Steve, a twelve-year-old boy with alcoholic parents, was failing. Surprisingly, he could read.     21  his good reading skills, Steve had been failing since first grade. Steve was a big boy, yet, he went unnoticed...    22   Miss White.
Miss White was a smiling, beautiful, young lady. For the first time in his    23  life, Steve couldn’t take his eyes off his teacher; yet,    24  he failed. In the middle of the first term, the entire seventh grade was    25  for basic skills. Steve hurried through his tests, and    26  to dream of other things, as the day passed slowly. One day, Miss White’s    27  voice broke into his daydreams. “Steve!” Startled (吓了一跳), he    28  to look at her. “Pay attention!” She began to    29  the test results. “You all did pretty well,” she told the class, “   30  one boy, and it breaks my    31  to tell you this, but...” She hesitated, pinning Steve to his seat with a sharp    32 . “... The smartest boy in the seventh grade is failing my class!”
After that, Steve still    33  do his homework. “Just try it,” Miss White said one day. “Steve! Please! I care about you!” Wow! Suddenly, Steve got it! Someone cared about him? Someone, so beautiful and perfect, cared about him! Steve went home from school,    34 ,  that afternoon.
The following Monday he arrived at school on time, and waited for Miss White to enter the classroom. She walked in, all sparkle and smiles! Immediately, she gave a    35  on the weekend homework. Steve was the first to    36  his paper. With a look of    37 , Miss White took his paper. Steve walked back to his desk, his heart beating strongly within his chest.
Miss White’s face was in total    38 ! Suddenly, her face broke into a bright smile. The smartest boy in the seventh grade had just    39  his first test! From that moment   40  was the same for Steve.

Twenty years ago I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I­­­­­­­­­­­­   21  -，I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor    22 
I walked to the door and knocked “Just a minute” answered a weak elderly      23
After a long pause the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood    24    me by her side was a small suitcase. I took the suitcase to the car and then  25to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked   26 toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing” I told her. “I just try to   27  my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.” “Oh you’re such a good man.” She said. When we got into the taxi she gave me an address and then asked“Could you drive   28 downtown”
“It’s not the shortest way” I answered quickly.
“Oh I’m   29 ” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice临终医院. I don’t have any   30  left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and   31  the meter计价器.
For the next two hours we drove through the city. She   32  me the building where she had once worked the neighborhood where she had lived and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone  33  as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a   34 building and would sit staring into the darkness saying nothing.
At  35  she suddenly said” I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the   36 she had given me. “How much do I   37 you” she asked. “Nothing.” I said. “You have to make a living” she answered. “Oh there are other   38 ” I answered. Almost without thinking I   39  and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark“You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
I walked into the  40 morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

One day a police officer managed to get some fresh mushrooms(蘑菇). He was so   26  with what he had bought that he offered to   27  the mushrooms with his brother officers. When their breakfast arrived the next day, each officer found some mushrooms on his plate. "Let the dog _28__a piece first," suggested one__29_ officer who was afraid that the mushrooms might be poisonous(有毒的).
The dog seemed to_30__his mushroom, and the officers then began to eat their meal, saying that the mushrooms had a very strange __31___ quite pleasant taste.
An hour later, however, they were all astonished_32___the gardener rushed in and said_33___that the dog was dead. _34__, the officers jumped into their cars and rushed to the __35___hospital. Pumps(洗胃器) were used and the officers had a very_36___time getting rid of the mushrooms that__37__in their stomachs.
When they_38___to the police station, they sat down and started to__39__the mushroom poisoning. Each man explained the pains(痛苦) that_40___had felt and they agreed that these had grown worse on their_41___to the hospital. The gardener was  42__to tell the way in which the poor dog had died." Did it__43___much before death?" asked one of the officers, feeling very pleased that he had escaped a_44__death himself. "No," the gardener looked rather __45___. "It was killed the moment a car hit it."

I was sitting in the surgical waiting area at the hospital waiting for word of my wife's operation. The small room was filled with other families and friends who were 36 waiting to hear how their loved ones were doing.
There was a young boy sitting quietly in the__37__.He held a small box of__38__in one hand and a tablet( 写字板)in the other. Every so often he'd place the tablet on his lap and draw something. As the hours passed I began to see the room almost__39__.And there was a strange silence.
“Daddy，when is Mommy going home？”the young boy asked，breaking the__40__.
“Tomorrow，”his father replied. The boy picked up his crayons and__41__something on the tablet.
I _42__him as he moved his feet back and forth，looking up at the ceiling and then toward the sunshine－filled window.“When's__43__，Daddy？”he asked. His father__44__him over to sit by him. “Come，_45__here next to me，”he said with a gentle tone in his voice.
__46__his things，the little boy walked slowly to his father's side from the corner.
The man_47__out and held his son by his shoulders.
“There are three days in life. Yesterday，today and tomorrow. One is over and done，one we live in，the other we__48__.We can't live in yesterday，but if we are happy enough today，we will be even happier tomorrow，”he said in an attempt to__49__the boy.
The little boy looked at him for a moment and said，“If Mommy is going home tomorrow，I'll be__50__. So，I want it to be tomorrow already, Daddy.”
Now hanging on every word of this__51__，I leaned forward to hear his response. It was__52__.
“Son，the one great thing about today is once it__53__，it is already almost tomorrow.”
I thought about how__54__it was. Even in my adult life. I still live waiting for what tomorrow may__55__.Now I know that it is already “almost tomorrow.”

It was at a concert that I happened to find David. He was holding his head at a strange   36  as if he were staring down at something. Then the truth  37 me. He was blind. The last thing he remembers seeingwas his daughter being born. Then the whole world went   38 .
Bad luck is no stranger to this 44-year-old man. His mother died of cancer, and his weak father had to  39 11-year-old David to the  40 of the state.
Things seemed always to go for   41  . Two years ago, his beloved guide dog pulled him out of the pathof a truck. David was not  42 . The dog died.
But David does not feel sorry for himself. “These are just little obstacles(障碍困难) you have to   43  in your life,” he said.
He has to make a daily two-hour trip to his working place—the X-ray department of an  44  room. It was a hard job to 45 by. Before he got it, David was determined to escape the workshop run by the Lighthouse, an organization   46  to helping blind people. He wanted a job of developing X-ray film, a job   47   everyone, not just he, must work in the dark, including those with  48  eyesight. The Lighthouse called many hospitals, with no result,   49  they offered to pay his first three months’ salary.
David works alone in a dark room that   50  of chemicals. He doesn’t wear gloves. Otherwise, he could not feel. 51  this is an emergency room, lives can be put either   52  or out of danger. His director says he trusts him 100 percent.
He makes $20,000 a year. But his motivation goes   53  money. “By working I can realize my own   54 . That’s what really counts!” he said.
What a shining example for us to   55 !

I went to my favorite restaurant one evening to have supper. I knew the owner very well. 1 I was waiting for the soup to arrive, I looked around to see if I knew anyone in the restaurant. It was 2 that I noticed a man sitting at the corner table 3 watching in my direction, as if he knew me. The man had a newspaper open 4 him, which he was 5 to read, though all the while I could see that he was keeping an eye on me. When the waiter brought the soup, the man was clearly 6 by the familiar way in which the waiter and I talked to each other. He became even more puzzled as time went on and it grew more and more obvious that I was well 7 in the restaurant. In the end he got up and went to the kitchen. After a few minutes he came 8 again, paid his bill and left without 9 looking in my direction.
When I finished and was 10 to pay my bill, I called the owner over and 11 him what the man had wanted. The owner at 12 didn’t want to tell me. I 13 “ Well”, he said “ that man was a detective.” “ 14 ?” I said, much surprised. “ he followed you here because he 15 you were the man he was looking for,” the owner said. “ He showed me a photo of the 16 man. He certainly looked 17 you! Of course since we know you here. I was able to make him 18 that he had made a mistake.” “ It’s 19 I came to a restaurant where I’m where I’m known,” I said, “ otherwise I 20 have been taken to police station!”

Mr. Glen is a millionaire. Five years ago, after returning from abroad to his motherland, he  16  his small company. Speaking of success, Glen often tells us a story about his extra expensive “school” fee. He always  17  his success to it.
At that time, Glen, who already got a Ph.D. degree,  18  to return to the homeland, starting a company. Before leaving, he bought a Rolex watch with the  19  made through years of work after school and the scholarships. At the airport he had to accept the  20  customs check. The watch on his wrist was also demanded to be taken down for  21 . Glen knew that carrying the specific goods out had to pay the tax, and he worried about paying 22  for his watch. So when he was checked, he told a lie that his watch was a  23  fake. When he was 24  of his “smarts”, immediately, in the presence of Glen, the officers hit the watch, 25  cost nearly 100,000, into pieces  26  hearing Glen’s words. Glen was  27  before he understood why, he was taken to the office to be examined  28 . For many times of entry-exit  29  he knew that only those people in the “blacklist” would “enjoy” this special treatment. The officers looked over everything carefully in the box, and   30   him no matter what time of entry and exit he must accept the check and if  31  reusing and carrying fake and shoddy goods, he would be  32  according to law! Suddenly, his face turned red, and he had nothing in mind after boarding the plane for long.
After returning to the homeland, he often told the story to his family, and his employees, too. He said that this made a deep  33  on him, because the additional high “school” fee that he had ever paid made him realize the value of  34 , which he would remember as the  35  of his success forever.

John, an academically(学术上) excellent young man, went to apply for a management position in a big company. The director did the last   26 .
The director asked, “Who paid for your school fees?” John answered, “My   27  did. When I was young, my father   28 .”   Then he continued, “  29 was your mother?” John answered, “My mother worked as a   30  cleaner.” Hearing this, the director asked John to  31 his hands. John reached out his hands that were   32  and perfect. The director said, “I have a   33 . When you go home, clean your mother’s hands and see me tomorrow.”
John felt   34  but did it. His tears fell   35  he cleaned his mother’s hands. He noticed for the first time that her hands were so   36 . Also John   37  that it was this pair of hands that washed clothes every day to   38  him. After cleaning his mother’s hands, John   39  washed all the remaining clothes for her.
Next day, John went to the director’s office. Tears in eyes, John was asked to   40  his feelings. “Now I know what is   41 .Without my mother, there wouldn’t be the   42  me today. By helping my mother, I see how   43  it is to get something done. I have also come to know the value of family relationship.”
The director smiled, “This is what I am   44 . I want a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others and a person who   45  put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.”

Diana Velez does everything with great effort---and at maximum speed．That  21 learning a new language，completing two certificates(证书) and opening a store．
When arriving in Canada in 2008，she set one  22 ：to have what she had back home in Colombia．“I didn’t want to  23  what I do，like those who come to a new country，”she said．“I  24  to open a store here in Canada but knew I had to  25  myself properly.”
Diana quickly realized that turning her dream of shop ownership in Canada a 26  meant going to school to get the  27  education and certification．“My experience of owning a shop and working as a designer in Colombia gave me  28  in my abilities，but I couldn’t speak the language and I had to  29 how to do things in Canada．It was like having to  30 all overagain，”said Diana．
  31  ，she found just the help she needed for her re-launch (重新开张)  32  continuing education at George Brown College．She began taking  33  for both the Essential Skills in Fashion Certificate and the Image Consulting Certificate in May 2009． 34  Diana met with the language barrier(困难)，she was always going 35  while at college．
By the end of October 2009, she had completed all certificate requirements．Within two years after her  36  in Canada，Diana at last achieved her  37  goal when her new store opened its doors in Toronto’s Sheppard Centre．She was on the fast-track to   38 ．
Looking back，Diana，a fashion(时装)designer， 39  her achievements to the goal she set，the education she received from the college，and  40 ，the efforts she made．Now Diana is very happy doing what she is doing．

An old man had been working for many years for a town. His job was to clear away natural waste from the pool water in the hills, which made up the lovely river flowing through the town nearby. Quietly and   36 , the old man guarded the hills,  37   the leaves and branches, and cleaned up the dirt that would have   38  and polluted the fresh flow of water . The town soon became a popular attraction for tourists. Elegant swans (天鹅) floated along the clear river and the view was so beautiful   39     words.
Years passed. One evening the town    40   met. As they reviewed the budget, one man’s  41____caught sight of the salary   42   being paid to the seldom seen keeper of the river. He asked , “Who is the old man? Why do we    43  to employ him? No one in town ever  44 him. For all we know, the strange keeper of the hills isn’t doing his job. His position isn’t   45   any longer.” Then they voted to   46  the man.
For several weeks, nothing changed….
By early autumn, the trees began to  47 their leaves. Small branches broke off and fell into the pools of the hills,  48   the flow of the shining water. One afternoon, someone noticed a slight yellowish-brown   49  in the river. A few days later, the water was much   50  . Within another week, an oily something covered some sections of the water along the banks, and a terrible   51   was soon sensed. Swans left and so did the 52   . The only thing that was now visiting the village was disease and sickness.
Quickly, the   53   town committee called a special meeting. Realizing their huge error in  54  , they rehired the old keeper of the river again, and within a few weeks, the river began to clear up. Swans and tourists came back again and new life returned to the small town in the Alps.
Never ignore the seeming smallness of a task, job or life. They may all make a  55   .