A businessman was once deep in debt（债务） and could see no way out. He sat on a park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company.
Suddenly an old man appeared in front of him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said. After listening to the businessman's trouble, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check（支票） and pushed it into his hand, saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared.
The businessman saw his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller. One of the richest men in the world.
"It can solve my problem at once!" the businessman realized. But instead, he decided to put the check in his safe. Just knowing it was there that might give him the strength（力量） to work out a way to save his business, he thought.
After that, he did better in his business. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the check. At the agreed-upon（约定的） time, the old man appeared. But just as the businessman was about to hand back the check and share his successful story, a nurse came running up and caught the old man.
"I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been troubling you. He's always escaping from the hospital and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller."
And then she led the old man away by the arm. The businessman just stood there, suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence（自信心） that gave him the strength to achieve anything he went after.
a. The businessman did better in his business and was out of debt soon.
b. A nurse told the businessman the old man always ran away from the hospital.
c. An old man gave the businessman a check for $ 500, 000.
d. The businessman went back to the park to meet the old man.
