There once was a king in a faraway country. One day, he decided to______a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of ______. So many artists ______. The king looked at all the pictures. ______ there were only two he really liked, and he had to ______ between them. One picture was of a ______ lake. The lake was a perfect mirror with peaceful huge mountains all around it. Above was a ______ sky with light white clouds. All who ______ this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had ______, too. But these were not flat at all. Above was a (an) ______ sky, from which rain fell heavily and in which lightning played ______. Down the side of the mountain was a waterfall with loud sound. This did not look ______ at all.

But when the king looked ______, he saw behind the waterfall a small tree ______ in a crack (缝隙) in the rock. In the tree a mother bird had ______ her comfortable home. There, with the current of angry water, the mother bird was ______ her hungry children in the nest, taking no attention to the ______ things around them — in perfect peace.

Which picture do you think______ the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?

“Because,” said the king, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no   ______ or hard work. Peace means although noisy things are around you, you ______ keep calm in the heart. That is the real meaning of peace.”

Starting at age 5, Aesha Ash studied tap, jazz and ballet. She wanted to be a ______ on Broadway. At age 10, the school told her she had to ______ one kind of dance. She thought the other forms of dance were easier for her and she wanted a ______. She talked to her mom, who told her that a career in ballet would be even more ______ for her because few ballet dancers were black. However, those words helped Ash ______. She would prove to herself and to everyone that she could ______ an excellent black ballet dancer. She started studying ballet more ______ from then on.

Then Ash ______ the School of American Ballet and worked hard toward her dream. Any time she felt bullied (被欺凌), she tried to ______ for herself and she became more ______ to succeed. At 18, her dream ______ when she joined the New York City Ballet, where she danced many lead roles. She became ____! Years later, Ash ______ the Swan Dreams Project, a charity that uses dance and the arts to ____kids: Where they live, how much money they have, what their ______ is or anyone else’s ideas about them cannot ______ their dreams.

Even though Ash has won awards and praise, the biggest ______, she said, is making her family ____ because she reached her dream. “All of the hard work and sacrifice ______,” she said. “When you have a ______, believe it with all of your heart.”

Meles Deck became an orphan(孤儿)and soon joined in the _________ economy, along with about 10,000 other orphaned kids in Addis, Ethiopia(埃塞俄比亚). To survive, he _________ shoes and begged.

Then at nine, Deck met Meheret Worku. Worku flew from Canada to her hometown of Addis in _________ with her husband and their child, Rebecca. “Why aren’t they wearing any shoes?” Rebecca asked _________ about kids in the street. It was her question that pushed Worku to _________ immediately.

Worku left Ethiopia in 1981 to study in Canada, and then graduated from University, began teaching, met Smillie and _________ a family. These opportunities were thanks to her _________–a gift from her father, an Ethiopian general. When Worku’s father died, his _________ wish was for his children to someday return to help their country.

All children can _________ school in Ethiopia, but many don’t. Uniforms, books and other costs all __________ them to class. So the couple started from there. As the years went by, Worku continued to __________ between Canada and Ethiopia to ensure Deck and many others got __________, housing and care.

Now 29, Deck has a job as a tour guide. “Some young people are __________ to drugs or they become pickpockets,” he says. “If you have __________, that’s a good advantage to change your life.” Of Worku, he says, “She’s like my __________ .”

Seeing Ethiopian orphaned kids grow stronger, Worku feels she’s done right by her dad.