A young man went to visit a wise man. He wondered what the most ________ day in our lives was. “Is it the day when we were born or the day we will ________?” He asked the wise man. “ ________. The most important day in our lives is today.” The wise man replied calmly.

“Why?” The young man felt very ________. “Is it because there is a moving thing taking place today?” The wise man shook his head. He continued to ask, “Is it because of my visit?” The wise man answered, “No. ________ nobody visited me today, today is still very important because today is the only wealth we have. No matter how memorable (难忘的) yesterday is, it has ________; no matter how bright tomorrow may be, it hasn’t come ________; but no matter how common today is, it is under our control.”

The young man still wanted to ask something, while the wise man ________ him and said, “When we are talking about the meaning of today, we have ________ a lot of it.” The young man nodded and then went down the mountain.

Actually, today is the only ________ we have. So, what we should do now is to forget yesterday and tomorrow and catch the moment of today!

A well-known speaker started his speech by holding up a $20 note. In the room of 200 people, he asked, “Who ________ this $20 note?”

Hands started going up. The speaker said, “I’m going to give this $20 note to one of you, but that, let me do this. He made the note wrinkled（起皱的）with his hands and then asked, “Who still needs it?” The ________ were up in the air again.

“Well,” the speaker continued, “what if I do this?” He ________ it on the ground, stepped on it with his shoe, and then picked it up. The note was ________.

“Now, who would like it?”

Still the hands went into the air.

“My friends, you have all ________ a very valuable lesson. Whatever I do to the money, you still want it ________ it doesn’t drop in value. It is still worth $20.”

“Sometimes in our lives, we may feel ________ by the decisions we make or the difficulties that come our way. We feel as if we are ________. But no matter what happened or what will happen, we will never lose our value. ”

“Dirty or clean, wrinkled or tidy, we are always ________ to those who love us. The value of us doesn’t ________ what we do or who we know, but who we are.”

“You are special—don’t ever forget it!”

There was once a company（公司）announced that it would offer a lot of money to anyone who could find a white marigold（金盏花）. At first many people were excited, but soon they forgot the announcement, because most marigolds were ________ golden or brown and it was very ________ to find a white one.

One normal day after 20 years, the company ________ a letter from an old woman over 70 years old. She also sent 100 white marigold seeds（种子）along with the ________. On that day, the amazing news spread ________ wildfire. As a result, the old woman became a new focus.

The woman was a flower ________. When she first heard the company’s announcement 20 years ________, she got very excited. She thought she could grow her own white marigolds. But her children ________ her. After all, she knew ________ about seed genetics（遗传学）. So her dream of growing white marigolds was just that—a dream.

Still, the old woman didn’t change her mind and went on ________. She planted some common marigold seeds and ________ them well. A year later, when the marigolds bloomed（开花）, she chose one of the most suitable flowers and took ________ seeds. She planted these seeds and waited another year for them to bloom.

Day after day, year after year, through many seasons, her life changed. Her husband died, her children moved away, and many other things happened. ________ her dream to grow white marigolds remained in her heart. Finally, after 20 years, she went out to her garden and found a marigold that was not ________ white—it was as white as the purest（纯洁的）snow.

Such a difficult problem was solved by an old woman ________ didn’t understand genetics. Was it a wonder? Be patient and hold on. Thus, even the most common seed can grow into a wonder.