I was nineteen years old the first time I saw my own true character.
My trip to and from work each day included a ten-minute walk through the heart of downtown, where the   36  often gathered. Like most busy citizens, I learned to   37  those nameless faces. When it came to homeless beggars, my   38  life experience had led me to one   39  that they are on the street because they choose to be, probably due to alcohol or drugs.
It was an extremely cold day. When I passed the groups of beggars as usual, I heard a shaky voice target me. 
“Spare some change?” he asked.
I didn’t even   40  looking up at his nameless face. I briefly   41  him walking into a liquor store and buying whiskey with the money we spared him. Like most teenagers, it took me only moments to  42  him.
“I have no money on me,” I said quickly.
Looking back now, I feel as if God had set out that day to teach me a lesson. And God   43 . Just a few feet past him, I managed to find the only ice patch on the sidewalk. I   44  and landed heavily on my right knee. The   45  was almost killing me as I tried to get up. Then I heard a shaky voice only inches above me.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
I knew immediately this was the man I had just rushed past. Even in pain, I   46  took a quick moment to sniff for the smell of alcohol on his breath. There was none. He wasn’t   47 . I saw the   48  in his eyes.
I  49 to get to my feet. He held my arm as I walked difficultly to the nearby bus stop.
“My name is Mike,” he said. “That’s quite a fall you took, and you really need to get it checked by a doctor,” he said with deep   50 .
“This bus goes past the hospital,” I said.
Mike paused, and a look of sudden   51  crossed his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cup. He took out all the change and held it out toward me.
“I think there’s just enough here for you to take the bus,” he said.
I was highly embarrassed as I remembered my   52 . I reached for my purse and took out my change. At least ten dollars. I offered Mike all my change.
“Thank you and take care of yourself,” I said. Both of us knew that few minutes earlier I couldn’t have   53  what happened to him.
Mike held his cup tightly,   54  it as if it were the first gift he had ever received.
A half cup of change seemed too small a gift for the man who gave a   55  to every nameless face I’ve ever seen.

When I was in the ninth grade, my parents started fighting. I could hear them   36  at each other at night. It always seemed like they were fighting about me. I started to   37  and couldn’t fall asleep. Some nights I didn’t feel like I   38  at all. My grades really started to   39  too. It was hard to pay attention during class because I felt so   40  all the time.
My mom had to take me to see a therapist(治疗专家). On the way, I   41  to worry even more. What would my friends   42  me if they knew I was going to see a therapist? What if the therapist couldn’t   43   me?
It was not that   44 . My therapist asked me a lot of questions and then we talked about how my life might   45  if I was able to get more sleep.   46  I understood how the future could be better, I felt really   47  to try new things. At the end of the session, I was sent home with a piece of paper called a sleep diary. When I woke up each morning, I had to answer all these questions about my sleep.
  48 , she gave me homework related to my sleep. I wasn’t   49  to text or be on my computer after 8 pm. If I couldn’t fall asleep after about ten minutes, she wanted me to get up and do something in another room that would help me to   50  and feel sleepy.
During the therapy sessions, she was a cheerleader for my life and kept   51  out all the things I was doing right. With her help, it was so much easier to notice the   52  things that were happening all around me.
After about two months of seeing my therapist, I was sleeping at least eight hours a night, sometimes even nine! I felt happier. I could   53 . My grades got better. Basically, I felt like myself! It was so much better to admit that something was   54  and to do something to fix it   55  just watch my whole life get worse and worse.

One of my next-door neighbors is a sweet 92-year-old Polish lady. A few days ago, I came back home from a trip. As I was  1 my clothes in my room, I heard a(n)       2  ,violent knock on the door. It was 10:30 pm, and I wasn’t sure who it could be. I went downstairs and  3  the peephole（猫眼）, and saw that it was our sweet next-door neighbor.
I quickly   4  the door, and she seemed really distressed and kept 5 , “please help me, I need your help. The fire alarm won’t go off. Please help me.” I  6  told her that everything would be okay, and  7  her to her house to see what was going on  8  the fire alarm.
She  9 that the alarm had been going on and off inconsistently for the past two hours, and that her  10  to call her daughter to come and fix it was fruitless. So I took a chair from her dining room table,  11  it, and looked at the fire alarm.
After twisting the fire alarm off, I blew into it, because sometimes  12 causes it to make strange noises. She seemed  13 but was exactly shaking out of fear. I asked her  14 she was okay, and she said she was 15  , so I gave her a hug. I felt her shaking in my embrace, and held her _16_ for a few minutes until she stopped shaking and sighed a breath of relief.
We then  17 and talked for ten minutes, until I felt that she was okay, and safe to sleep. She was so generous with  18 for being with her, but I thanked her for  19 me that hugs are indeed good tools! So, sometimes, a(n) 20  hug is a good and powerful way to hold someone going through a difficult period.

I was feeling a little blue because my mother had been laid off from her job and she had lots of bills to pay. It left me wondering what was going to happen to us now.
I got off the college shuttle bus and started walking. That’s  36  I heard piano music and singing rising above the noise of the people and the traffic. I walked a little slower so that I could 37   where it was coming from.   38   the crowd I saw a young lady sitting at a piano with a carriage next to her. She was singing songs about love, keeping on trying, and not underestimating (低估) the power within yourself. The way she was singing    39   me a bit. I stood there watching her play for about fifteen minutes, thinking that it must      40   to perform alone in the middle of a crowded place.
She must have felt my   41   because she would  42 look in my direction. Then I walked over and put some  43     in her carriage and she said, “Thank you”. Instead of continuing my way home, I said to her, “I have been  44     a rough time lately, but you’ve made me  45 again.”
“I’m happy that I could help,” she replied. “Why are you so sad?”
“Well, my mum told me she had got    46   from her job, and that made me sad. I’m not so sure what to do …”
“You see, here’s the problem,” she explained. “While you were        47   , your head was down. Don’t look  48 , because  49   comes in different ways and if your head were down, you might lose it.”
She also explained to me that she saw a lot of  50 people in the world and she tried to bring more  51 by sharing motivational (鼓舞人心的) music. She told me that when she wasn’t making music she studied  52  . So, that was how she knew some of the things she was telling me.
I  53     a little wider because I knew that she was doing a good thing. So, after we  54, my heart was  55      and lightened by a musical soul!

Life became hard when I was 14. My mother and I moved to New York to 36 my father, who’d moved there to find  37  work when I was three years old. He had a job at a restaurant and only visited us  38  every couple of years.
Before I moved, I knew that people in the US spoke English. But honestly, I didn’t stop to analyze the  39  when I was  40  to leave. Just like I assumed I could easily become a doctor or a lawyer. I assumed that I had the skills to learn English in a few weeks. 
When I  41  in the US and started 8^th grade at Ditmas Middle School in Brooklyn, everyone was speaking a(n)  42  language I couldn’t understand. I  43  that life had subtitles, like in foreign movies. School was such a serious place here. Sometimes I felt like I was in a geek（呆子） class. The teachers were always  44  my moves so I couldn’t even throw a paper ball at a classmate’s head. And the worst thing was having to read  45
46  after almost seven months of complaining about everything, I realized that complaining didn’t change things.  47  just made my life worse. If I was going to  48  in this new concrete jungle, I had to  49  . I began to learn English by reading newspapers on my own  50 school. After about four months, I started enjoying reading the crime and sports stories. After six months of studying, my teachers  51  my improvement and moved me into a more  52  English class. I could go to the store and ask for things that I wanted to buy without  53  frustration. For the first time I felt like I was living on earth again  54   I didn’t hear foreign talk. I  55  understand people.

As darkness fell, hundreds of people in the Swiss village left their houses. They were looking   16 at the mountain top in the distance. It was covered with ice and snow beautiful but  17 .
The huge mountain is called Matterhorn. The mountain climbers had  18  the top,using the southern route（路线）. But no one had ever  19  to try a winter climbing up the northern route. But now one man was daring（敢） to try the  20  route. He was Walter Bonatti, a great mountain climber from Italy.
For two days he had climbed. The village people had 21 him anxiously(担心地). Now they were waiting to see his  22  . If he planned to  23  the next day，he would light a green signal. A red light would mean that he gave up.
A tiny green light  24  high on the mountain side. Bonatti was not giving up！The people  25  .
The next day he  26  his way upward(向上). He was so lonely and so  27 ！But he would not give up. Again that night he lit the  28  light.
In the morning, Bonatti  29  up. He could not see the top，but he knew he was 30 there. Though the climb was painful，he moved up.
Bonatti had spent months  31  for the climb. Was the training enough?  Did he have the strength and  32  to climb to the top? 
He was 33  at the top！News about his victory（胜利） was radioed to the world.
The trip  34 the northern route was hard. However,  He was warmly welcomed in the village. He had done the  “ 35 ,” and would be well remembered as a climber forever.

There is an old story about an army of frogs that went jumping through the forest one day when two of them suddenly fell into a deep   1 . All of the other frogs gathered around to look  2 at their two fallen friends. They all began to   3  shake their heads and croak out warnings. “It­­­’s too deep!”said one frog. Another said that there was no   4  they would ever be able to get out   5 .
The two fallen frogs began to continuously jump as they   6  to get out, but the frogs that were   7  kept croaking louder at them that they might as well stop   8  they were as good as dead and just   9  their time. One of the two frogs finally gave up,  10  their advice and died.
The other frog just kept on jumping harder than ever   11  all the loud croaks of disapproval from the frogs around the top of the hole. They kept croaking at him to   12  jumping and save himself from all the   13  and suffering as he jumped and fell back down to the bottom   14 .
Finally, to the   15  of all the other frogs, he jumped right out of the deep hole. The other frogs asked him, “Why did you keep jumping   16   we yelled and croaked at you to stop?” The frog explained to them he was   17  at that time and that he had thought they were cheering for him and yelling words of   18  to him the entire time!
A little encouragement can go a long way. We don’t often think about the   19   that our words have upon others. Our words do have the power to hurt or to   20 .

One day a mother rat and her babies were out in an open field. They were playing and having a good time when   26  a hungry cat came on the scene! It hid   27  a big tree and then   28  forward through the tall grass   29  it could almost hear them talk.  30  the mother rat and her babies knew   31  had happened, the cat   32  from its hiding place and started to run   33  them.
The mother rat and her babies all   34  at once. They hurried towards   35  home, which was under a pile of large stones.   36  the baby rats were   37  frightened that they could not run very   38 . Closer and closer the cat came. In no time the cat would be upon   39 . What was to be done?
The mother rat stopped running,   40  round and faced the cat,   41，"Bow Wow! Bow Wow! "just like   42  angry dog. The cat was so surprised and   43  that it ran away.
The mother rat turned to the babies, "Now you see  44  important it is to learn 45   second language!"

Long time ago, there was a farmer who lived with his daughter. A young man fell in love with the farmer’s beautiful daughter and wished to   36  her. One day, he went to the farmer to  37  his permission. The farmer looked at him and said, “ Guy, stand out in that  38  . I’m going to release (释放)  39  bulls, one at a time. If you can  40  the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter.”
  41 , the young man got out and stood in the field,   42   the first bull. The barn（牛棚） door   43    and out came the biggest bull that he had ever seen. He   44    that one of the next bulls had to be a better   45    than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull   46   .
A few   47    later, the barn door opened again. Unbelievable! The young man had never seen any bull so   48    and fierce as this one in his life. It stood there, pawing（扒） the ground and   49  the young man. “ What the next   50   was like ? It had to be a better choice than this one,” he thought. He let the bull pass through again.
The door opened a third time. A   51    came across the young man’s face. This was the weakest bull that he had ever seen. “ This one was my bull,” he   52    to himself. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and   53    at just the exact moment. He threw his hands to catch ...... But to his  54   , the bull had no tail.
Life is full of opportunities.    55   catch the first one.

I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I used to give a lot of money to the homeless, feeling  31  for them. But as time passed, I became a mom with no home, a huge 32    , and hardly any income. As a result, I  33 giving money to the people on the side of the road and became very  34 .
Things started to change for me  35 . I had a home, a backyard for my daughter, and plenty of food, and I started to  36 myself out of debt. One day we saw a homeless person with the  37 , “Will work for food.” I  38 . My daughter commented. “Mommy, you used to always give money to those people in  39 .” I replied, “Honey, they just use that money for  40 , or other bad things.” She didn’t respond.  41 when I said that, I didn’t feel right.
Three days later, I was driving to  42 my daughter from school. A man was standing on the corner, and something deep  43 me said, “Just help the guy.” So I  44 down my window, and he ran over excitedly. He said, “God bless you, I only need 77 cents.” I  45 into my ashtray (烟灰缸) and strangely enough, there  46 three quarters and two pennies.
I picked them up and gave them to him. He  47 with joy and tears in his eyes. “Wow, you just made it  48 for me to see my mom for Christmas! Thank you so much; the  49 that had this great sale is leaving in 20 minutes!” It was a moment I’ll  50 forever. I think that man won’t forget it either, but I was the one who got the best gift in life—GIVING.