Two old beggars（乞丐）were sitting on a busy street corner of a big city. They watched _______ as a lot of people walked by without looking at them. Sometimes, a kind-hearted woman or a small child would _______ a few coins in the hats in front of them.

Today was not a _______ day for begging. The men were able to _______ enough for a big meal. As it was getting dark, they started to _______ their things.

Just as they were getting ready to leave, they _______ a man walking toward them. He was a _______ man—they could tell that from his fine clothes. The first beggar said to the second with _______, "He's coming our way！"The man stopped, _______ into his pocket and took something out. What looked like a piece of hard ________, wrapped（裹）in white paper, hit each of their waiting hats. The rich man turned and ________ his way.

"He could have easily left us a few ________ or a bill, but he laughed at us with a piece of rock candy, " said the first beggar. He looked at the offering ________. "There's no way we can ________ this-we have no teeth. "With these words, he picked up the thing and threw it away. Then he collected his things and ________.

The second beggar wanted to do the same, ________ a second thought made him change his ________. "I haven't had anything like this for ages, "he thought. " How ________ of that man to offer me something so sweet！" With that, he opened the white paper. To his ________ there was no hard rock candy inside. ________, a shiny white pearl（珍珠）worth thousands of dollars fell into his hand.

   Nowadays，an increasing number of people are indifferent to others and unwilling to help others who are in trouble. In their opinion, what _______ is their own interests, and they are simply not _______ about whether those people live or die. How terrible the phenomenon（现象）is!However, I _______ believe that helping others is helping yourself in one way or another.

Then I will explain why helping others can _______ ourselves in more detail.

When you  help others, you will find yourself becoming confident. Take myself as a（n）________ .

When I was a little girl, I dared not talk with others and I preferred staying _______ . One day in an art class, my deskmate _______ to bring color pens, then I _______ lent her mine. She appreciated my help but was _______    because I rarely talked. After that, she often chatted with me and helped me become a（n）________ girl, and she also helped me when I was in trouble. There is no ________ that we became best friends. What benefited me most was that I gained confidence and was willing to ________ others. If I hadn't lent my color pens to her, she might have been punished by the teacher, and I wouldn't have been confident so soon. Through this thing, I have come to ________ helping others is helping yourself in one way.

________ , when you help others, you will feel very pleased. As the Chinese old saying ________ ，“Fragrance（香味）will be reserved in your hand when you present others with roses. ”________ someone meets with some difficulties, then you come to help him. “Thank you”will make you feel that you have done a rewarding thing and your ________ is much more than the person who gets your help. What a wonderful thing it is!

From what have been discussed above, we can safely arrive at the ________ that helping others is helping yourself. Helping others can1 not only bring others pleasure, but also bring ourselves pleasure and confidence. This time we helped others, maybe ________ when we are in trouble, others will help us. So we should try our best to form the habit of helping others. Only in this way can the world become warmer and more ________ .

   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.

Growing pains and gains

It's not easy to grow up. Actually it's far from easy. Growing up can be a real "pain" for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren't allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel trapped, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don't understand why we can't stay young forever. When we look back on all the hardships in life with a positive attitude（态度）, we realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains！

As a young girl my parents forced my sisters and me to do so many things that I never liked. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music, just because it was what they wanted me to do. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched my life in so many ways. I realize that my parents and teachers were always pushing me along, not because they wanted me to suffer but because they wanted me to succeed in life. They've always wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.

Every moment of our lives we are either living or dying, so live life to its fullest！We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just small pains in life. They might seem so huge at the time but we must be strong. Think about how we would feel if we had no fear and live life like that. The future is ours！

A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone！If we realize that these pains are just small bumps（凸块）on our road to success we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains！