For me, two of the loveliest words in English are “Life persists”.

I ________   them years ago as a college student, sitting in the library, ________, working on a paper. Out of nowhere, those words came ________ off the page in a quote, “In the midst of death life persists, in the midst of ________ truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists.”

Suddenly I wasn’t unhappy and impatient any more. Then I ________ my granddad. I loved to talk with him. And I was ________ to hear what he’d think of it. He had poor hearing, so I had to ________ it a few times, but once he ________ it, he laughed. “All I can say to that is totally ________,”he said on the phone. I told him how glad I was, after a long winter, to finally see spring and ________ to find that quote. “Why is that?” he asked. “Well, spring is a sure _________ that life persists. And it just makes me________. ”

He laughed again, and then ______ his lovely voice, he recited for me his________“spring time” words, “The desert shall rejoice(高兴) and blossom(开花) like the rose … even with_________ and singing.”

Many years later, ________ my husband and I drove across a desert with many wildflowers and blooming cactuses (仙人掌), I could _________ hear my granddad laughing, “The desert shall rejoice.”

Life persists, and so do we, in the silence of _________ and the blooming of cactuses; and in the dead of   _________   and the green of spring. Spring _________   us that we’re alive forever.

When I was young, my grandmother used to tell me stories. I’d like to _______ with you one of my favorites.

Once, there was a young boy. He was very _______ because he couldn’t keep his friends. He asked his father why this was so. His father _______ replied, “Son, each time you say or do something that_______one of your friends, hammer (锤) a piece of wood into the _______ .” The curious boy did as he was told and soon he made fence (篱笆) out of the wood.

“Father!” he cried, “I can’t get out! I am blocked by this fence!”

“Well, Son, each time you say something _________to a friend, you can take one piece of wood out.”

The boy _______this, too. On the first day he took out one piece of wood and on the second day he took out another two. On the third day he took out some more. Finally he had _______all of the wood. “But Father!” he cried again, “Look at the _______in the ground! They are big and dark! Oh, how ugly!”

“Son,” his father said, “this is why you aren’t able to ________ your friends. Remember: when you hurt someone’s feeling, no matter what you do to ________ up for it, there will always be a scar (伤痕) in his________.”

From that day on, the boy was very________of his words and actions and he never hurt his friends’ feelings again.

I always keep this story close to my heart. It has________me lot. I am always careful not to hurt any of my friends because they are people that I wouldn’t want to________.

There is a wonderful old story about the best-known artist, Leonardo da Vinci. When Leonardo was _______ The Last Supper, it took him several years to complete it. He had _______ to use live models for Christ and each of the twelve apostles (门徒). He chose the _______ for Christ first when he found a man who _______ both beauty and love on his face. As the years _______, Leonardo completed all of the apostles except Judas. Finally, he found a man whose face seemed full of greed and evil. After he _______ painting the man as Judas, the man asked _______ Leonardo knew who he was. When Leonardo said no, the man _______ loudly, “I am the same man you painted years ago as the model for Christ!”

Though this story is certainly not true, it does _______ a spiritual (精神的) truth. No matter how old or young we are, the ________ can often show the condition of our deep heart. I have seen wrinkled (有皱纹的) faces that still sparkled (闪耀) with the ________ of angels when they smiled. I have also seen young faces with eyes as cold as ice.

The good news, ________, is that it is never too ________ to change our face and our heart, and ________ our heart with love and let it shine through our eyes and actions.

I only hope that my own face, no matter how old or wrinkled it becomes, is always the face of love. I hope it is a face of ________, gentleness, hopefulness and joyfulness. May your eyes always shine with the light of joy. And may everyone who looks at you always see a face full of love.