One evening a young woman walked on the beach. She 1 to see the footsteps（足迹） she had left in the sand, but they had already been washed away by the water. When she turned to continue her walk, She was surprised to see an old woman 2 by a fire.
She walked up to the old woman and asked,”Where did you come from? I didn't see you here a minute ago.
3answering her question, the old woman said, ”Sit with me, my child. I have something to show you.”
As the young woman sat down beside the fire, the old woman handed her a book. She turned the pages of the book one by one and was 4 to discover they told the story of her whole life, from the early days of 5to the present. But when she turned to the next page, she found it empty. And the rest of the pages in the book were all empty.
“Does this mean my life ends tonight?” she asked.
“No, my child. It means tonight your life 6 .”
At that time the old woman took the book into her hands and began to tear(撕掉)each of the pages that had words out of the book. She then threw 7 into the fire until all left were empty pages. She handed the book of empty pages to the young woman.
“You see,” she said, “just as the water washed away your footsteps in the sand, your past is forever gone. What you 8 have is here and now. Each moment is the beginning of the rest of your life and you should live it to the fullest, because you won't live that moment a(an) 9 time. For your future, you are free to shape it as you wish, 10 it has not yet been written.”
