Once there was a farmer with a wife and two sons. He became quite________through hardworking. He wanted his children to have a(n)________life, so he and his wife did all the work and________made them do anything.

After some time, his wife died and________he didn’t want his children to________, so he did the field labor and all the housework. But as time went on, he became old and________, and started to worry about his________when he died.

So he thought about this for a long time and he________his sons and said, “Look, my inheritance (遗产) to you is a lot of gold. I’ve________all my gold in the fields, so it’s up to you to plough (耕作) them and________the gold.”

And he called his neighbors and said, “I’m going to________and my children don’t know how to________themselves. So please cook for them until they can take care of themselves.”

So the neighbors provided them with________for some time.

Certainly the brothers didn’t want to be robbed of the________so they did the digging themselves. They________one field after another and after they had dug all the fields, they found no gold.

So the brothers sat down and one________the other, “Do you think our father________us?”

But the other brother said, “No, I think our father was saying that the________is a golden profession. And if we dig up all the________we can become rich.”

So like all the other________, they sowed wheat in the fields they had dug and became very rich in the end.

We are warned by our teachers not to waste time because time _______ will never return. I think it quite _______. What does time look _______? Nobody knows, and we can’t see it or touch it and no _______ of money can buy it. Time is abstract, so we have to _______ about it.

Time passes very quickly. Some students say they don’t have _______ time to review their lessons. It is _______ they don’t know how to make use of their time. They waste it in going to theatres or playing, and _______ other useless things. Why do we study every day? Why do we work? Why do most people _______ take buses instead of walking? The answer is very ________. We wish to save time because time is ________.

Today we are living in the 21^st century. We ________ time as life. When a person dies, his life ends. Since life is short, we must ________ our time and energy to our study so that we ________ be able to work and live well in the future. Laziness is the ________ of time, for it not only bring us ________, but also does other ________ to us. If it is necessary for us to do our work today, ________ we do it today and not ________ it until tomorrow. Remember that time is much more ________.

From Disappointment to Purpose

I’m known for my determination. If I want something, I go for it. Over the years this _______ has worked well for me and helped me achieve my goals. When I wanted to be on the dance team at school, I learned all the dances and practiced until I could hardly _______.

But this year everything changed. I had set my sights on a summer _______ that I was determined to get at the Water Zone, because the employees there could go on the water rides after their work and get free food at the snack bar. It was the _______ job to have on hot summer vacations. So just as I had achieved every goal in the past, I set out to _______ the job. I was certain that nothing could keep me from my dream job.

After my _______, the manager of the Water Zone told me that he could hire only those with experience in water safety. I felt like a failure.

On the last weekend before school ended, my teacher, Mrs. Keller, asked me whether I would be interested in the kids’ summer day camp. I decided that I had nothing to _______, so I called the manager. She was _______ by my babysitting experience and employed me. In less than a week, I had completely forgotten about wanting work at the water park. Each time I comforted a little boy who missed his mother or a little girl who needed to help tying her shoes, I felt I was doing something _______. I realized that I had discovered my life’s purpose: to work with children. I now have a new goal.

Sometimes in life we don’t get exactly what we want. It’s natural to feel __________. But, occasionally, when we don’t get what we want, something even better is waiting for us around the corner!