—He wants you to________your absence last night.

The Chinese art of paper cutting has a long history. The earliest paper cutting was found in China 1,500 years ago. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has recognized the art, called Jianzhi, on its Intangible Cultural Heritage (非物质文化遗产) list. But Jianzhi is at risk of disappearing. Voyo Woo, a Chinese immigrant to the US, hopes to bring the art back to life.

Voyo Woo loves paper cutting. And she works hard to celebrate the ancient art form. On a recent Saturday, Ms.Woo held a paper cutting show at a shopping center near Washington. She demonstrated the art to crowds for hours at the center.

Voyo Woo began to study the art of Jianzhi as a 14-year-old girl in her hometown in southeastern China. She said all the students at school had to learn the art. But she developed a special love for it, so her teacher gave her extra training after class. Later, she won second prize in a national painting and handwriting competition. Ms.Woo came to the US after she finished college in 2008. Soon after, she became involved in an event to support and expand understanding of Chinese paper cutting. She has been invited to demonstrate the art at a wide collection of events. She has also shown her skill at famous museums like Sackler art galleries in Washington. Ms.Woo says paper cutting represents Chinese cultural values, history and stories of people's lives. She uses the art as a tool to present Chinese culture to people who know little about it.

Ms.Woo placed examples of her art around her as she demonstrated paper cutting at the shopping center. Some shoppers, like Ann Russ, took part in a workshop. Ms.Russ was struck by the finely detailed nature of the work. She said it put her at ease. Voyo Woo says Chinese art is for all people. “It is amazing how Chinese art can echo with people from other cultural backgrounds.”     

I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car and landing on my head. Now I am twenty-two. I can vaguely(模糊地) remember the brightness of sunshine and what red color is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a calamity can do strange things to people.

It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn't been blind. I believe in life now. I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply, otherwise. I don't mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.

Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. The adjustment is never easy, but I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me — a potential to live — which I didn't see, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.

The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have collapsed(倒塌) and become a chair rocker on the front porch(门廊) for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self-confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person； that somewhere in the sweeping, complicated pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.

It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. It had to start with the most elementary things. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good to try for something I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.     

Once there was a free bird. She floated in the sky,(catch) worms for lunch and swam in the summer rain trickles(滴), like many birds. But she had a habit:some event occurred in her life, whether good or bad, the bird would pick up a stone the ground to memorize it. Every day she sorted out her stones, laughed remembering joyful events, and cried remembering the sad ones.

The bird always took the stones with her, whether she was flying in the sky or walking on earth, and she never forgot about them. Years had passed the free bird got a lot of stones, but she still kept on sorting them out, remembering the past. It was becoming more and more difficult for her to fly.

The bird was unable to move on her own，could she catch worms anymore. Only rare rain gave her the necessary energy.But the bird (brave) endured all the hardships, (guard) her precious memories. After some time the bird died of  (starve) and thirst. 

           Life comes in a package. This package includes love, happiness and sorrow, failure and success, hope and despair. Life is a 1process. Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a2 person.

           Love makes you feel wanted. Without love a person could become 3 and ferocious(残忍的). Our parents are the ones who 4 us with unconditional love and care; they teach us about what is right and wrong, good and bad. But we always tend to take this for granted.

Materialistic happiness is short-lived, but happiness achieved by bringing a smile on others' face gives you a certain level of 5. Peace of mind is the main link to6. No mind is happy without peace. We realize the true worth of happiness when we are in7.

           Failure is the path to success. It helps us to touch the sky, teaches us to survive and shows us a specific way. Success 8 in money, fame, pride and self-respect. Here it becomes very 9 to keep our head on our shoulder. The only way to show our gratitude to God for bringing success to us is by being humble, modest and respectful to the less 10 ones.

          Hope is what keeps life going. Parents always hope their children will do well. 11make(s) us dream. Hope builds in patience. Life teaches us not to12 even in the darkest hour, because after every night there is a day. Nothing remains the same and we have only one choice — keep13on in life and be hopeful.

        Life teaches us not to regret over yesterday, for it has passed and is beyond our control. Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be14or dull. So the only15is to work hard today, so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.