Like most people these days，I can't imagine life without e-mail. But there's something about a letter，something more personal，more meaningful.

During my freshman year of college I was _____ . I loved to sing，and I was cast as the lead in the fresh play. The _____ didn't allow much time for studying，and then there were _____ to make and parties to go to. _____ my straight A average in high school，I didn't have good study habits. My first college report card _____ it. I sat on my dorm-room bed，staring at C's and D's.

I knew my parents had gotten a copy of my _____. My mother was an advocate for women's education. My dad ran his own business and was a leader of the community. They'd been so _____ I was following in their footsteps. I could have called home，but long-distance calls were expensive then. _____ ，telling my parents“I'm so sorry I've disappointed you”hardly seemed _____ .

I got two letters from the student union. My dad's letter was typed on his business paper. I could hear his voice，quiet，______ and kind.“I understand you are struggling. We have all been there. We all fail sometimes. We ______ ourselves and our family. ______ those who deserve to be at the top, when they fail, get right back up to the top again. And I know you will.”Dad wasn't ______ of me. He believed I could succeed. If only I had believed in myself as he did!

Then I opened the envelope from Mom. As I read, the miles between us disappeared and her words went straight to my _____ “I suspect you are ______ burdens. Perhaps you feel guilty about ______ that you are not proud of. This is the time when everything we' ve taught you — persistence, forgiveness and diligence — will ______ .”

I did, often. College got much better. My grades ______ . I joined a group that sang at dinners and concerts.

A letter can change the ______ . The message is simple and true: letters can touch our lives mysteriously and ______ .

Once there lived a rich man 【小题1】wanted to do something for the people of his town.【小题2】 first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.

In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed【小题3】very large stone. Then he 【小题4】(hide ) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.

“Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way.【小题5】man came along and did the same thing; then another came,and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove 【小题6】. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone,【小题7】(say) to himself: “The night【小题8】(be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”

Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his  【小题9】(strong) to move it. How great was his surprise at last!【小题10】 the stone, he found a bag of money.

   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.

   My little daughter, you taught me how selfless the real love is!

My wife called, “How long will you be with that _____? Could you come here and make your darling daughter eat her food?” I threw the paper away and _____ to the place. My daughter Sindu sat there, tears welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a big bowl of rice.

I _____ the bowl and said, “Sindu, why not take a few mouthfuls of the rice?”

“OK, Dad. I will eat — not just a few mouthfuls, _____ the whole lot of this. But…” Sindu hesitated. “Dad, if I eat the whole rice, will you give me what I _____?”

“Promise,”I _____.

After eating the rice painfully, Sindu came to me, her eyes wide with _____. Now I became a bit _____. I said, “Dear, you shouldn’t insist on _____ a computer or any such ______ things. Dad does not have that kind of money right now.” ______, “I want to have my hair shaved off (剃掉), this Sunday!” was her requirement, which was far ______ my belief.

On Monday morning, I ______ Sindu at her school and watched her walking towards her classroom. She turned around and ______. I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy, who just got out of a car, shouted, “Sindu, please wait for me!” What ______ me was the hairless head of that boy.

“Sir, your daughter is ______ indeed!” Without introducing herself, a lady standing beside me continued, “That boy is my son, who lost all his ______ because of a disease. He ______ to come back to school for fearing the unintentional (无意的) but ______ teases (取笑) of the schoolmates. Sindu visited him last week, and promised him that she would take care of the teasing problem. But I ______ imagined she would cut her lovely hair for my son!”

   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！