“Are you happy？”I asked my brother，Ian，one day.

“Yes. No. It depends on what you mean，”he said.

“Then tell me，”I said，“when was the last time you think you were happy？”

“April，1967，”he said.

It served me right for putting a serious question to someone who has joked his way through life. But Ian’s answer reminded me that when we think about happiness，we usually think of something extraordinary，a pinnacle（顶点）of delight. And those pinnacles seem to get rarer as we get older.

For a child，happiness is simple，such as playing with friends. In the teenage years，the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement，love and popularity. For adults，happiness is complicated—love，marriage，responsibility and the risk of loss.

My dictionary defines happiness as“luck”or“fortune”，but I think a better definition of happiness is“the capacity（能力）for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have，the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved，the company of friends，the freedom to live where we please，and even good health.

I added up my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I had my breakfast and enjoyed myself in the house. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing，which I love. When the kids came home，I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

You never know where happiness will turn up next. When I asked friends what makes them happy，some mentioned seemingly unimportant moments.“I hate shopping，”one friend said.“But there’s a shop assistant who always chats and really cheers me up.”Another friend loves the telephone.“Every time it rings，I know someone is thinking about me.”We all experience moments like these. Too few of us think of them as happiness.

Happiness isn’t about what happens to us；it’s about how we think of what happens to us. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have， but enjoying what we do have.

When I was young，I read many kinds of books，including fairy tales. Most of the books described handsome heroes and beautiful heroines. 【小题1】I believed I had to be beautiful if I wanted to become a great person. It was a hard time for me. Whenever I looked at someone 【小题2】was more beautiful than me，I was 【小题3】（stress）.

As I grew up，I began 【小题4】（realize）outer beauty was not so important to make someone good. I remember a friend of 【小题5】（me）who was so beautiful that every classmate wanted to talk with her. She was proud of that and believed that she could do everything she wanted because she was so beautiful，but she lost friends one 【小题6】one. My poor friend！But she learned a good lesson: inner beauty is more important than outer beauty. After she 【小题7】（learn）that，she changed her attitude and made friends again.

In many novels and fairy tales，such as in Cinderella，the main characters are usually beautiful or handsome. Beauty is representative of good deeds and kindness. In our society，beauty also gives us many 【小题8】（advantage）such as having a good social life，making friends，getting a job，and getting a 【小题9】（promote）.Whenever we look at good-looking guys and girls，we usually form stereotypes（模式化的思想）.We think he or she is a good and kind person. This is 【小题10】cosmetic surgery（整容外科手术）is so popular in our society.

   Grandpa began his military career in the Navy in 1939. He joined with his son, Paul. The Department of the Navy kept them fairly close together, allowing them to be in port at the same time so they could visit each other and spend time together. They were both in port in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. My uncle Paul was among the 1,177 who were aboard the USS Arizona.

After WW Ⅱ, Grandpa left the Navy and joined the Army, where he spent the rest of his career. His duty stations included Alaska, France, Italy, Germany, and the Philippines. When the time came, he worked as a doctor, saving the lives of many young soldiers.

Various European duty stations filled the years between Korea and Vietnam for Grandpa. My grandmother spent her time learning local recipes (食谱) and culture while they traveled Europe's lush (草木繁茂的) countryside, something I'm grateful she passed on to me.

Later, Vietnam War broke out, and Grandpa received a new set of orders, which brought a new set of worries for Grandma. But he still went, and she worried. Grandpa was severely wounded in the early days of the war, a gunshot wound to the early days of the war, a gunshot wound to the chest that grazed (擦伤) his heart. He spent a few weeks in an army hospital in Germany before being flown back the States and being sent to Walter Reed Hospital.

My grandfather was never a man to wait for very long, however, and he soon found a job at ICI Americas. Grandpa retired from ICI in 1988, though to allow another family member to seek employment there as company policy didn’t allow family members to work in the same plant.

My grandfather is such a great man. From his experiences I have learned that we should respect our national heroes; the ones who have died for us, the ones who came back wounded, as well as the ones who came back healthy — because they are all the greatest heroes.

   I was born in New York City. My first seven years were spent in Manhattan, and then we moved to the Bronx. As a child with a strong ___for knowledge, I went to a public school and received a good ___education there.

At the end of my high school I decided to major in science and, in particular, ___. One of the ___factors may have been that my grandfather, whom I loved dearly, died of cancer when I was 15. I was ___motivated to do something that might eventually ___a cure for this terrible disease.

With great efforts and help from my parents, I ___graduate school at New York University in 1939. I was the only female in my graduate chemistry class, and ___my Master of Science degree in chemistry in 1941.

I was doing my research into ___with other scientists. When we began to see the results of our ____in the form of new drugs which filled real ____needs and benefited patients in very ____ways, our feeling of ____was immeasurable.

Over the ____, my work became both my vocation and avocation(业余爱好). ____, I became an enthusiastic photographer and ____. I have traveled fairly widely over the world, but there still remain many places for me to explore. ____major interest is music and I am an opera lover. I also ____concerts, ballet and theater.

In my ____career I was promoted frequently, and in 1967 I was appointed Head of the Department of Experimental Therapy, a position which I ____until I retired in 1983.