Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel. All ______ that they were the best, the most important, and the most useful.

Green said: “Clearly I am the most important. I am the ______ of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the ______. I…”

Blue ______: “Consider water and the sky. It is the water that is the basis of life and the sky gives space and peace. Without my peace, you would all be ______. ”

Orange chuckled: “I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I ______ the most important vitamins. Think of parrots, pumpkins, and papayas. I don’t hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so ______ that no one gives another thought to any of you.”

Red could ______ it no longer: “I am the ______ of all of you. I am blood—life’s blood! Without me, there would be no life. I am the one who deserves the crown!”

…

And so the colors went on boasting, each ______ of his or her own superiority. Suddenly, Rain started to pour down. The colors crouched down in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort.

Then Rain began to speak: “You stupid colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to ______ the rest. Don’t you know that you were each made for a special ______, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me.” Doing as they were told, the colors ______ and joined hands. The Rain continued: “From now on, when it rains, each of you will ______ the sky in a great bow of colors as a reminder that you can all live in peace.” And so, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember to ______ one another.

My son isn't scared of many things. Sometimes this makes me_______. When he overcame his fear of dogs，I felt a swell of admiration.

Things get _______when he proves himself to be braver than I am，forcing me to face the_______I still carry around as an adult.

My fears since my teen years were big，hairy spiders and talking to_______ both of which were easily_______ at an all-boys' school.

One exception was the_______. I don't like open water，due to a semi-drowning experience that happened when I was 15. I mistimed（在不适当的时候做） a_______，swallowed water and ended up being pulled out，pale and limp，and_______by a pretty lifeguard. The additional horror of talking to a girl_______ my near-death experience.

Since then，being in water fills me with_______. So clearly，my_______of the sea is strong. But where does it leave my son，who shows no such fear？

As a much younger child，he hated the sea. To my shame，I was_______. Here was a companion who could make me feel better about my weakness. This _______a few weeks ago，when a trip to the_______showed he'd become every inch the waterbaby I am not. Watching him_______the waves with his mom，all my_______suddenly seemed pitiful.

I barely had time to register this before he was_______ my arm. Soon he was doing something my wife had_______ managed，pulling me into the open water. As I held him，I felt that panic I'd denied for all these years，_______on I went. I was holding him，but he was really holding me，transferring （传递） some small part of his limitless _______ with the grasp of a tiny，guiding hand.

Every one of us, rich or poor, should at least have one or two good friends. I learned that a true friend is the most important in my life after I had gone _______ so many terrible things. I felt upset when I was told that I would have to _______ the company. As I had a very big family to _______ and was in great need of money, what I was _______ about was how to find another new job. In order to _______ this problem, I rushed from place to place like crazy. I read almost all the newspapers and _______ almost all the telephone numbers in the newspaper _______ in my notebook and tried to call almost all the companies that needed new _______. Not until I found a job in a small town near Townsville had I _______ down. My new boss, Mr. Johnson, was one of my good friends since primary school. “Why didn’t you ________ me until now? Was it ________ to do that? Explain to me the reason,” he said, ________ me a cup of hot coffee. Both of us were overjoyed to see each other and we ________the whole afternoon talking about things and persons that we________ at school. John asked me to give him some advice about ________ to enlarge his present business and he was entirely happy about my ________. To my great surprise, he offered me a________ which didn’t need much experience because I was not ________with this field but the pay I got was much more than ________ . The moment I saw my ________, the sum of money given by the company, I cried for the first time — that was the first time for me to do so since I grew up.