A few years ago, I went through a period of depression. It was so serious that life didn't seem worth 1. It was like long winter, so cold that the sun would never 2.
Then I saw snowdrops (雪花莲) pushing through the freezing, hard 3. I looked at them every day until I felt that if they could come back to life, then so could 4.
Those green plants gave me 5 in a way that nothing else had.
As spring came, I started to put in more and more plants, until the garden was brilliant with 6. I could spend hours 7 to gardening. Life was growing through my hands: gentle, peaceful, but, above all, 8. If I gave love, it was9, a hundred times.
The form of depressive illness I have is biological. It has10 generations of my family and follows no rules nor reason. I can be 11 when the sun is shining or when I am with loving friends. Of course, fresh air and exercise help to12 the depression, but for me 13 is more than that. It 14 strength as well as hope. I often stands in the garden before a tall tree, huge and strong. It lives through freezing temperatures and strong winds. It 15 but never breaks. And so I learn that we may be battled and injured, but we should never give up.
