Similes and tears are part of life. But do you find enough time for laughing? I’m not asking if you experience a lot of good times. Of course, we should laugh during the h【小题1】 times. But do you also laugh during the hard times?

Erma Bombeck is known for her funny books. But she wrote one about a more serious subject — cancer in children. The book is titled, I WANT TO GROW HAIR. I WANT TO GROW UP. Erma t【小题2】 with many children who have cancer and learns important lessons from them. She learns, for example, that cancer survivors（幸存者）know how they should smile at l【小题3】 , though they are receiving chemotherapy（化疗）.

She tells about the experience of 15-year-old Jessica. Jessica’s leg was cut off at the knee because of cancer. She was learning to wear a prosthesis（假肢）. Jessica told about playing soccer. She hit the ball hard with her foot. The ball flew off in one direction while her man-made leg flew a【小题4】 way. Then the brave girl lay on the floor, laughing happily.

As the saying goes, “There’s a time to cry and a time to laugh.” Do you find plenty of time to laugh?

You can ..., if you find reason to laugh during the d【小题5】 times. Survivors know how to laugh. If you can laugh even when you’re in trouble, you will make it. So, next time when you’re in trouble, please laugh and face it bravely like Jessica. Remember, laugh and the whole w【小题6】 laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone!

Learn to Rise Again

Have you ever lost yourself, especially when an accident happens? Maybe it is not always easy 【小题1】(discover) yourself. But if you do, you will have a new start.

From a young age, I had a strong sense of my future, skating was 【小题2】(important) than anything else in the world. I spent 24 hours a week 【小题3】(develop) my skills. So I was rewarded(回报) with the first place medals in nearly every competition.

【小题4】 an accident made a difference to everything. During one competition, I fell and hurt 【小题5】(I) badly . The doctor told me that I couldn’t skate anymore. The pain in my back was hard to stand and even basic daily tasks became difficult for me. My confidence(自信) 【小题6】(take) away. I lost heart and wondered 【小题7】 my future would be like. After eight months of suffering, I began to work as a volunteer in some local 【小题8】(community). By volunteering as a swimming teacher for kids, I got an idea of who I wanted to become. Little 【小题9】 little, my confidence came back.

Sometimes, accidents in life will get in our way. We can choose to stay behind or try to get past these accidents. For me, it was just an experience 【小题10】 helped me to learn a lot. And the most important thing is that I learn to rise again.

As a child, I learnt how to make paper masks from newspapers and old magazines. Later I used coloured cardboard. Making masks seemed like a popular art activity. After we made the masks, my classmates and I would put them on and pretend to be people that we were not. By hiding our faces b【小题1】 the masks, it did not seem ridiculous to pretend to be an old man or a baby. Immediately, the mask helped us to step into the shoes of a【小题2】 character.

A mask allows a person to take on different characters, to pretend and make-believe. Have you ever w【小题3】 what the actual face of the clown at the circus is like? The clown’s mask, with white smiling mouth and the round red cheeks, covers whatever the clown r【小题4】 looks like.

Masks can also be used to hide what we do not want people to see. For example, the Phantom of the Opera, tells the story of a man who fell in l【小题5】 with a beautiful woman. However, one side of his face was ugly and terrible to show anyone. Thus, he wore a mask to hide that part of his face.

Adults, more than children wear different masks every day. These are not actual masks like the types that are made in art classes in schools. These masks refer to the person’s ability to hide his real thoughts and feelings. He will behave in different ways no matter what he is actually feeling i【小题6】. Sometimes, we will put on a happy face even though we are s【小题7】. We wear masks because we do not want people whom we do not know well to know what we are actually thinking and feeling.