Six years ago, I walked into a local animal shelter on a cold, rainy day.1my house was already full of cats and dogs, I still couldn't 2an occasional visit to the shelter. This time as I was walking down the row of pens(畜栏) full of barking dogs, I3a small boy looking into one of them.

    He had a malnourished（营养不良的）looking body and a4face with a big nose5out of the middle of it. He was looking at a small golden dog. Its ribs（肋骨）were showing and its thin tail was folded between its legs. It wasn't begging for6like the other puppies7was hiding in the corner instead. The boy looked up at me with8eyes and asked what was wrong with it. “It was probably abused and9 ” I said. “That is why it is so 10 ”

    The boy 11turned to an old lady and said, “ Grandma, I want this one.” The old woman smiled and walked to the front desk to fill out the 12forms. I followed her and asked 13the boy. She told me that he'd had a 14start in life, too. She had just gotten custody(监护权) of him15the state had taken him from his parents. She hoped getting a dog would make his life 16for him. I looked back at him, holding his scared puppy, and said a prayer for them both.

    It was yesterday that I was driving down the road enjoying a gloriously sunny, spring day. Then in a green front yard I saw the boy. His 17body was tall and strong. His nose no longer 18big but fit well into his smiling face. He was throwing a ball to a healthy, happy dog shining golden hair. His little act of love and 19had indeed gone a long way. It had saved a dog's life, 20his own heart, and given this middle-aged man fresh hope for the whole world.

    I played a racquetball(壁球) game against my cousin Ed last week. It was one of the most 1and tiring games I've ever had. When Ed first phoned and2we play, I laughed quietly, figuring on an3 victory. After all, Ed's idea of 4has always been nothing more5than lifting a fork to his mouth.6 I can remember, Ed's been the least physically fit member in the family, and7proud of himself. His big stomach has always ballooned out between his T-shirt and trousers. Although the family often8about that, Ed refused to buy a9T-shirt or to lose weight. So when Ed10for our game not only with the bottom of his shirt gathered inside his trousers but also with a stomach you could hardly11, I was so surprised that I was12. My cousin must have made an effort to get himself into shape.13, at the point in our game when I'd have predicted（预计）the score to be about 9 to 1 in my favor, it was147 to 9—and Ed was15. The sudden realization was painful. We 16 to play like two mad men. When the score was 16 up, I was having serious 17about staying alive until 21 years old, let alone18that many points. When the game finally ended, both of us were lying flat on our backs, too tired to19. In a way, I think we both won: I the game, but cousin Ed my 20.

    I come from one of those families where you have to yell at the dinner table to get in a word. Everyone has a strong1 and talks at the same time, and no one has a2leading to heated arguments. We often talk or even debate with each other on different topics.

    3 a family like mine has made me more 4 about the world around me, making me tend to 5 anything any one tells me. But it has also made me realize that I'm not a good listener. And when I say “listening”, I'm not 6 to the nodding-your-head-and-politely-answering-Uh-huh-or-Ooh-I-see variety. I mean the kind of listening where you find yourself deeply 7 with the person you're speaking with, when his story becomes so 8that your world becomes less about you and more about him. No, I was never very good at that.

    I spent summer in South Africa two years ago. I worked for a good non-profit 9 called Noah, which works 10 on behalf of children affected by AIDS. But 11 you asked me what I really did in South Africa, I'd tell you one thing: I listened, and I listened. Sometimes I 12 but mostly I listened.

    And had I not spent two months 13, I might have missed the 14moment when a quiet little girl at one of Noah's community centers, orphaned（孤儿）at the age of three, whispered after a long 15 “I love you.”16 that summer, I knew how to hear. I could sit down with anyone and hear their 17 and nod and respond at the18 time—but most of the time I was 19 about the next words out of my own month. Ever since my summer in South Africa, I have noticed that it's in those moments when my mouth is closed and my20 is wide open that I've learned the most about other people, and perhaps about myself.

    It was pouring outside. We all stood there1, some patiently; others annoyed2 nature messed up their hurried day. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens3 away the dirt and dust of the world.

    "Mom, let's run through the rain," a girl's voice4 me.

    "No, honey. We'll wait until it5 down a bit," Mom replied.

    The young girl waited about another minute and6: "Mom, let's run through the rain."

    "We'll get wet if we do," Mom said.

    "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she7her Mom's arm.

    "This morning? 8 did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

    "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through9.'"

    The entire crowd turned10. Mom paused and thought for a moment about11she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. 12 then, we heard, "Honey, you are13. Let's run through the rain. If we get wet, maybe we just need washing," Mom said. Then 14 they ran.

    We all stood15, smiling and laughing as they ran past the cars. Yes, they got wet. But they were16 by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the17to their cars. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, and they can even take away your18. But no one can take away your precious 19. So, don't forget to make time and take the 20 to make memories every day! I hope you still take the time to run through the rain.

Colorado's grays peak rises 14,278 feet above sea level, high enough that trees can't grow toward the top, though there are plenty of shrubs and rocks. It was in this unforgiving landform that Bev Wedelstedt was unlucky enough to get seriously injured in her left knee.

It was August 2018, and Wedelstedt, 56, was on her way back down the trail with three friends. A storm was brewing, and they were anxious to get off the mountain. When they approached a rocky drop of a couple of feet, Wedelstedt decided to leap. She landed on her left leg. Then she heard the snap. Every step after that was agony（剧痛）. Before long, she had to stop. As one friend ran down to get help, a number of other hikers, all strangers, attempted to help Wedelstedt down the narrow trail by walking on either side of her to support her weight, but that proved slow and dangerous. "One man was so close to the edge that I could see rocks falling down from where he stepped on them." Wedelstedt says.

Finally, one hiker, Matt, asked her, "How do you feel about a fireman's carry?" Before she knew it, he had lifted her over his shoulder. "Now, I'm not tiny," says Wedelstedt, a former college basketball star. Matt clearly couldn't carry her all the way down by himself. So six hikers and one of her friends took turns carrying her while she tried to make light of a difficult situation: "I told them I wanted to meet a lot of guys, but this isn't the way I wanted to do it." Three hours and two rock-strewn miles later, this human conveyor belt finally met the medics, who took Wedelstedt to the hospital.

She stayed in hospital for a period time. Now she has mostly recovered from her ill-fated hike, but Wedelstedt knows she'll never shake one thing from that day: the memory of the band of strangers who came to her rescue. "I'm still in awe."

It was a typical weekend for Mitch White and his friends. They were out celebrating a bachelor party, sailing the peaceful waters of the Minnesota River. They never expected that this single party would transform from a relaxed canoe trip into a painful rescue mission. With the sun setting, an unexpected bark changed everything.

Led by Mitch White, the soon-to-be-married man, they searched for the source of the sound along the banks of the river. Suddenly, a weak cry for help came from the mud. They were surprised to find that the head of a 13-year-old St. Bernard named Ed was barely visible in the thick mud. Mitch said, "The dog wasn't moving on its own, so we should feed it and give it water. " The dog looked like i had used all its strength.

The men took up their oars（桨） and began digging, their festive mood giving way to a focused rescue mission. It took them more than half an hour to free the trapped dog as it was already breathing very feebly after possibly being trapped for 24 hours. When they got the poor fellow out of the mud, he couldn't walk, so they carried him back to the house. Back home with his owner, George Niskanen, Ed began his slow restoration-a happy ending to a dangerous adventure. George was thankful to the bachelor party heroes.

Now, the people of Carver, Minnesota, have new heroes to cheer for. Indeed, this incredible act of bravery and compassion redefined the meaning of a bachelor party. It became a heroic tale of humanity, friendship, and the instinct（本能）to do what's right.