When my kids were young, I would sometimes wonder what I had done wrong when child after child was born into our family with far too high a dose (剂量) of “strong will”. I would_______observe other families whose children seemed so understanding and so easy to please. My kids, _______, were “spirited”. They hardly ever obeyed me, constantly testing my_______. It was their way or the highway or at least a lot of screaming and other such nonsense if their way was not acknowledged. I began to wonder if strong will was a genetic trait (遗传特性).

One Sunday, I was out in the hallway at church with Andrew, who was about 3 years old at the time, but who was so_______active and excited about small things. While he was screaming, a sweet elderly woman came up to me and said, “Your kids are so_______.”

I glanced down at my screaming baby, and_______if she was talking to the right person.

“They are brave and determined,” she went on, “which means that they will_______great things.”

I told her that I hoped she was right, and she_______repeated, with a loving smile, that she was. Quite_______, I was a little shocked at her timing. She had seen me come to church week after week, and watched me__________with my noisy troublemakers. She knew that I spent more time walking the halls__________ trying to keep them quiet than actually sitting in the meetings. I did not understand why she had picked that particular moment, when my patience was running out and my child was screaming, to tell me that my kids were full of __________.

As I realized not too late, “Strong-willed children are a__________, not a curse (诅咒)!” Yes, there have been times when I have__________wanted to throw my hands in the air and scream, and times when I have done just that. But there have__________been moments when I have felt like I was the student instead of the teacher.

It was a normal Monday morning at an assembly (集会), and the old headmaster was giving the students a(n)______ about important things in life and about devoting ourselves to what is important to us. This is_______ the story went: An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the ______, where he got the train right to Central London, and then sat at the street corner, ______. He did this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street comer and begged for almost 20 years.

His house was dirty, and it smelled______. The neighbors could not bear the smell anymore, so they asked the police officers to ______ the place. The officers knocked down the ______ and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had ______ over the years. The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a ______. They waited outside his house ______ to share the good news with him.

When the old man arrived home that evening, he was met by one of the officers who told him that there was no need for him to beg any more ______ he was a rich man now. He said ______ at all; he went into his house and locked the door.

The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the street and ______ to beg. ______, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything important for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying ______ the things we enjoy doing. We should remain true to our course, which may ______ devoting yourselves to things that people around you may disapprove. Let nothing prevent us from being happy, let nothing else decide our fate (命运), but_____. What makes us happy is what_______ in the end not what we gain.

This particular story is one such_______ that I will never forget. Every time I don't focus on courses, I ______ myself of this story.