I close my eyes and can still hear her — the little girl with a _________ so strong and powerful we could hear her halfway down the block. She was a(n) _________ peasant who asked for money and _________ gave the only thing she had — her voice. I paused outside a small shop and listened. She brought to my mind the _________ of Little Orphan Annie. I could not understand the words she _________, but her voice begged for _________. It stood out from the noises of Arbat Street, pure and impressive, like the chime of a bell. She sang _________ an old-style lamp post in the shadow of a building, her arms extended and _________ thrown back. She was small and of unremarkable looks. Her brown hair _________ the bun (发髻) it had been pulled into, and she occasionally reached up to ____________ a stray piece from her face. Her clothing I can’t recall. Her voice, on the other hand, is ____________ imprinted in my mind.

I asked one of the translators about the girl. Elaina told me that she and hundreds of others like her throughout the ____________ Soviet Union add to their families’ income by working on the streets. The children are unable to ____________ school, and their parents work full time. These children know that the consequence of an ____________ day is no food for the table. Similar situations occurred during the Depression (萧条) in the United States, but those American children were ____________ shoeshine boys of the ____________. This girl was real to me.

When we walked past her, I gave her money. It was not out of pity ____________ rather admiration. Her smile of ____________ did not interrupt her singing. The girl watched us as we walked down the street. I know this because when I looked back she smiled again. We ____________ that smile, and I knew I could never forget her courage and ____________ strength.

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch (大牧场). The last time I was there he told me a story about ______.

He was the son of a horse trainer who used to go from ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually ______. When he was a senior, he was ______ to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he ______.

He wrote a seven-page ______ describing his goal of someday ______ a large horse ranch and handed it to his ______. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note ______, “See me after class.”

Monty went to see the teacher and asked, “______ did I receive an F?”

The teacher said, “This is an unrealistic (不可实现的) dream for a young boy like you. There is no way you can ever do it. If you ______ this paper with a more realistic goal I will reconsider your grade.”

The boy went home and thought about it ______ and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, “Look, son, you have to ______ your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important ______ for you.” Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the _____ paper. He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my ______.”

“The ______ part of the story is that two summers ago the same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” Monty went on with the story, “When the teacher was ______ he said, ‘Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was ______ of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. ______ you had enough courage not to give up on yours.’”

“Don’t let anyone ______ your dreams. Follow your dream, no matter what happens,” Monty added.

I was making a stop on my book tour. A sweet woman approached me, and pleasantly _______ she wouldn't buy a book. She said she _______ wanted to ask me a question: How did I get into acting and how did I _______ to stay in it? I was _______the performance, so I didn't want to waste energy with a long response. I said, "Persistence," without thinking.

She laughed and said, "Well, sure. That's true with everything, right?"

A light came on in my brain. She was righter than she knew. I said, "Yes, but not how you mean. Success is a _______of persistence. So is failure. We become whatever we're persistent at. I had friends who were always exactly 20minutes late－persistently late. You could set your _______by them. I know actors who persistently destroy their own chances. They don't _______ enough. They don't learn their lines. Persistently."

A lot of the time our methods of working are a series of habits, good and bad, we _______sometime in the past. Habits feel_______. My ex-acting teacher once said, "Comfort is the enemy of the artist."

I wasn't crazy about his statement back then, because I was uncomfortable, but still wasn't an artist. I see the ________ of it now. People________take the easy path. It's human nature to look for the________ at the back of the book. We often see the effort in finding better habits as a problem to be avoided, but in doing so, we persistently waste our ________.

As actors, we know we can become anything with enough rehearsal. ________look at what you do persistently. If you don't like your habits, change them. No matter what your passion is the power to ________the map of your life is essential.