Mike is a factory worker. He works long hours every day. He is often very 1 after a day's work. His wife, Jenny, has no 2, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he 3 home from his factory.

    One day, Mike came home very 4 because he was very busy in the factory. He was very 5 when he got home.

    He was not 6 when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He 7 at her, “I'm going out to eat in a 8.”

    “9 for five minutes," said his wife.

    "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike.

    "Of course not," she answered. "But I 10 be ready to go with you in five minutes."

    Bill Adams retired (退休). His daughter, a nurse, asked if he wanted to volunteer at her hospital. Bill didn't think he wanted to be aroufid 1 people, but his daughter said. "Just try it for a week and see how you feel."

    Thirteen years later, Bill is 2 volunteering at the hospital two days a week. He says, "Volunteering is a good thing to do, and helping others makes me 3. "Over the years, Bill has worked in many departments (科). Now he 4 in the waiting area outside the X-ray room.

    Once, a woman found out that she needed immediate surgery (立即手术), but her 5 were not with her. Bill helped call her family and took them to 6 so they could be together. Later, he 7 the woman again. It was great to see the woman get better. Bill got a lot of 8 from her family.

    Bill loves volunteering at the hospital, and he also likes 9 others to join the volunteer work. "All of the volunteers are like family. We're good friends. We love helping others when they are in need." he says. At the age of 81, Bill has no plan to 10 his volunteer work. He has decided to stay busy as long as possible.

    I moved to a new neighborhood two months ago. A taxi driver lived in a house with a large1across the road. He's a single parent with two school-age children. At the end of the day, he would2his taxi on the road. "Why not in the garage？"I asked myself.

    Then one day I learned that he had another3. In the afternoon he would come home from work, leave his taxi and go out4his personal business in his other car, not in his taxi. I felt it was5.

    I really want to see his personal car but did not make it. Two weeks later, I6 to be outside one evening, when the garage door was7and he drove out in his "own" car: a Rolls-Royce(劳斯莱斯)! It8 me completely when I realized what that meant. You see, he was a taxi driver. 9deep inside, he saw himself as something else：a Rolls-Royce owner and a(n)10. He drove others in his taxi but himself and his children in his Rolls-Royce. The world looked at his taxi and called him a taxi driver. But for him, a taxi was11something he drove for a living. Rolls-Royce was something he drove for a(n)12.

    We go to bed every night and13every morning as parents or children, not as bankers, CEOs or professors. We go for a party as close friends or go for a vacation as a family. We love life as it is. Yet often, we base our happiness and14on how high we climb the social ladder(阶梯)—how much bigger and better a taxi we have. And we fail to notice Rolls-Royce, keeping it dusty in our garage. We should pay more attention to 15we are than what we do！Isn't it the true meaning of life？

    Have you ever eaten a dandelion (蒲公英)? Me neither. Have you ever blown it to make a wish? Me, too.

    "Time to pick dandelions, Athena, "Mum opened the car door and I entered with a 1. My hometown is in Greece (希腊), where dandelions are 2 on the menu. But I didn't eat dandelions. Why did I have to 3 them with my family every spring?

    Then I said goodbye to my new friend Brigid, whose family had 4 moved in our neighborhood in New York. I was 5 Brigid didn't ask where we were going. Nobody in America ate dandelions. I always worried that 6 would notice us picking dandelions.

    We 7 into a wild field. Hundreds of lively yellow flowers appeared everywhere. Then we stopped our car. Dad went over to cut dandelions and put them in his bag. But I just hid in the book. "8 do we cat dandelions? "I asked. "The best food in the world. "Dad answered, shaking a handful of greens. 9 we were ready to leave, we had enough dandelions. On the way home, Mum and Dad talked about hosting a dinner party for the new neighbors to try our 10 Greek food.

    The night of the party, Brigid arrived with her parents. Mum served 11 different。Greek foods. Our guests ate everything. Finally came the dandelions. "Wait!" I said to Brigid. But it was too 12. "You ate the dandelions! "I told her. We both 13, and she ate another bite. "14, "she said.

Mum was smiling at us. After dinner. Brigid and I went to the backyard and lay on the grass. The stars reminded me of dandelions in the soft field. I closed my eyes and made a 15: to be as open-minded as my family and my new friend.