The beautiful gleaming sewing-machine sitting in the corner was one of my most1possessions. Every time I dust it, it2me of the lesson I learned from my grandpa and my dad.
The first time I saw it, I was3in home economics (家政学) at college and4my very own sewing machine. The local Sewing Machine center would sell those with flaws (瑕疵) for fifty cents to the first customer on a certain day of the month. The machines were5to work and it was a real6. One day, Grandpa called, so proud, saying he d gotten one and it was gorgeous. When grandpa7 the driveway, I8out to greet him, followed by my dad.9, I watched as Grandpa opened the back of his wagon. My heart10. The machine was dirty and marked with cracks on the surface. My dad grandpa kept admiring its beauty, saying what a steal it was. Thinking they were11, I still politely and thanked my grandpa,12my disappointment.
Weeks later, my dad said he had something special for me. I13him to the garage, and there sat the most stunning sewing machine I had14seen! The wood was a dark, rich walnut, smooth and shining. It looked15. Dad had cleaned and polished that old machine. Dad and Grandpa weren't crazy at all. They had seen beyond the dirt and16. From the very17, they knew what the machine could look like.
I can still see the18 in my mind like it was yesterday — the day I learned even when life looks hopeless we must look19 the negative, and see the potential20side.
