One day when I was making food in the kitchen, my brother came in. He placed his beef next to my ___ one,“Courtney, your beef is bigger than mine. You don’t need to ___; you’re already fat enough.”

Unpleasant ___ on my physical appearance were nothing new. Something inside me accepted his idea that my legs were ___. For the next 15 years, I spent summer after summer ___ in long pants.

Then I met Ragen Chastain, who ___ everything. I couldn’t believe that this woman weighing almost 300 pounds was so ___ and happy. She talked about how amazing our ___ are, simply because of what they do every day—like breathing, ___ blood to every cell and walking.

Walking! I suddenly realized how foolish I’d been for so long. Some people are born ____ legs or lose their legs, and I’d been hiding my healthy and beautiful legs ____ because they weren’t good enough! The next day, I bought three pairs of shorts and a sundress and spent the entire summer letting my legs ____ the sun and feel the breeze.

The next time anyone comments on your body in a ____ way, look them straight in the eye and say, “If that ____ you so much,please look ____ else.”

Every one of us, rich or poor, should at least have one or two good friends. I learned that a true friend is the most important in my life after I had gone _______ so many terrible things. I felt upset when I was told that I would have to _______ the company. As I had a very big family to _______ and was in great need of money, what I was _______ about was how to find another new job. In order to _______ this problem, I rushed from place to place like crazy. I read almost all the newspapers and _______ almost all the telephone numbers in the newspaper _______ in my notebook and tried to call almost all the companies that needed new _______. Not until I found a job in a small town near Townsville had I _______ down. My new boss, Mr. Johnson, was one of my good friends since primary school. “Why didn’t you ________ me until now? Was it ________ to do that? Explain to me the reason,” he said, ________ me a cup of hot coffee. Both of us were overjoyed to see each other and we ________the whole afternoon talking about things and persons that we________ at school. John asked me to give him some advice about ________ to enlarge his present business and he was entirely happy about my ________. To my great surprise, he offered me a________ which didn’t need much experience because I was not ________with this field but the pay I got was much more than ________ . The moment I saw my ________, the sum of money given by the company, I cried for the first time — that was the first time for me to do so since I grew up.

It had long been troubling a little boy that his desk mate could rank 1st in the class every time while he failed to: he only ranked 21st.

At home, he asked his Mom, “Mom, am I more stupid than others? I feel I am as _________ as him, but how come I always fall behind?” Hearing the words, she went _________. Mom really wanted to tell her son that _________ differs. However, was this in her son’s best _________? Thank goodness she did not open her mouth.

There were times when she wanted to tell him. “Your father and I used to be _________. Why aren’t you just as clever?” But she stopped because she felt it was cruel to _________ him and that she needed a better _________.

Time flew swiftly. To reduce the _________ on her son who was suffering from the _________ of unsatisfied grades and rankings, Mom decided to take him to the sea.   

When lying on the beach, Mom pointed to the ____________ and said, “Do you see the seabirds over there? When the waves come near, little birds can rise ____________ while it would take longer for clumsy sea-gulls (笨拙的海鸥) to complete the ____________. However, have you noticed birds that ____________ fly across the endless ocean are none other than clumsy sea-gulls? You might be a bit ____________, but you will be the one who will make it!” The ____________ speech affected the son into tears.

Now, the son no longer worries about his rankings, because, with the 1st ranking, he is admitted to a top university.