It took me a little longer to fully (1) the importance of the rock which the villagers believed marked the center of the world. I had at first doubted their (2), as I knew for a fact that the center was (3) somewhere else in New England. After all, my grandfather had come from there. But gradually I realized the village people had a very (4)belief and I agreed with them. We all tend to regard as the center that special place where we are known, where we know others, where things mean much to us, and where we ourselves have both (5) and meaning: family, school, town and local region could all be our center of the world.