One summer weekend, my wife, son and I entered a running race on mountain trails（小径）. When the race started, our son took off _______, but my wife and I stayed back and ran together, enjoying the scenery. After some time, while running down a narrow, _______ trail, I walked on a big stone and had a _______, and in the process, I jammed my toe pretty hard. I realized I’d got my toe _______, but I didn’t take off my shoe and sock to check my _______. Instead, my wife and I kept running.

____, after going about half the course, I realized my watch on my wrist was _______. Slightly discouraged, I encouraged my wife to go on ahead, and I would _______ to see if I could find it. After running back for some time, I _______ my broken watch off the trail. I picked it up, and quickly put it into my pocket. Then I ________ down the trail. When I was near the end, I saw my son, who had finished 30 minutes earlier and had run back up the trail to ________ me. He ran with me to the end.

As it turned out, both my wife and son had ________ first place in their age groups, but I had no chance of placing. As I sat down to ________ after the race, I decided to take off my shoe and check my toe, and I found that my sock was in blood. Painful and hurt, there was a bright side. I ________ to receive any award in my age group, but the race ________ had a special award which was given to the most injured runner in the race.

So, how does this ________ relate to you and me in everyday life? Although everyone wants to live a life of comfort, the ________ is that we often face pain and ________. However, the key to real happiness is ________pain into something positive. In other words, ________ can make us stronger if we face them bravely.

   When I was about 12, I had an enemy. A girl liked to point out my _____ Week by week her _____ grew: I was very thin; I wasn’t a good student; I talked too much; I was too _____ , always feeling superior to others, and so on. I tried to hear all these as long as I could. _____ , I became very angry. I ran to my father with _____ in my eyes.

He listened to me _____ , and then he asked, “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever _____ what you’re really like? Well, you now have that girl’s _____. Go and _____ a list of everything she said and mark the points that are ______. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

I did ______ he told me. To my great ______, I discovered that about half the things were true. I couldn’t ______ some of them, but a good number I could — and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I had a fairly ______ picture of myself.

I brought the list back to Daddy. He ______ to take it. “That’s just for you,” he said. “You know the truth about yourself ______ than anyone else. But you have to learn to ______, not just close your ears in ______, feeling hurt when something said about you is true, and you’ll find it of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your affairs. Don’t ______ your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”

Daddy’s advice has always ______ me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.

   Our most commonly held code for success is broken. Conventional wisdom（普遍看法）holds that if we work hard we will be more successful，and if we are more successful，then we’ll be happy. If we can just find that great job，win that next promotion，lose those five pounds，happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this code is actually backward：Happiness fuels success，not the other way around. When we are positive，our brains become more engaged，creative，motivated，energetic，and productive at work. These discoveries have been repeatedly proved by rigid research in psychology and neuroscience（神经科学），management studies，and the bottom lines of organizations around the globe.

In The Happiness Advantage，Shawn Achor，who spent over a decade living，researching，and lecturing at Harvard University，draws on his own research—including one of the largest studies of happiness and potential at Harvard and others at companies like UBS to fix this broken code. Using stories and case studies from his work with CEOs of Fortune 500 in 42 countries，Achor explains how we can reprogram our brains to become more positive in order to gain a competitive ability at work.

Based on seven practical，actionable principles that have been tried and tested everywhere from classrooms to boardrooms，stretching from Argentina to Zimbabwe，he shows us how we can capitalize on The Happiness Advantage to improve our performance and maximize our potential.

A must-read for everyone trying to stand out in a world of increasing workloads and stress，The Happiness Advantage isn’t only about how to become happier at work. It’s about how to get the benefits of a happier and more positive mode of thinking to achieve the extraordinary in our work and in our lives.

   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.

   Today, I was phoning at an ATM that was situated inside a gas station. The security guard who was an old man _______ reminded me that I could not use my cell phone there and that it was _______. When I came outside, he smiled at me and I had a strong wish to _______ him.

At first, I felt a little sympathetic (同情的). In my _______, he seemed like a poor, elderly man who was still working. He was _______ at first and just talked about his family in a small voice. When he talked about his _______, he was happy. He told me that she always _______ him, even though she was married herself. Then he _______ his son, who “has a heart of gold”. He also told me I had better _______ some money for my old age, and I thanked him for his ________.

________ we spoke, he opened up quite a bit. He told me about his limited income and how the family were still ________ in spite of all the difficulties. I had nothing to give except ________. I thought about ________ him money, but it didn’t feel quite right. In our conversation , it was ________ that he wanted my time, not my money. I did not want to take away his ________ by giving him money.

By the time the conversation ________, I was close to tears. Ordinary people — when given the opportunity to ________ their story — are real gems (难能可贵的人). Sometimes, time and ________ are the best gifts you can give. That thought made me ________ listening to this old man.