One of my neighbors used to have a beautiful tree in her front yard. Her dad had planted it for her 1 it was nothing more than a little branch and several years later it started to 2 towards the sky at an amazing speed. Soon it blessed her with cooling 3 in the summer and glorious, golden leaves in the fall.
When the two-day snowstorm struck our town, heavy snow4 the tree's branches that were still full of leaves. The weight split that lovely tree down the5 . It was so sad seeing half of it6 on the ground after the storm. When I talked to my neighbor later, she said that the damage had been too much and that the7 tree would have to be cut down.8 , she had saved a few seedlings from it that she hoped to9 in the future.
Still, it was a shock to drive by her house the other day and see 10 but a stump (树桩) in her front yard. I missed that tree. I missed its branches, its leaves 11 in the afternoon sun. I missed seeing its limbs (树枝) reach towards the heavens. I thought that the stump would be a sad 12 of its loss for a long time to come.
My wonderful neighbor had another plan, 13 . When I drove by her home today I saw a tiny bird feeder sitting on that stump and a colorful songbird having its 14 . It was such an affirmation (肯定) of life. It was such a joy to 15 . I could feel my heart 16 .
Life by its very nature is a 17 bag. It hands us both beauty and tragedy, love and loss, 18 and pain. What we do with it, however, is up to us. We can let it 19 us in two, or we can use even its hardest times to make our 20 stronger and our hearts more loving. We can spend it complaining or we can use it to help others.
