Mr. and Mrs. Green were very worried about their son, Daniel. He was born normal (正常) in every other way,1 seemed to be dumb (哑的). Mr. and Mrs. Green tried everything to get him to 2, but with no success.

    When Daniel was six years old, the best doctors in the town examined (检查) him3, but could find nothing wrong. And he seemed to be smart. It was just that he 4 spoke.

    “There might be something wrong with his 5, and he doesn't know he's able to speak,” one doctor said.

    “But he can read and write,” said Mr. Green, “We've written him notes, telling him to speak some day.”

    “It's certainly very 6,” another doctor said. “Perhaps he will be able to speak some day.”

    7passed. Daniel went to university. But he didn't speak a single word.

    Then one day Daniel was having a meal with his parents. Without any warning, he looked up from his 8 and said, “Pass me the salt, please.”

    Mr and Mrs Green were excited. “You spoke! You spoke!” they cried. “Why have you 9 so long to speak?”

    “I didn't have anything to say,” he said. “Until now everything was10. But you forgot to put salt in these potatoes.”

    My mum is in her seventies. She has 1 a lot. She has faced challenges and seen both successes and failures.

    Recently I asked her to give me three pieces of 2. After several minutes, she said that she needed some time to think about it. This 3 me because she'd always been ready with advice.

    The next day, she gave me a piece of paper with three pieces of advice. She said that these were the 4 that she could come up with. She didn't tell me to save 5 for a better life or work hard. What she told me gave me another 6. Here's the advice my mother 7 wrote for me.

◆Make each day meaningful by 8 someone, or just making that person smile.

◆Don't 9 about life's troubles but remember the good times.

◆Don't worry about things you can't do anything about.

    Everyone 10 someone to give a hand to. My mum is that person in my life. The advice she gave me has made me the person who I'm today.

    My neighbor is a doctor. He and his wife are some of the 1 people I have ever met. A few years ago, we started this kind of "favor war "where one of us would do something kind for the other, such as 2 the driveway or building a shed, and next time the other would 3 to top it with another favor.

    Yesterday morning there was about 2 or 3 feet of snow on the ground and I 4 he shoveled (铲) my driveway for me when I was out on a business trip last 5. So I took out my shovel and took care of both our sidewalks and driveways because it was my turn to do a favor 6. It took a while but I finished it and got into my car for work.

    That night I got a 7 on my door, it was my neighbor. He immediately shook my hand and thanked me for shoveling 8 driveway and sidewalk, so that he was able to get to work earlier and 9 a boy.

    "As soon as I started the car early this morning, a(n) 10 came through that a young boy in our neighborhood was seriously ill. 11, my partner and I were only about 2 minutes away, but the closest ambulance (救护车) 10 minutes," added he. "A young boy got to live his life 12 you did me the favor earlier this morning."

    It wasn't too much 13 to shovel a driveway, but what I did got a young boy to see his family again, go back to school again and live his life again.

    14 favor is too small. Even the smallest favor can make the biggest 15. One favor will always be followed by another.

    With a hat by his feet, a blind boy sat on the steps of a building. He held up a sign which said," I'm blind, please help."

    Only a few people put1in the hat. A man was walking by. He dropped some coins into the hat, then turned the sign2wrote some words, put the sign back and left.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people began to give money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man came to see3things were going. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, " Were you the one who 4 my sign this morning? What did you write?"

    The man said, I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a(n)5way." What he wrote was. "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

    Both the6told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by throwing some money into the7. The second one, 8, told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day. But the boy couldn't.

    There are at least two lessons we can learn9this story. First, be thankful for what you have. Someone else has less Help them if you can. 10, be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.

    My stutter(口吃) had always been much of a problem. I'd had so many specialists(专家) for my speech over the years. It hurt me until I met a new one in the hall.

    "Hello! I'm Mrs. Claussen. I hear you're from Texas!"

    "Ye-Ye-Ye-Yes m-m-m-m-m-m-aam I am..."My heart felt like it was pounding (剧烈跳动)through my chest and my hands were dripping wet.

    "Well," she said with a 1smile. "I've always like Texas."

    She turned out to be the best speech specialist I've ever had, not like 2who told me to clap my hands while speaking. She was different from others. She spent the first several weeks just talking to me — asking me all kinds of questions about myself, 3my feelings. And she listened. She then began to teach me about the speech. Not just about my speech, but about everybody's.

    I 4in my old school and was a pretty good tenor(男高音), but I learned that the new school's singing group was all 5. It was such bad news, for I thought that was the one thing I could really do well- and I could do it .However, Mrs. Claussen finally got me in the group. I felt like she really cared about me as a person, not just a 6student.

    During the next two years, my speech didn't get much better - except with her. When I was in college(大学), things got worse. I once even wanted to know 7I would ever be able to communicate! It was a very sad time, and I often felt alone. When I was feeling really sorry for myself, I remembered Mrs. Claussen had told me whether I could change my speech was all up to me. She had told me to fight for perfect speech, just 8speech. She was right about that. I finally improved my speech greatly.

    Many years have passed, but I think of her from time to time, wondering (想知道)if she had as much 9on her other students as she had on me. I like to think that she did. Her name was Mrs. Claussen... and she 10me. I'll never forget her.