I have been very busy for the past six months mainly because I ____ a dental clinic. As a dentist, I've always ______owning a dental clinic. After dreaming about it for years, I _____

I never expected how_____it would be. The previous owner left behind a mess that I could never have _____. It took lots of time and money to _____ things around.

A few weeks ago, the bank account for that new ______ was down to(只剩下…) $147 and salaries about $11.000 were due the next week. I started to ____ how difficult this was going to be. What had ____ looked like a gold mine was turning into a money pit (坑) . It seemed my dream was going to _____ before my eyes. Looking at my banking website, I ____ over to the sidebar (边注栏) where four words caught my _____ and hit me over the head.

“There are no shortcuts(捷径)”,

It was like a wake-up call to me. There is no ____ to be gained from taking shortcuts and avoiding the ____ . The struggles are the best learning experiences life can _____ . They shape us into ______ people.

So whether you relate it to a professional ____ or to your family goals, remember that there   are really no ____. There seem to be shortcuts at first but eventually they will leave you far off the path you want to be on, and often _____ you to return just to recover. The hard times are part of the journey and you will_____ respect for them when they are past.

Sitting on the bench to read beneath an old willow tree, I felt abandoned. Endless________with my family had left me nowhere to go but this lonely corner of the park. Not________with life, I had a good reason to frown, for the world was intended to let me down.

And if that weren’t enough to ruin my day, a young boy out of breath________me, all tired from play. He stood________in front of me with his head titled down and said with great________, “Look what I found!” In his hand was a flower. What a pitiful sight, its petals (花瓣) were all worn—not enough rain, or too little light. Wanting him to take his dead flower away and go off to play, I________a small smile and then looked away.

But________leaving, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and________loudly with certainty, “It sure smells pretty and it must be beautiful, too. That’s why I picked it; here, it’s for you.” I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I________the flower, and replied, “Just what I need.” Again, instead of placing the flower in my hand, he held it mid-air without reason or plan. It was then that I noticed for the very first time that the boy was_________

I heard my voice trembling. Tears shone like the sun________I thanked him for picking the best one. “You’re welcome.” he smiled, and then ran off to play, not realizing the________he’d had on my day. I sat there and wondered how he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree. Perhaps he was________with true sight from his heart by God.

Through the eyes of a blind child, at last I could see, the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. I decided to see beauty, and________every second that belongs to mine. As I held that dead flower up to my nose and breathed in the________of a beautiful rose, I smiled like that young boy.

It was cold and windy outside. I was sitting in my nice warm car at a stoplight crossing listening to the radio, and I thought positively, life is_________. Now this was a long light. As I_________, I noticed a couple at the bus stop. They looked cold and poor. This couple_________to be doing their best to keep warm. I said to myself, “Oh, those poor people in that punishing_________.”

But then I saw their faces. They were huddling(挤在一起), _________they were also laughing. They looked to be_________a good joke, and suddenly, instead of pitying them, I_________them. They didn’t seem to notice the wind. They weren’t looking at my_________thinking “I wish I had that.”

At that moment, I realized I had_________thing were all bad for them, but they weren’t and I understood we all have the__________to make moments of happiness happen.

Now maybe that’s easy for me to say. I feel__________to have fans around the world, a house with a roof, and a wife who__________my shortcomings. But must say I felt this way__________when I was working at Long John Silver’s, where I worked as a__________.

In the beginning it seemed like a dead, endless job. But I had a job__________and I should be happy for that. After two weeks__________, I knew everything about cooking, and it__________my mind from worry. The job allowed me to dream about what my life could become. Things__________all right.

I believe this is something__________can do. Try to be happy within the context(环境) of the life we’re actually living. Happiness is not a（n）__________to be longed for. Through the power of our own minds, we will be happy.