During the war, my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California. I went to live there in order to be1him. I hated the place. I had never2been so unhappy. My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty, and I was left in a tiny shack(棚屋) alone. The heat was3-almost 125°F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌). 4a soul to talk to. The wind blew non-stop, and all the food I ate, and the very air I breathed, were5 with sand, sand, sand!
I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was 6 and coming back home. I said I couldn't stand it one minute longer. I7 be in prison! My father answered my 8with just two lines-two lines that will always sing in my9- two lines that completely changed my life:
Two men looked out from prison bars,
One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.
I read those two lines10. I was ashamed of myself. I made up my mind I would find out what was good in my present 11; I would look for the stars.
I made friends with the natives, and their12amazed me. They gave me presents of their favorite artworks which they had13to sell to tourists. I studied the delightful forms of the cactus. I watched for the desert sunsets, and14for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the desert had been an ocean15
What brought about this16 change in me? The desert hadn't changed, 17 I had. I had changed my18 And by doing so, I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing19of my life. I was excited by this new world that I had discovered. I had looked out of my self-created prison and20 the stars.
