I learned my first lesson at a meeting. As we sat around the table I heard Meg, who was 1 a recent operation, talking to Judith, the manager of our project. “Thank you so much for 2my daughters to their dance lessons last week.” “Don't mention it,” Judith says, “It was nothing.”

    Knowing how 3Judith's schedule is, with her work, kids and aging parents, I found her driving Meg's children to lessons unbelievably 4. I was about to say more about this when Donna, another colleague, entered the room 5. She apologized for being late, saying she just hosted a lunch for her friends who are over seventy. “That is so nice of you,” I say,6 how busy she was, how she didn't like to cook and clean. “Oh,” she said, waving her hand, “It was nothing.”7, I could still tell the 8in her voice. She did gain a sense of satisfaction from the entertainment offered to her friends.

Seeing their 9to help others selflessly, I started thinking about the concept of “nothing”, this peaceful and generous way of living— had it really been nothing or were they simply saying that? It 10to me that once I spent a whole afternoon after work helping a friend 11a speech. I 12her to rearrange the sequence of the stories in the lecture to make it sound more 13. After the fifth try, she finally 14it. She hugged me with 15, saying thanks to me. I smiled and said it was nothing.

    Suddenly, I realized that helping someone was really something to me. I learned that giving from the heart doesn't 16mean sacrifice and hard work. The 17is finding something we love to do and finding someone who 18that something. Our generosity pan benefit others 19ourselves. Once you have a good 20of it, it's nothing. And it's really something.

    When I was in my twenties, I travelled alone through the UK. In order to 1 locations that the public transportation couldn't get to, I bought a(n)2 car, drove it around for three months and sold it before I returned to Australia. The car cost most of my money, so I lived mainly on3during that trip, it being cheap and filling. In Ireland, my4 was stolen, and it was impossible to get another. So for the rest of the trip I 5out in my car, being too poor to afford bed and breakfast.

    One morning, I 6 in my old Skoda under a twisted tree on a remote lane in the Irish countryside, with no more than a 7 house in sight. I had a terrible desire for a 8 cup of tea and some hot water to make porridge with 9 I would not have to eat the cold leftovers from the previous day.

    My thermos (暖瓶) had gone cold overnight so I knocked on the door of the house. A woman opened it. Hot water? She 10 let me get away with just that! I was invited indoors, seated at the breakfast table with the 11 and given a delicious breakfast, as much as I could eat. I was 12 to eat something more than porridge! I 13 being friends with the whole family.

    That was only one of many acts of 14strangers showed me when I was traveling alone in foreign regions. One London businessman rushing to work, seeing me 15 offered to pull my ridiculously heavy suitcase 16several flights of stairs in the underground. After he'd done so, with a smile and a wave, he 17 into the crowd.

    Kindness gets 18. The other day, I was able to point out a rare parking spot to a young man who had been driving around the railway car park, looking 19 desperate. His grateful smile was all the 20 I needed as I dashed off to catch my train.

    On the night of the play, Jack was at the theatre early and he was already dressed in a suit of policeman's clothes long1the end of the first scene. He certainly looked the part all right, he thought as he2himself in the mirror.

    Then he suddenly felt nervous. After all, it was his first time to3a part in a play. 4could he face all those people watching the play? He put his head in his hands and tried to5his lines（台词）, but nothing6to his mind.

    A knock on the door made him look7. He was to go on stage（舞台） in the second scene. "Have I 8my part and ruined（破坏）the play for everybody？" he thought to himself. But9was only the manager.  She10how nervous he was and11he should stand near the stage12he could watch and follow the play. It was a good13of getting rid of his nervousness, she said. She was right; it seemed to 14. In fact the more he watched the play, the15he felt himself part of it.

    At last the16came for him to appear on the stage.  But suddenly the manager came to him again, 17worried as she placed a hand on his arm to18him back. "Has anything gone19？" Jack asked. "I'm afraid you're going to be20, " she said. "They've jumped three pages of the play and have missed your part out completely. "

    It's a sad reality that many of us find ourselves just too busy to contribute to our communities. For a long time, I, too, believed it cost too much in time, money and 1 to make a real difference. But all that changed when I 2 my good-deed-a-day project.

    My daughter, Emily, was my primary 3. I wanted to show her we could do little things to help others, and be 4.

    The first week, I wasn't sure if I could 5 it. I surfed the Internet for ideas. One day, I 6 a blind man in the subway station. He 7 as he thanked me. Another day, I brought flowers from my garden to a 8 nursing home… I could only hope I was arousing 9 in others.

    After just a few days, 10 I found it easier than I'd expected. I knew I was making a/an 11.

    Every evening at the dinner table, I 12 that day's good deed to Emily. Emily began 13 what I'd started. On a walk home from school, she 14 to a neighbour's pot of geraniums (天竺葵), which had toppled (摇晃) in the wind, and set it right. “That was my good deed for the day!” she yelled. Another day, she helped me collect 15 from our neighbours for the food bank. We dropped off the food and, 16 we drove away, Emily announced 17 that she wanted to work there one day.

    By the last week, I knew I'd changed. At first, I hadn't been entirely 18 that I could do a good deed every day. Now it was practically second 19. I felt a greater responsibility to take action when I saw a need, 20 looking the other way. I felt as though I'd awakened, somehow.

    A little boy invited his mother to attend his school's first teacher-parent meeting. To the little boy's 1, she said she would go. This would be the 2 time that his classmates and teacher3 his mother and he felt 4of her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar（疤痕）that5 nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to 6why or how she got the scar.

    At the meeting, the people were 7 by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother 8the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed（尴尬）and9himself from everyone. He, however,  10 a conversation between his mother and his teacher.

    The teacher asked11 ,"How did you get the scar on your face?"

    The mother replied,"12my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught fire. Everyone was13 afraid to go in because the fire was 14, so I went in. As I was running toward his bed, I saw a piece of wood coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked15 but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us." She16 the burned side of her face. "This scar will be17 , but to this day, I have never 18what I did."

    At this point, the little boy came out running toward his mother with tears in his eyes. He held her in his arms and felt a great19of the sacrifice（牺牲）that his mother had made for him. He held her hand20for the rest of the day.

The Homeless Hero

    For many, finding an unattended wallet filled with £400 in cash would be a source (来源) of temptation (诱惑). But the 1 would no doubt be greater if you were living on the streets with little food and money. All of this makes the actions of the homeless Tom Smith 2 more remarkable.

    After spotting a 3 on the front seat inside a parked car with its window down, he stood guard in the rain for about two hours waiting for the 4 to return.

    After hours in the cold and wet, he 5 inside and pulled the wallet out hoping to find some ID so he could contact (联系) the driver, only to 6 it contained £400 in notes, with another £50 in spare change beside it.

    He then took the wallet to a nearby police station after 7 a note behind to let the owner know it was safe. When the car's owner John Anderson and his colleague Carol Lawrence returned to the car—which was itself worth £35, 000—in Glasgow city centre, they were 8 to find two policemen standing next to it. The policemen told them what Mr. Smith did and that the wallet was 9.

    The pair were later able to thank Mr. Smith for his 10.

    Mr. Anderson said: "I couldn't believe that the guy never took a penny. To think he is sleeping on the streets tonight 11 he could have stolen the money and paid for a place to stay in. This guy has nothing and

    12 he didn't take the wallet for himself; he thought about others 13. It's unbelievable. It just proves there are 14 guys out there."

    Mr. Smith's act 15 much of the public's attention. He also won praise from social media users after Mr. Anderson 16 about the act of kindness on Facebook.

    Now Mr. Anderson has set up an online campaign to 17 money for Mr. Smith and other homeless people in the area, which by yesterday had received ￡8, 000. "I think the faith that everyone has shown 18 him has touched him. People have been approaching him in the street; he's had job 19 and all sorts," Mr. Anderson commented.

    For Mr. Smith, this is a possible life-changing 20. The story once again tells us that one good turn deserves another.