In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married to the emperor (皇帝). Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favorite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.

One day, a priest (牧师) passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life?

    The priest made a puppet (木偶) out of bits of clay (黏土). He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.

The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife was spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.

    Toby, an 11-year old boy, is playing with a ball. The ball goes into the street and Toby runs for the ball.

    A car hits（碰撞） Toby. An ambulance（救护车） takes Toby to the hospital in 30 minutes. The doctors at the hospital tell Toby's parents, "Toby is in a coma."

    Every day, Toby's parents visit him at the hospital. They sit next to Toby's bed and talk to him. But Toby never talks to them. He just sleeps.

   One day Toby's father says, "Wake up, Toby. Wake up, come home and play with Rusty." Rusty is Toby's dog.

    When Toby's father says "Rusty", Toby moves his arm（胳膊）. "Rusty!" Toby's father says again. Again, Toby moves his arm.

    Toby's parents have an idea. They tell the nurse,

    "We want to bring Toby's dog to the hospital." The nurse says "OK".

    The next day, Toby's parents bring Rusty to the hospital. When they put the dog on Toby's bed, Toby opens his eyes and hugs the dog.

    Toby's parents bring Rusty to the hospital every day. One day, Rusty jumps onto Toby's bed and scratches（抓） his arm. Toby says his first words, "Bad dog!"

    After eight weeks, Toby is well. He leaves the hospital and goes home.

    Jane was from a small village in Southern America. Her family was poor and noodles were often their only food. Her parents couldn't afford to pay the electricity bill (电费), so she had to study by candle light.

    What was worse, to live on, her parents moved to a faraway village with the other four children. As for Jane, she didn't want to give up learning and she dreamed to enter a famous university. She stuck to living alone in her village.

    After Jane's parents left, she lived a really difficult life. Having no place to live in, the homeless girl had to sleep on the back seat of the school bus. Luckily, Mrs. Brown, the caring school bus driver, learned about Jane's situation and invited her to live with her family. Soon, Jane found a job in her school. She worked from 6 a. m. to 7:40 a. m. before the first school bell rang. She swept floors and picked up rubbish again in the afternoon. With the money she got from the work, she paid for her education. And she stayed up late in the evenings studying for all kinds of exams day after day.

    Jane's hard work made a difference to her life. She finished high school with unexpected results. She was accepted by Harvard, one of the world's most famous universities with full scholarship (全额奖学金).

The 18-year-old girl created her own future with her never-give-up attitude and hard work.

    It's 21:00 in Beijing now. Let's look at what the four students are doing.

My son Sam is 16 and autistic (患自闭症的). It was Sam's very first day at high school. We'd set up a 1 of how he'd get home: I'd pick him up outside the 2 near his school at 3:30 p.m.

Unknown to me, very bad weather was on its way, and I was 3 . But because of his dead phone battery, I was 4 to communicate that to him. 5 , he became very upset and frightened outside the shop, exactly where I'd told him to wait.

This was 6 a beautiful old lady not only went to check on him, but took him inside her shop, 7 him down, got my phone number from him and called me. After that my son would go into her shop every afternoon, buy a drink and have a 8 .

Sam graduates this year, and I'm increasingly feeling the need to 9 the shop to let this 10 lady know that she helped Sam, and that she saved me from the situation. I'm not sure if I can 11 all of this, but at least I will get to thank her.

There are people I will not get to thank, though — the many kind strangers who have been there for Sam. And believe me, if you're wondering if this world is a complete 12 right now, I'm here to say that it is not.

So I guess this is a love letter to those of you who have helped a 13 out of the goodness of your heart. Please know that you as well as your beautiful heart and kindness are 14 , and perhaps 15 , you have made a great difference in someone's life.