What are the basic elements (要素) of good manners? Certainly a strong sense of justice is one; courtesy is often _______ more than a highly developed sense of fair play. A friend of mine once told me of _______ along a one-lane（单行道），unpaved mountain road. _______ was another car that produced clouds of choking _______ , and it was a long way to the nearest _______ highway. Suddenly, at a _______ place, the car ahead pulled off the road. _______ that its owner might have engine trouble, my friend stopped and asked if anything was wrong." _______ ,"said the other driver, "but you've endured (忍受) my dust this far; I'll _______ with yours the rest of the way."

Another element of courtesy is empathy, a ________ that enables a person to see into the mind or heart of someone else, to understand the pain or ________ there and to do something to minimize it. A man  ________  alone in a restaurant was trying to open the cap of a beer bottle, ________he couldn't do it because of badly injured________. He asked a young busboy to help him. The boy took the bottle, turned his back________ and loosened the cap without difficulty. Then he ________ it again. Turning back to the man, he ________ to make great efforts to open the bottle without success. ________ he took it into the kitchen and returned shortly, saying that he had managed to loosen it-but only with a pair of pliers (钳子).

Yet another element of politeness is the ability to treat all people ________, in spite of all status or importance. ________when you have doubts about some people, act as if they are worthy of your best manners. You may also be astonished to find out what they really are. Courtesy is the key to a happier world.

I was quite young when I married. My wife shared with me my love for animals and she got several ________ pets, including one cat.

The black cat was beautiful. We named him Pluto. I liked him best so that I often fed him alone. Our friendship ________ for several years, during which, however, my wife and my job ________ me. Gradually, ________ became my new friend; I became quick to ________; I forgot how to smile and laugh.

One night I came home quite late from the inn. Walking with ________ steps, I made my way with effort into the house. As I entered, I saw Pluto was trying to stay out of my way to ________ me, which made me angry beyond ________. I lifted my foot and gave him a heavy kick ________. The cat burst into a tragic scream, like a ________ cutting through the peaceful dark sky.

It seemed a ring ________ me. I followed up the cry, calling “Pluto”. No response. Turn on the light, and I found him, curled up below a chair. I felt regretful and ________, attempting to comfort it. No response. I knew I had made an ________ mistake.

I made my efforts to ________ him in my manner, feeding him alone and eventually quit drinking. Maybe sometimes some evil things inside ourselves pushed us to do wrong, but we must bear in mind that we ought to treasure what is ________ us accompanying us in our lives.

A father and his son went to a kite（风筝） festival. When they ________ , there were many parents and their children playing in the park   ________. The son was happy when he saw the sky filled with colorful kites. He wanted to fly a kite, too. So they went to a kite shop and   ________a beautiful one.

The father was good   ________ flying kites. Soon the kite was high up in the sky. After a while, the son said, “Dad, it   ________ that the string ( 线 ) is stopping the kite from flying higher. ________we cut it, the kite will be free and fly even higher. Can we cut it?” The father said   ________but just cut the string off. The kite really went higher. This made the little boy   ________ .

But then, a few minutes later, the kite started to ________ slowly.   It soon fell onto the ground. The son was ________ to see this. He asked his father, “I thought that after cutting the string, the kite would fly higher. Why did it fall down?”

The father smiled and said. “The role of the string was not stopping the kite from going higher, but was ________it stay in the sky, because the kite   ________can’t fly up. You helped the kite go up in the right   ________by using the string. But when you cut the string, it could no longer support (支撑) the kite.”

In our life, we may sometimes feel like there are certain things that are holding us back and stopping us from growing. ________ in fact, these might be the things that support us the most. We can really   ________ and become better by knowing the importance of these things.