One’s education starts from family, especially from his or her mother. Here is a story__26__ happened in my childhood.
One Saturday morning, I was watching TV in the living room with my two brothers. My mum__27__ several apples of different colors and sizes. She put all the apples on the table, then __28__me and my younger brothers, “Which do you like ?”__29__ my younger brothers and I wanted the biggest one. __30__ I could say “ The biggest one”, one of my brothers stood up and said what I wanted to say.
My mum __31__ the biggest apple and said to us, “It is __32__to get the biggest apple. Many people want the best thing, but few really get it. Now let’s start a __33__. Look at the lawn(草坪) in front of our __34__. I’ll divide it into three parts. Each of you must finish pruning(修剪) __35__own share. The best and quickest one will be__36__the biggest apple.” I won the apple finally.
Since then, I have learned to try my best to succeed whenever I get a chance. I work __37__to get what I want. That was what my mother advised me to do. I feel very thankful to my mum because she taught me a very basic but the most __38__lesson. It is quite fair that we can get what we want __39__competing (竞争). My mother kept teaching us in this way and we followed her __40__ all the time.
I do believe that mother is the first teacher of children, who can teach them to be a No.1 pursuing person.

Last fall I put a bird feeder outside my window. I thought as soon as I hung up, a great ___16____ beautiful birds would come. Days, weeks and months went by; ____17____, no birds.
I asked many people, why? What was I doing ___18____? “Nothing,” most of them replied. “Just ____19____.” So I waited, waited and waited.
I ____20____ off the deck （露台）, I changed the feed, I ___21____ the feeders, and I ____22____ made the cat go out the other door! But ____23___ seemed to work. So --- I waited, “with patience and hope. ”
Two months later, early in the morning, I was ____24____. A beautiful bird had been on the bird feeder. All of a sudden, I saw hundreds upon hundreds of birds____25____ from everywhere.
____26____ a beautiful lesson this living thing taught me! “Patience and hope” will ____27____ the most beautiful things in life.
So I keep hoping and waiting, waiting and ___28____. I will try to use this “little lesson” in ____29____ many other things in my life. I guess, “____30____ is a virtue （美德）” after all.

In New York, on a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a train station. He was playing his  16   .His music was so great that many people put money into his   17   .The next day, the young artist came to the   18   place, and played the violin as usual. Different from the day before, he took out a piece of paper and put   19   on the ground. The paper read ,“Last night ,a man named George Sang put an important thing into my hat  20   .Please come to get it soon.”   21   about half an hour, a(an)   22   man there in a hurry, “Oh ,it’s you. You did come here.” The young violinist asked   23   , “Are you Mr. George Sang?” “Yes! Yes!” Then the violinist asked, “Did you lose something?” “Lottery(彩票).It’s the most valuable lottery in my 70 years of life,” said the man.

The violinist   24   a lottery ticket. George Sang’s name was on it, so the violinist   25   it to him. Later someone asked the violinist, “Since you   26   play the violin every day to make your tuition (学费)in the university, why didn’t you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?” The violinist said, “   27    I don’t have much money, I live happily; But if I lose honesty, I won’t be happy forever.” Through our lives, we can get a lot and lose so   28   . But being   29   should always be with us. If we act in a dishonest way, we may   30    in a short period(短期). However, from the long-term view, we will be a loser.

In New York, on a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a train station. He was playing his  16  .His music was so great that many people put money into his   17  .The next day, the young artist came to the   18  place, and played the violin as usual. Different from the day before, he took out a piece of paper and put   19  on the ground. The paper read ,“Last night ,a man named George Sang put an important thing into my hat  20  .Please come to get it soon.”   21  about half an hour, a(an)   22  man there in a hurry, “Oh ,it’s you. You did come here.” The young violinist asked   23  , “Are you Mr. George Sang?”“Yes! Yes!” Then the violinist asked, “Did you lose something?”“Lottery(彩票).It’s the most valuable lottery in my 70 years of life,” said the man.
The violinist   24  a lottery ticket. George Sang’s name was on it, so the violinist   25  it to him. Later someone asked the violinist, “Since you   26  play the violin every day to make your tuition (学费)in the university, why didn’t you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?” The violinist said, “  27   I don’t have much money, I live happily; But if I lose honesty, I won’t be happy forever.” Through our lives, we can get a lot and lose so   28  . But being   29  should always be with us. If we act in a dishonest way, we may   30   in a short period(短期). However, from the long-term view, we will be a loser.