Sarah grew up on a fishing boat. Her father, _____ to make enough money to buy a house, had _____ her within their only small boat since his wife died.

One morning, Sarah saw a _____ above the sea, which was close to them, and the boat began to rock as waves grew. ____  the mountain of clouds approaching from the south, she rushed below deck (甲板) ,“Dad, _____!”

“What?” her drunken father asked _____.

“Dad, a big storm is coming. We need to get out of here.” She grabbed his shoulders and _____ him.

He got angry, shouting, “What are you doing?”

“Dad, we have to _____ the boat. There’s a big storm coming.”

Her father _____ her at last. He walked to the deck, saw the ______ and fired up the engine.

“Dad, what are you doing?”

“Sarah, ______ we stay here, we will die. We need to go out to the sea. We must ride the waves; that’s our only ______.”

Their boat headed into the storm ______. Above them were black clouds and in front of them were dark waves. It was so ______.

Hours passed. The dark day turned into darkness totally. They held each other for ______, but the experienced fisherman needed no ______ because he had fought many such battles.

Eventually, the waves ______ and the sky brightened. Sarah was ______ and hugged her father, “You did it, Dad.”

They sailed back into the port. Other boats had been destroyed. Their boat was the only one to ______ the storm. Sarah hugged her father again. “Dad, you made it. You ______ us.”

“No, Sarah,” he held her by his arms, “we did it together.”

Children find meanings in their old family tales.

When Stephen Guyer's three children were growing up，he told them stories about how his grandfather，a banker，_____ all in the 1930s，but did not lose sight of what he valued most. In one of the _____ times when his strong-minded grandfather was nearly _____，he loaded（装载）his family into a car. And he _____ them to see family members in Canada with a _____，“there are more important things in life than money”.

The _____ took on a new meaning recently when Mr. Guyer moved to a _____ house from a more expensive and comfortable one. He was _____ that his children，a daughter，15，and twins，22，would be upset. To his surprise，they weren't. _____，their reaction echoed（类似）their great-grandfather's. What they ______ was how warm the people were in the house and how ______ their heart was accessible.

Many parents are finding family stories have surprising power to ______ children through hard times. Storytelling experts say the phenomenon reflects a growing ______ in telling tales，evidenced by a rise in storytelling events and festivals.

A university ______ of 65 families with children aged from 14 to 16 found kids' ability to ______ parents' stories was linked to a lower rate of anger and anxiety.

The ______ is telling the stories in a way children can ______ them. We're not talking here about the kind of story that ______，“When I was a kid，I walked to school every day uphill，barefoot in the snow.”Instead，we should choose a story suited to the child's ______，and make eye contact（接触）to create“a personal experience”. We don't have to tell children what they should ______ from the story and what the moral is.

   Shortly after the war，my brother and I were invited to spend a few days with an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had rented a cottage in the country，although he rarely spent much time there. We understood the reason for this after our arrival: the cottage had no comfortable furniture（家具）in it；many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked（渗漏），making the whole house terrible.

On our first evening，we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories which our uncle had to tell of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed；but I could not stand missing any of my uncle's exciting stories.

He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had once had when there was a loud crash from the bedroom above，the one where my brother and I were going to sleep.

"It sounds as if the roof has fallen in！"cried out my uncle，with a loud laugh.

When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door，we could see nothing at first because of the thick clouds of dust which filled the room. When the dust began to clear，a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had fallen down，falling right onto the pillow（枕头）on my bed.

I was glad that I had stayed up late to listen to my uncle's stories，otherwise I should certainly have been seriously injured，perhaps killed.

That night we all slept on the floor in the sitting room downstairs，not wishing to risk our lives by sleeping under a roof which might at any moment fall down on our heads. We left for London the very next morning and my uncle gave up his cottage in the country. This was not the kind of adventure he cared for either！

   This is the time of the year when I feel the memories of the small town and country days come alive！In October each year，we planned to spend a weekend with our grandparents in Michigan. Riding by fields already harvested for the winter，we could still see remains of summer corn stalks. Smoke would fill the air as we drove through the country. Chimney smoke reminded us the area we were visiting was colder than the city and fireplaces in homes were heated as the months would soon turn to cooler winter days.

While riding along the country road，we saw the trees stand tall and many fallen leaves lie on the ground. And we could see the birds of the season，the pheasants，and watch as they flew in the sky flapping（扑动）their beautiful wings to a hidden area away from the eyes of a hunter. On arriving，our grandparents always had a decorative pumpkin with a smile. It might be weeks before Halloween，but Grandpa grew a supply of pie pumpkins and cooked the seeds with salt for us to eat.

Often the small town would have a homecoming parade（返校节游行）on Saturday morning. We'd walk two blocks to the main street where the school band would start off the festivities. Store owners would all come out to watch the parade. Church women's groups would have tables along the sidewalk to raise money. Children played together and adults talked. What fun it was！

And early in the morning，Dad would meet some men. In an area，they waited for pheasants to fly.

Although pheasants tasted good，I secretly hoped they would let the beautiful birds fly away. They belonged to the blue sky.

As time goes by，all becomes more precious to me. When I married and raised my family，fall trips became a yearly event. Whenever I drive along a country road, I often picture scenes from the small town where my grandparents live in Michigan.