Last Christmas while staying with my parents, I 1 across some old love letters that my parents wrote to each other. These letters were all piled up in a basket, dirty and 2 with dust.3 to read and sort them, I asked them if I could take the letters back to my Illinois home. They agreed.

    As I carefully opened each letter, all of them delicate with age, I discovered a new page 4unknown to me in this private chapter of my parents' lives.

    My father used to 5 in the army. So his letters were full of frontline  6 of the things about the war. Each of my mother's letters was marked 7 her 1944 dark red lipstick kiss. I was 8 to these letters like a magnet (磁铁).

    Just six weeks after our Christmas visit, Daddy became very 9and was hospitalized. This time, he was fighting a 10 kind of war. As I sat by his bedside, we discussed the 11 . He told me how much receiving those lipstick-kissed letters had 12to him when he had been so far from home.

    It so happened that the next day would be February 14. From the 13letters I chose the card my father had sent Mother in 1944 and brought it to my father's bedside.

    At his bedside, I joked with him, saying 14, “Today is Valentine's Day, don't you want to send Mother a present?” He became more 15when I handed him the old 16. He carefully opened it and took out the card, and when he 17 it, his eyes were filled with tears.

    My father, in a voice tight with18read the loving19he'd sent to my mother fifty-six years earlier. And this time, he could read it to her 20.

    Once upon a time, there lived two parent parrots. Every morning they flew out to 1 food for their two young birds. One day, a hunter 2 the young birds. The young birds 3 to free themselves from the hands of the hunter. One 4 from the hunter, while the other was taken in a cage by the hunter to his house. He gave it to his 5.

    The other parrot flew away and came to a place where some holy men lived. They did not 6 the young parrot, so it stayed there. It 7 their talk and learned to say a few words.

    Several years later, a traveler was walking near the hunter's hut(小屋). He sat near the hut, extremely 8. He heard the parrot that lived there say, “9, why have you come here? I will cut your throat.” The traveler 10 got up and left the place in a hurry. Then he happened to reach the place where the other parrot lived. The parrot was sitting on a tree. Seeing the traveler, it said, “Welcome, traveler. Welcome to this hermitage(偏僻的寺院). We have a lot of good 11 in this forest, which looks sweet and delicious. Eat whatever you like. The holy men will 12 you well.”

    The traveler was 13. He couldn't understand why this parrot was so polite 14 the other one was so rude. They were both parrots, after all. 15 it wasn't strange. The parrot he met first lived with the hunter's children who often spoke 16 words, while the parrot he met later had learned the 17 of holy people.

    Our growing environment is of great 18. It is the company that shapes our words and deeds. Good company helps us learn good things while bad company 19 the contrary. Therefore, choose the 20 people to grow up with.

    It is not often that a person has sympathy for someone who stole from him / her. But when Chrissy Marie read the note written by the brother of the “1” who took her butterfly wind chime(风铃), her heart 2.

    The young boy 3 the note and left it on her doorstep. Chrissy 4 a photo on Facebook of the note and the US＄5 the little boy 5 .

    The note read: “I am6that we stole your wind chime. Our mum died and she liked butterflies. My sister7 it to put by our window. I am sorry this is the only8 I have. Please do not be mad at us. Jake .”

    Chrissy Marie wants Jake and his sister to know she is not9 Now Chrissy wants to find Jake and his sister and 10 their money.

    Chrissy11to Jake via her Facebook message: “Well Jake, I hope you can come to get your money12 . I had three of those wind chimes. And I am not mad at all.”

    Chrissy is13 to the area, so she doesn't know many people. She tried to14who Jake is or where he lives, but 15 .

     “I have knocked on a few doors nearby. But I can't16 far because of my injured leg.” she wrote. “I asked my neighbour,17 she didn't know anyone named Jake.”

    Chrissy understands how 18 it can be to lose a mother. She said, “Obviously, the boy felt 19 for what his sister did.”

    Chrissy has been surprised by all the 20 her post got, and she hopes it won't scare Jake off.

    Last Friday when Jose Rodriguez , a 5-year-old white boy, asked his mother Lydia Rodriguez if he could get his blonde hair cut like his black friend Reddy's, and of course his mother agreed. For a very1reason the two pre-school friends decided to2 their teacher with matching haircuts.

    Jose3that if he and Reddy had the same haircut, no one would be able to4 them. Reddy apparently thought this trick was5as well.

    “It is just two6 boys. Obviously, they see they are different colors, they just don't care. It is not7, Rodriguez said. She sees Jose's inability to see a8 between himself and his friend as a parenting win. “I just taught him to9everyone the same,” she said.

    The teacher played along and10she was talking to Jose when Reddy arrived before Jose, he told the teacher and his11he was Jose.

    On Monday, Rodriguez 12the story on the Facebook.78,000 people 13 it and the story has gone viral（疯传）. On the post she wrote: “If this isn't proof that14and prejudice is something that is15 , I don't know what is. Their16 is the only difference Jose sees in the two of them. Though Jose loves17himself on TV and the Internet, he remains unsure why his haircut became such a big18 .

    “He still has no idea why people19so much”, Rodriguez said. “He wanted to20Reddy and now he thinks they look the same.”

    The depression(经济大萧条) was coming to an end and Mum had a（n）1 time raising us kids on her own. Christmas was 2, and we received some money for Christmas. Mum said that 3 buying food, she would use the money to pay back rent. Unknown to Mum, I had been doing tough and odd jobs（零工）to earn enough money to buy myself new4.

    The big day came on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. I was very 5, as I hurried up the road to catch the bus. But on the way, I 6 a house with Christmas lights and decorations. It was then that I realized that at our house, we had 7 for Christmas. I felt sad and I was feeling a strange8 of guilt. Here I was going to buy a new pair of boots 9 Mum would be trying to explain to us why there were no presents.

    I went into a grocery store and bought a turkey, ham, oranges and all the Christmas 10. I 11 every penny of my12 money. I asked two boys to 13 them to our house. I 14 for the delivery boys to quietly 15 the groceries on the porch and pile them 16 the door. Once they had done this, I knocked on the door. I could hardly 17 to see my mother's face! When Mum opened the door, some of the groceries18 inside onto the floor, and she just stood there dumbfounded. 19 the tears, I yelled," Merry Christmas Mother!! There really is a Santa Claus!"

    I had a lot of 20 as we unpacked all the food. That day I got enough hugs and kisses from Mum. It was a Merry Christmas for us after all!

    With his leg lame and his teeth uneven, the boy thought of himself as the most unfortunate child in the world. He 1played with his classmates, and when asked to answer questions, he always 2his head without a word.

    One spring, his father brought home some saplings (树苗).3of his children would plant a sapling and he promised, "Whoever 4 his sapling best shall get a gift." The boy certainly wanted to get the gift.5seeing his brothers and sisters watering the trees, he6 an idea: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So watering it once or twice, he never7 it.

    Several days later, he was 8 to find it not only didn't die, but also grew so many fresh 9. Compared with those of his brothers and sisters, his appeared greener. His father kept his 10, bought the boy a gift and said he would become an outstanding11 after growing up.

    From then on, the boy slowly became12 and confident. One evening, he suddenly13 his biology teacher once said that plants 14 grow at night. Why not go to see the tree?

    When he came to the courtyard, he found his father working near the tree! Immediately he15: Father had been secretly 16 his tree! He returned to his room, tears in his eyes.

    Decades passed. The boy didn't become a botanist. 17, he became the U.S.18. His name was Franklin Roosevelt.

    19 is the best nourishment (滋养品) of life. 20 it is just a bucket of water, it can make the tree of life grow well!