Confidence has nothing to do with your figure. I learned this recently.

Every day I’d look in the mirror, hate what I see, and repeat the words _____, “I am beautiful.” Sometimes I’d even grit my teeth (咬紧牙关) to _____the words out. But I _____saying it, no matter what.

It was at the _____of my friend that I began this _____. He said he wanted to be friends with me because of my _____and gentle character. Besides, he also saw me as beautiful and it _____him that I couldn’t see it in myself.

For a long time, I had _____that my weight made me a second-rate person. Years of being fat and years of being _____had caused me to build a cocoon (茧) around myself. I _____thought that if I stayed quiet, maybe I would be safe. I put myself in layers of _____, my heart breaking a little more with each wedding invitation. I _____hoping for my true love, believing I wasn’t good enough.

It wasn’t until I met him that I was determined to be happy on my own and things began to _____. He pointed out my _____ personalities and excellent qualities and made me repeat them out loud. I laughed at first because it felt _____, but I kept at it every day.

Then, one day, a(n) _____thing happened. Staring into the mirror, I realized with a(n) _____that I believed it! He wasn’t _____and it was true － I’m beautiful! The layers of my cocoon suddenly disappeared. And nowadays, I learn to love myself and keep _____no matter what my dress size is. Indeed, confidence comes from _____.

Snowy was a beautiful little horse. Since she was born she has wanted to be a show jumping horse. Every day she would _________ her mum to allow her to _________. Finally, her mum decided that she was_________enough and they went into the jumping arena (竞技场).

Snowy was very_________, but when she saw how_________the jumps were, she started shaking. “I can’t jump that high. It’s a good idea that we_________ ”, she said. Her mum said, “I wouldn’t expect you to _________that high. There’s a log (原木) on the ground. Why don’t you start jumping over that?” Snowy gathered (积聚) her _________, walked to the log and then _________ to jump over it.

“I did it!” she shouted happily. Soon Snowy developed good__________in jumping over logs.__________, her mum said, “You can’t just jump over logs __________you want to be a show jumper. __________the low jump over there.”

Again, Snowy was __________ , but she tried it and found she could do it. As time went on, Snowy progressed to taller jumps, until finally she __________ the arena and looked at the tallest jumps.

Over the past few weeks, something had __________. These jumps seemed much less __________ to Snowy. She jumped over them easily. Her mum looked with __________ at her and said, “This is what happens when you start __________and build your way up.”

So never be afraid of __________ in life, but start small and keep trying. Then you’ll be able to do anything.

Suffering from depression and being homeless for some time, Ron Nessman decided to change his life. He wanted to get a job to get back on his _________ , not knowing that making that decision _________ saved the life of a baby. Ron was at a job _________ at the Applebee’s for a dishwashing job. As he was leaving the restaurant, he _________   a baby stroller(婴儿车) with a baby inside _________ toward a busy highway. As the woman leaned into her car to get something, she forgot to park the stroller in a(n) _________ way. The wind pushed the stroller toward the road.

The woman tried to run after the stroller, but fell _________ . That’s when Ron came _________ out of nowhere to catch the stroller _________ before it reached the street.

Ron’s sister, Donna was waiting at a nearby cafe when she heard the woman’s __________ for help. She says her “heart dropped” when she saw the stroller heading straight for traffic. When she saw her brother come to the baby’s __________ , she was incredibly relieved.

Ron says he’s glad he was there at the perfect time, __________ he would feel guilty if he didn’t step up to help. The baby was unharmed, and though the woman was shaken up and suffered __________ to her knees, she’s all right!

This story has a truly happy ending for all __________ : Applebee’s gave Ron the job when they heard about his __________ actions outside their door! We hope this is the beginning of a new chapter for this kind man.