I have written a poem called Flying Kites, in which a man ______ his son to fly a kite. After a few minutes, the child ______ drops the string and lets the kite soar(高飞). With joy in his eyes, he watches it climb until it disappears ________The father realizes that ______ he’ll have to loosen the string that ties him to his son. And he ______,“Will I release the tie as unselfishly as that?”

Many years later my son, Gary, ______ he wouldn’t finish his college career. I tried to talk him out of it. But none of my reasoning made any ______. At the end of the semester Gary moved back home.

Gary managed to find a job at a nursery and went at it with ______enthusiasm. I, ______, was deeply disappointed. What was a college professor’s ______ doing at a job that any high school dropout could perform? Then I tried to ______ him. “Look,” I said, “In a few years you’ll be at your high school reunion with ______ classmates who became doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Do you think you’ll be able to ______ that?”

“Yes, Dad,” he replied without _______. Then he fixed his eyes on mine and said, “But the real question is: Can you?”

Shame suddenly _____ me. I wasn’t thinking about my son; I was thinking about myself and what my friends would think. The problem wasn’t Gary’s pride; it was mine. All at once I remembered my ______ and the question it asked “ Will I release the _______ as unselfishly as that?”. At that moment I knew I had to let go. Gary was ______ enough to make his own choices.

Today Gary has a successful career working for the city. I am very ______ of who he has become. ______ I let go of my pride, I’ve been able to sit back and enjoy watching him soar.

Janelle would be late for work. However, what she ______ in the mirror made her stop. Being a busy college ______ just one year removing from her teenage years, she wasn’t exactly concerned about the ______ of her clothes. But her restaurant boss saw things a little ______. He had recently ______ the staff on the importance of appearance, and had specifically mentioned the need for ______ to wear clean and neat blouses.

As an assistant manager, Janelle thoughts he should set an example for the other ______. But if she stopped to ______ the blouse normally, she would be late. Her boss didn’t ______ anyone to be late for work. So she ______ her iron and set it on low heat. Carefully keeping her blouse away from her ______, she started to iron it while wearing it. It seemed like a logical solution to a(n) ______ problem.

It seemed to be working ______ until Janelle accidentally ironed her neck by mistake. Then it suddenly turned into a really ______ and painful idea. It took more time to treat her burn than it would have taken to iron her blouse ______. And she spent a shift ______ the pain of the burn.

I had the same ______. When I used to clean our yard, I often destroyed its look by using a creative way of ______ wild grass. Then my dad would tell me the way was ______ and said, “There is a right way and a wrong way of doing things. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing it right.” There is a reason why something is done in ______ ways. Those old, boring ways work.

It was a rainy day. I was riding on a bus downtown to go to_______ I was sitting next to a man in a business suit and didn’t_______ much attention until we both got off at the same stop and walked to the same_______ to get a morning paper.

The man running the stand was_______ having a bad day. He was_______ and unsmiling as we purchased our papers, which served to only_______more gloom(抑郁) to my day. The businessman caught my eye and_______ He then continued to smile_______ and thanked the news stand owner for the_______and for being open on such a morning to make sure we were able to get our papers. ________, he expressed his appreciation for something most of us would take for granted.

The newsman________only with a cold expression. The businessman then pleasantly wished him a pleasant day. As we________, I asked this man why he had________ to be pleasant to the newsman when he obviously didn’t care about and didn’t respond to his expression of________ and friendliness. The businessman smiled at me and said, “Why would I let someone else________what I say and what I feel or what kind of day I’m going to have?”

We then________ to go to our respective work places. To this day, I don’t know anything about that business man. But I’ve never________ the words he said or the way his smile seemed like a ray of light on a gloomy day. That was a good deed 25 years ago, but the________ this had on my life has lasted. I never had a________ to thank him personally, but the way in which I choose to look at life as a result of those words is his legacy (遗赠) to me and my thanks to him.