Growing up, I'd seen plenty of homeless people. Sometimes my family made extra ________to pass out. “Why do you _______ so much about them?” I asked my father once. “They’re ________ You don’t even know them.” “Son,” my dad said, “everyone wants to be _______ with respect, as a real person.” At the time l didn’t understand what Dad _______. Wasn’t everyone a real person? Why would a bowl of soup give someone _______?

The empty field came into view. The people there were doing what they could to stay _______ . Dad’s words had come back to me. Everyone wants to be treated with respect, like a real person. I _______ them a few dollars and wished them well. I thought that would be the _______ of it, but I kept thinking about them-a real person who got cold and hungry. I started keeping a little extra food with me to ________ to homeless people I saw on the street. Whenever I gave something I stopped to ________ to the person as well, and learn his or her story. I could ________ they appreciated my listening to them, maybe even more than they appreciated the ________ I gave them.

Even better were the ________ when we could have a laugh together. There was respect in ________ people to spread their joy. The more I got to know the people I met, the more ________ each one behaved. They were people just like me, like all of us. That's what my dad had ________.

My ________ raised the spirits of the folks I met. But the truth is, they ________ my spirits too. Treating others with respect brings us all ________ to happiness.

The other day, I was shopping at a local store and came upon a lady kneeling（跪下）down for a product on the bottom shelf. When she saw me, she quickly__________up as if to get out of my way. She was very sorry and explained that she was a__________at a nearly store. She was on her lunch break and was only trying to get a few items before her__________was over.

I__________her: "I am in no rush. Go ahead and do what you need to do." While she was__________a particular brand, she said that customers at the store were sometimes__________to her, so she really appreciated my kindness. I told her that I had noticed cashier（收银员）were often__________badly by some people and that those people needed to be more__________. It is stressful for cashiers when people are staring at them while waiting for__________to get done. I explained that I was a retired__________and understood the way she felt. Sometimes, patients, their family members or doctors would be very rude to__________.

She, asked, "So how would you__________to the people who were rude to you?" My__________was simple. She, "I would just smile. Then I would tell them that I was doing my best and to be__________. I would not let it bother me and__________my nursing work. They were probably just having a__________day. " "Thank you," she said and gave me a truly big__________.

It felt so good that I may have helped her__________the pressure for even a few seconds. In a brief__________, I showed her that there are good and kind people in the world. I would like to think that I helped her to strengthen__________in humanity（人性）.

I always dreamed of becoming a full-time writer. After two years as a salesman, I _______ my job and made up my mind to realize my _______ .No one could tell me whether I would succeed or not.I rented a basement and _______ to write.I had so many things to write because the enthusiasm（热情） was _______ in my heart.

After a year or so, _______, I began to doubt myself.I found it _______ to earn my living by writing.None of my novels were _______that year.But I _______ to follow my dream--even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of _______.I believed anyone with a dream must learn to struggle for the ________.

During the hardest period of my life, a friend came to see me and tried to________ me, “Come to our company, ________ we will pay you 2,000 dollars a month.” 2,000 dollars was really a big fortune at that time.It would enable me to live a ________ life.As the money was dancing in my ________, something cleared my senses.Hadn’t I dreamed of being a writer, a full-time writer?

“Thanks, but no,” I said ________ , “I’m going to stick to writing.”

Again and again, I said to myself, “I will be ________.People will love my novels.”

________ my first novel was published in 1991.I had the kind of success that few writers ever ________.

Twenty years have passed, but the effect it had on my life has ________.Now I often   ________ the time working in that cold basement.I will say, “Anyone with a dream and persistence will be successful.”