Ever since I was a child, my mouth has caused me trouble. I'm not a bad person; I have a 1 time learning when to keep my mouth closed.

    My mom has told me again and again, "Robert, your constant bad words are hurting me. If you 2 to be this rude, you will get into big trouble."

    It's been a problem at school several times too when teachers have told me something I didn't want to hear. I used to feel it was my duty(职责) to 3 myself.

    One day in English class I began working on my homework until I heard a classmate 4 behind me. It was Nathaniel, who liked doing that as usual.

    At first, I said very 5, "Nathaniel, would you please be quiet?"

    However, Nathaniel continued talking to himself. I quickly 6 "Nathaniel, shut up(闭嘴)!"

    For the next five minutes, we threw hurtful(伤感情的) words back and forth at each other.

    "At least I don't have an ugly lazy eye like you!" I shouted.

    I knew this would make him 7. It would hurt his feelings and shut him up.

    What I said filled him with anger. He tried to 8 over my seat and catch me as he shouted, "That's it! That's it!"

    9 at his reaction(反应), I sat back in my seat. I had never seen Nathaniel act like this before.

    Later on, we were taken to the principal's office. There, Mr. Black, our English teacher, told us to 10 the matter. It wasn't until then that I finally found that 11 I hurt someone physically(身体上), the wounds eventually heal(愈合). But when I hurt them with my 12, sometimes the pain (痛苦) never goes away.

    At the end of the discussion, I said 13 to Nathaniel.

    When I went back to my room, I spent some time praying(祈祷). I began to 14 how often what I said hurt others. But I believe that as I keep praying and asking God to help me, he'll tell me when to keep my 15 closed.

    A small boy was trying to move a big wooden box out of his yard. The box was much 1 than the boy. He tried his best to move it, but the box would not move at all. After 2 for a glass of water, the boy tried to move it once more. This time, he pushed harder, but he still 3 move the box a bit. He was quite tired and lost heart

    The boy's 4 was coming home from work around this time. He stopped to watch his son's fruitless efforts. The father didn't help him, 5 instead asked, "Son, have you tried your best? I mean, are you doing 6 you can?"

    "Yes, I am!" the boy cried.

    "No," his father said calmly, "you're not. You have not asked me to7 you can?"

    Asking for help is not a weakness. Many people need help, and 8 the best of us need help. It is 9 to know when to ask for help and understand why you need it. Never be afraid to ask others for help when you're in 10.

In 2009, Shawn Seipler worked for an American technology company. His job required him to travel and visit companies all over America. One evening, he was sitting in his hotel room. He began to wonder what happened to the soap in the bathroom once he left the hotel. There was no way that it could be left in the room for someone else to use. Curious, he asked the hotel manager and was told that the used soap was thrown away and replaced. 

Shawn could not sleep that night. A quick Internet search told him that there were about 4. 6 million hotel rooms in America. If 60 percent of these were used every night, over one million bars of soap would be thrown away every day. Was this really necessary? The young man went on to read reports about the importance of handwashing. He learned that thousands of children were dying every day from diseases related to bad hygiene (卫生) . If the children washed their hands with soap, the number of deaths could be reduced by half. The following day, Shawn left his well-paid job. He approached (靠近) the Holiday Inn Hotel in Orlando and asked if he could take away their used soap. He transported it to his home, where he and his relatives began to break it down, so it could be used again. 

Shawn started his charity, Clean The World, and began distributing his recycled soap to children all over the world. His another big task was to communicate with other hotels, so he could take away their used soap. He found that he was really doing the hotels a big favour. Not only was he putting their soap to good use, but he was also preventing millions of bars of used soap from ending up in landfill (垃圾填埋地) every year. His charity was able to raise money by charging the hotels for this service. In return, the hotels could tell everyone they were part of an amazing new charity. 

Today, the charity has offices overseas and operates in China, India and Canada. Many of the biggest hotel groups in the world are working with Clean The World, helping to save lives. 

Most of us think the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}In fact, an Italian named Antonio Meucci was officially recognized (认定) as the inventor a few years ago. Who is Meucci and why wasn't he known for his invention at the time?

Antonio Meucci was born in Italy in 1808. He studied engineering and drawing. During his studies Meucci started to experiment with electricity. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When two places were connected with wire, people in those places could hear each other talk.

In 1850, Meucci and his wife, Ester, moved to New York. Meucci was worried about his wife because she had become very ill. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} To solve this problem,he connected metal cables between his home and his workshop. This way, they could talk to each other conveniently.

Meucci invited a group of people to see his new invention. They listened in amazement as the voice of a singer was heard through the wires. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Even worse, Meucci never applied for a patent(专利) on his invention. Meanwhile，Alexander Graham Bell was working on the same idea and in 1876 the patent for the telephone was given to him. In 2002, more than a century after Meucci's death, his work was finally recognized by the government.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

It was the final part of an international race. With just 700 metres to go, Mike was in third place and his younger brother, John, was in the lead. Mike pushed himself towards the finish line in the burning heat, but as he came around the comer, he saw his brother about to fall onto the ground. Mike had to choose—brotherly love, or a chance to win the race?

For Mike, the choice was clear. His brother was in trouble. He had to help. Mike ran towards John, caught him and started pulling him towards the finish line. Mike then pushed his brother over the line. The move put John in second place and Mike himself in third. It was an unexpected end to the race, so reporters quickly crowded around Mike, asking him all kinds of questions. But Mike did not want to discuss it. His younger brother was rushed to the medical area, and he, just wanted to check on his dear younger brother.

The brothers have been practising running since they were children. "Naturally, when your elder brother is doing it, you think it's a cool thing to do," says John. Mike says that they encourage each other as much as they can when they train. Although they have disagreements about "stupid things" now and then, Mike agrees that having a brother is an advantage. "Throughout my whole life, Fve had my brother trying to beat me at everything I do. It has been a great power to push me fbrward."

Watched by millions, the ending to the race has different opinions: should the brothers be highly praised for their actions, or shouldn't they get the prizes? But for Mike, his decision was easy to explain: "Mum wouldn't be happy if I left John behind." At that moment, he was no longer a sportsman trying to win a prize—he was just a brother.