In a small village， there lived a potter（陶工）. He had a donkey. Every day his donkey would carry soil from the field to his house._______the field was quite far away， the potter would rest under a tree midway, _______his donkey nearby.

One day, the potter forgot to take the_______with which he tied the donkey every day. When he reached the tree，he thought，"How do I tie this donkey today？ He might ________if I sleep. " The potter decided to lie down, ________the donkey's ears so that the donkey would not run away.

But _______this way neither the donkey nor the potter was able to take a rest. A wise saint（圣人）, who ______to be passing by, saw the potter holding on to the donkey's ears. Then the saint wanted to know what the problem of the potter was. When he was ________what the problem was， the wise saint said， "Take the donkey to the place where you tie him every day. Pretend（假装） to tie him using a（n）________rope. I promise you that he won't run away." The potter did what the saint had said.

He left the donkey and went to take a rest. When he woke up, to his ________， he found the donkey standing in the same place.

Soon the potter prepared to leave for home.________the donkey did not move. "What is wrong with this donkey？" shouted the potter in frustration.

________， the potter saw the wise saint again. He ran up to the saint and told him about the donkey's_________behavior. The saint said, "You tied up the donkey, but did you untie him? Go and pretend to untie the rope with which you had tied the donkey."

The potter_________the saint's advice. He thanked the wise saint and went home happily with his donkey. The donkey is stupid and ________are those people who can't get away from old habits. Sometimes， the unseen rope is more confining（束缚的） than the one that can be seen.