Recently I was invited to a friend's house for supper — and had a meal I have never had before.

    All the friends invited were a little1It's not that Ben is unsociable, or a bad cook, but it's just that he never 2more than he has to. So how come he was inviting us round for a meal? Had he bought something 3for his friends? He greeted us at the door and showed us into his dinning room where a 4table was waiting for us. “Nothing but the 5for my friends!” said Ben. We all sat down and looked 6at each other — what did he7to?

    Ben returned with four bowls of hot soup. “It's a 8of carrots, potatoes and tomatoes,” said Ben. The next 9was also a little strange in that we didn't quite know what it was again. It's just 10mixture of vegetables.

    As we ate we chatted and finally the11turned back to what we were eating. “Was there a recipe(食谱)for this,” asked Marina , “or did you 12it up?” Ben put his fork down. “What I cooked 13what I could find.” Marina was surprised. “But you can find anything in supermarkets these days.” “But there's 14choice in what you can find 15supermarkets,” he replied.

    16that we had all finished the food, Ben decided to tell the truth. He had read recently that supermarkets usually 17away 5 percent of their food every day. So Ben decided to look inside his local supermarket bins. There he found food that was slightly out of 18 boxes of throw-away vegetables and fruit.

 So Ben had19provided a decent (不错的) meal for his friends, and made us aware of the fact that there are many poor people who need the food, but the amount of food thrown away is enough to 20millions of people.

I received a devastating（毁灭性的）blow to my self-confidence in the first interview of my college years. I1to be a host in our Student Acting Troupe and felt 2 that I would be accepted. But one of the panel members told me, "You seem inadequate and you are a little vertically（垂直地）challenged." My life has never been3 since. I used high heels to make up for my4and psychological strategies and tricks to5 my lack of confidence. But no matter how hard I tried to6 the part, there was still something 7.

    As president of English Club, I organized the rehearsal of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for an English party8 we could not find an actor to be the dwarf. It had to be someone who was humorous9and fluent in English. Suddenly, all eyes turned to me, and I knew I would have to be dwarf. To my surprise and delight, once 10I was totally11 in the performance and my humorous nature was put to full use. As the dwarf, I was a big12.

    Yes, each of us is only one among millions of people, but each of us is an individual and each of us is 13 Cultivating（培养）our individuality will 14 our life, making it a kaleidoscope（万花筒）of new colors and textures.

    A world lacking 15would be a boring place. The real16 is not being short or shy or ugly, but having your17 lost in a world in which everyone is a (n)18 of a model, a cool boy or a flawless charming girl.

    Given a choice, I would rather be19than live in such a world. I'd rather be a genuine dwarf accompanying a Snow White than be a Snow White among nothing but Snow Whites. I would rather be myself. I would20 my individual and unique colors to the more diverse universe. Please, be yourself!

    University was a new experience for me. I had grown up in a small seaside town in the south of England, and suddenly I was 1 together with people of my age from all over the country. People were speaking in 2 that I had only ever heard on TV, and sometimes using words that I had 3 heard before.

    I had only been at university for about a week when I 4 David Pitman, from Blackburn in the north of England. We 5 that we both played tennis, and arranged to meet up one afternoon for a 6.

    I went to the sports hall at the time we'd 7, and went into the changing rooms. David was already there, and I could see that he wasn't very 8. He was searching anxiously for something inside his bag. He looked up at me as I 9.

    “I've 10 my keks,” he said. “You haven't got any, have you?” 11 I had no idea what he was talking about. Tennis balls? Shorts? Trainers? What? I said: “Sorry?” David repeated: “Have you got any 12 keks with you?”

    Of course, I could have asked him what the word meant, 13 I was too embarrassed (尴尬的) and didn't want to offend (冒犯) him. David saw the 14 on my face, and said: “You know — keks. Shorts. Tennis shorts.”

    Now I 15, and luckily, I did have some 16 in my bag. I lent them to him, we 17, and he won. Then we went to get a 18. The woman at the canteen asked me what I wanted. “I'd like a Black Beauty, please,” I said. (Where I 19, that's cola and ice cream.) “What on earth is that?” said the woman. I 20 knew how she felt.

    Jenna, a popular girl from Westwood Middle School, had graduated first in her class and was ready for new1in high school.

    2, high school was different. In the first week, Jenna went to tryouts(选拔赛) for cheerleaders(拉拉队队员). She was competing against very talented girls, and she knew it would be3for her to be selected. Two hours later, the4read a list of the girls for a second tryout. Her heart5as the list ended without her name. Feeling6, she walked home carrying her schoolbag full of homework.

    Arriving home, she started with math. She had always been a good math student, but now she was7. She moved on to English and history, and was8to find that she didn't have any trouble with those subjects. Feeling better, she decided not to9math for the time being.

    The next day Jenna went to see Mrs. Biden about being on the school10Mrs. Biden wasn't as11as Jenna. “I'm sorry, but we have enough12for the newspaper already. Come back next year and we'll talk then.” Jenna smiled13and left. “Why is high school so14?” she sighed.

    Later in15class, Jenna devoted herself to figuring out the problems that had given her so much16. By the end of class, she understood how to get them right. As she gathered her books, Jenna decided she'd continue to try to17at her new school. She wasn't sure if she'd succeed, but she knew she had to18High school was just as her mom had said: “You will feel like a small fish in a big pond19a big fish in a small pond. The challenge is to become the20fish you can be.”

    It's about 250 miles from the hills of west-central Iowa to Ehlers' home in Minnesota. During the long trip home, following a weekend of hunting. Ehlers 1about the small dog he had seen 2alongside the road. He had 3to coax(哄) the dog to him but, frightened, it had 4.

    Back home, Ehlers was troubled by that 5dog. So, four days later, he called his friend Greg, and the two drove 6. After a long and careful 7, Greg saw, across a field, the dog moving 8away. Ehlers eventually succeeded in coaxing the animal to him. Nervousness and fear were replaced with 9. It just started licking(舔) Ehlers' face.

    A local farmer told them the dog sounded like one 10as lost in the local paper. The ad had a 11number for a town in southern Michigan. Ehlers 12the number of Jeff and Lisa to tell them he had 13their dog.

    Jeff had 14in Iowa before Thanksgiving with his dog, Rosie, but the gun shots had scared the dog off. Jeff searched 15for Rosie in the next four days.

    Ehlers returned to Minnesota, and then drove 100 miles to Minneapolis to put Rosie on a flight to Michigan. "It's good to know there's still someone out there who 16enough to go to that kind of 17,"says Lisa of Ehlers' rescue 18.

    "I figured whoever lost the dog was probably just as 19to it as I am to my dogs," says Ehlers. "If it had been my dog, I'd hope that somebody would be 20to go that extra mile."

Roberta appeared on the stage. She took a deep breath and began to 1. Now she was Portia, a strong­willed 2 in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.  The theater was filled with people. She was speaking with a power she had never before experienced, the words flowing 3 from her.

4, Roberta had never acted in her life before the audition (选拔试演). She 5 being in front of other people. She was very 6 at school. She had never thought she was good enough at anything to 7 much attention. She stayed mostly to herself, making 8 friends. She had excellent grades, 9 she always thought that something was missing.

Two weeks before the audition, Robertsa's mother had heard about it and 10 her to join in.

"I can't think of anyone else better suited to 11 the part. Remember all the plays you used to act out for us?"

Her mother wouldn't let the 12 drop. "You're just a little scared. Everyone gets scared. You know you 13 do it. The trick is to look past the 14 to find the love of what you're doing. "

So Roberta had made an appointment with the head of the Drama Club. She had read the play and found herself excited by the 15 of speaking such rich words. In secret she practiced Portia's part, 16 the lines by repeating them over and over. It wasn't hard; she 17 every minute of it. Every time she spoke the words, she had a new 18 of the lines, as if Shakespeare had written Portia on many levels.

On the day of the audition, she 19 two of Portia's famous speeches for the auditors. When she had finished, the head of the Drama Club announced the 20 was hers.