty behind both eyes, even if they couldn't see it on the ________.

Now I'm a happy wife and great mother. The message "Hold your head up high" has been ________ many times in my sweet home. Each of my children has felt its ________, and the gift my mother gave me has lived on in another generation.

   This is the best time and this is the worst time；this is the time of great material richness and this is the time of desert of the soul. Everyone seems to be rushing around for something but they have never fulfilled their dreams. Everyone tries to seek happiness but it seems to be nowhere to be found.

When asked "What on earth can make you happy？"，most modern men would give similar replies such as becoming extremely wealthy，or getting promoted in work and then becoming very wealthy. When asked "What will you do with your wealth？"，they would make a long list of things they have been longing for. However，haven't you noticed the multimillionaires are not as happy as we common guys suppose them to be？Haven't you noticed that the multimillionaire celebrities（名人）don't even enjoy the fundamental freedom of going shopping with their own families without being followed by annoying paparazzi？

If we focus our happiness on such big issues，we are bound to be unhappy all through our life，because those big issues might just occur to us once in a blue moon.

As Socrates（苏格拉底）once put it，"He is the richest man who is content with the least，for content is the wealth of nature. "But how can we" be content with the least"？If you pay due attention，you will find our life is loaded with little joys，sometimes too little to be noticeable. Stop once in a while in your rush to your destination，look around and you will see that there are always little things worth cheering for. You got an "A" in a test. Good！You listened to all inspiring lectures. Great！You offered a helping hand to someone who had a flat tire. Amazing！Your dream girl or boy greeted you with a sweet smile. Fantastic！Let's cheer for the little joys in life！Please keep in mind that never should we wait to be happy！

What to Do when You’re Falling Behind

When I was a kid, it took me longer to learn how to ride a bike. I kept using a bike with training wheels and I didn’t _______ much, so of course I didn’t learn how to balance.

One day I _______ that my sister, 2.5 years younger than me, was getting close to _______ how to ride a bike. She wasn’t quite there yet, but she was _______ much closer to balancing than I was. I couldn’t let her _______ me to it!

So I took my bike, _______ it out to the street, and decided that I was going to learn how to ride it right now. I _______ the training wheels, jumped on, and swerved (突然转向) all over the place like an out-of- control madman. I tried to stay near the grass when I could get some degree of _______, so when I fell, I’d _______ fall to the lawn instead of the street or sidewalk.

After many attempts, I finally learned how to ________ Then I rode my bike a lot that summer and have had the ________ ever since.

Up until that point, I’d been making a big deal out of the whole process. It seemed ________ and discouraging. I was afraid of falling. But once I began to face the fear and ________ the courage to risk getting hurt, I quickly showed my ________ ability on the other side with a whole new skill. From the moment of making the decision to the time I ________ to get the basic skill it probably took me less than an hour.

What finally ________ me to face the fear and take action? It was the ________ that I was falling behind. My sister was leaving me in the dust. She could ride ________ I couldn’t. I really didn’t want that to happen.

I had no idea that I could learn to ride a bike so quickly. The feeling of falling behind served as a powerful motivator (动力). ________ trying to hide the disappointment, I allowed myself to feel the weight of that pressure. I used the ________ feeling to motivate myself to take action.

   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.