Henry was a kind, good boy. His father was dead, and his mother was very poor. He had a little sister about two years old. He wanted to 1his mother, for she could not always make enough money to buy food for her little 2.

 One day, a man gave him a dollar for3 a wallet which he had lost. Henry might have kept all the money, for no one saw him when he found it. 4his mother had taught him to be honest, and never keep what did not belong to him.

 With the dollar he bought a box, three brushes and some blacking. He5went to the corner of the street and said to every one whose boots(靴子) did not look nice, “6 your boots, sir, please?” He was so polite that gentleman soon began to notice him, and to let him black their boots. The first day he brought home fifty cents, which he gave to his mother to buy food with.

 When he gave her the money, she said, as she dropped a tear(泪水) of 7, “You are a dear, good boy, Henry. I did not know how I could make enough money to buy bread with, but now I think we can manage to 8 quite well. ”

 Henry worked all the day, and went to school in the evening. He made almost enough money to support his mother and his little sister.

    I have had the pleasure of meeting a few neighbors . They seem to be quite kind people . For Christmas , I thought I would do something nice for each of the neighbors that I knew . I sat down and counted . There were nine neighbors , and I also knew which houses they lived 1 .

    However , I decided to add one more person to my list , the lady I met every morning walking to work when I drove down the street . She always gave me a sweet smile and a friendly wave（挥手）, 2 I had no idea about her address .

    My gift idea was to make small 3 baskets and leave them on each of my neighbor's front porches（门廊）the night of Christmas Eve . I kept the last one for the friendly lady because I was still not sure about where she lived . It was 4 the house down about where I met her each morning . Finally I decided to put it there . My neighbors really enjoyed the baskets and a couple even came by to thank me .

    This morning I got a Thank you card.

    The card said , “ Thank you for those lovely apples and strawberries you left on the porch of Thomas . He 5 on January 19 , but he never stopped 6 about how nice it was that he was remembered in his time of illness . He really enjoyed it . ”

    I was very 7 . Why he sent a card to me ? I had no idea 8 Thomas was or that he had been seriously ill . I had left that nice lady's basket on Thomas' porch by accident . I believe Thomas never expected to have that basket . I feel sorry that the nice lady didn't get a basket from me , but I believe if she knew what had happened , she would 9 me .

    I feel lucky to have helped Thomas be more cheerful in his last days . This just makes me further believe that sometimes 10 in life are beautiful .

    "Tumbling(翻跟头) time!" I called out. My group of children stood up before the blue mats (垫子). Megan walked 1 into the back of the line (队伍). She didn't talk with anyone. The other children had learned tumbling moves months ago, 2  Megan was still working on them.

    One day before class, Megan's father told me, "I'm thinking about taking Megan out of class." " 3 ?" I asked. He said, "She isn't doing as well as the other children. I don't want her to hold them back (妨碍进展)."

    "I don't think you're right," I said. "Megan 4 this class, maybe more than the other children. I didn't start out as a winner. I started to practice tumbling at age 8, just like Megan. When I look at Megan, I see 5 . she works hard. Sir, your daughter may 6 win a competition, but I think there's something more 7 than becoming a winner. That is her self-respect (自尊). I think if she keeps 8 she can do the tumbling moves well."

    As I said these words, Megan looked at me. 9 eyes were full of tears. Her father also said in tears, "Thank you so much." He turned to Megan and said, "Honey, it's time for your 10 . I'm sure you can do pretty well."

    Later, Megan did really well in tumbling. More importantly, she never stood at the back again.

    I was born with a heart disease. As I grew up, parts of my heart started to1and I was often out of breath. So when I was eight, the doctors opened up my chest to2it. When they saw the state of my heart, they told my parents, "We don't expect him to3 the night. "I was in and out of a coma (昏迷)for three months. Every day the fact that I wasn't4 was a good thing.

    Finally, the doctors5I'd be better off at home—saying that I wasn't going to live long. But I carried on and had something close to a   6childhood. As a teenager, I began to7 heart failure again. But I was 8to go to college, become a manager and get married to Jo.

    I started my own9so I could work flexible(灵活的)hours, 10. Jo and I had two children: Josh and Liam. I11to keep a good standard of life for everyone, 12when I was waking up feeling sick every morning. By January last year, my heart failure was so13that I often couldn't walk more than a few yards.

    I was worried about not being around for my 14I had to explain to Josh that the call telling me an organ(器官)had been found could come any time and I'd be 15to hospital, perhaps before I could say goodbye. A few days later, the phone rang and Josh said, "Is that the doctor with your new16?"However, it was  17a salesman.

    May 4 was the day a transplant(移植)18was found. I was out of hospital within five weeks and within a few19, feeling much better. By October, I was taking part in a 30 mile bike ride.

    These days I spend a lot of time talking to kids with heart20. I want to support others who have had a hard time.

Looking at life differently

    When I was 14, life was boring.

    However, I didn't mind having the same views (风景)every day. And even though my school had over a thousand students, I didn't really care to notice the differences between us all.

    But this boring view of mine 1when my parents bought me a camera for Christmas. After a month of playing with my new camera, I realized I had no 2for taking pictures. Even though I got friends to pose (摆姿势)in front of ancient buildings and in flowery fields, nothing seemed to3. My photos were clearly missing something of importance and had no creativity. After a while, I dropped my new hobby.

    Then, a month or two later, I suddenly decided to pick it up again. During the summer break, I went for a walk on the railroad tracks (铁轨)behind my house.

    The tracks are a warm red color. Before the walk, I thought," Maybe I should bring my camera."

    Surprisingly, this 4was what began my love for photography. When I was walking on the tracks without a model and only nature around me, I realized how important it was to look at the details (细节)of things. I didn't worry about trying to 5something beautiful. Instead, I just took photos of the beauty already around me.

    I quickly became6about color, lighting, shape and everything in between. After months of studying outdoor sights and looking at people's eyes, I was 7able to create beauty of my own. Slowly, my photos became something I was proud of.

    So far, my works have appeared in two magazines and been shown in two different museums. They're not huge achievements, but they're important to me. And they're the 8of how much my artistic abilities have grown.

    Thanks to this Christmas gift from my parents, I now have a new way of looking at the world.

    Ben would hear strong winds outside his home in Alabama Black clouds were making the s{#blank#}1{#/blank#} very dark. The winds strongly b{#blank#}2{#/blank#} and beat against the house. With no l{#blank#}3{#/blank#} outside, it felt like midnight. The news on TV r{#blank#}4{#/blank#} that a heavy rainstorm was in the area.

    Everyone in the neighborhood was b{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Dad was putting pieces of wood over the windows while Mom was making sure the lights and radio were {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. Ben was helping his mom make dinner when the rain began. After dinner, they tried to play a card game, b{#blank#}7{#/blank#} it was hard to have fun with a serious storm happening outside.

    Ben could not s{#blank#}8{#/blank#} first. He finally fell asleep when the wind was dying down.

When he w{#blank#}9{#/blank#} up, the sun was rising. He went outside with his family and found the neighborhood in a mess. Fallen trees, broken windows and rubbish were everywhere.

    They joined the neighbors to clean up the neighborhood.

    Although the storm broke many things apart it brought families and neighbors c{#blank#}10{#/blank#} together.