I once had a hard time making a living in France. Three years ago, I moved to a new neighborhood and felt an intense(强烈的) need to meet people so I went to the cinema. Outside the cinema was a woman with long gray hair who had a strong smell and was asking for money. I reached for my wallet to give her a Euro and then something made me stop and enter into conversation with her. I said, “Look, all the women going to the cinema here on a Tuesday night are seeing a film that can change your life. I'd rather buy you a ticket than give you money.”

    She hesitated（犹豫） for a moment and then came in with me. She hid behind me because, she said, the people running the theater didn't like her. I got her a ticket and she sat next to me. There were about 80 women there; I noticed some of them were turning around and looking at me with expressions of surprise and curiosity(好奇心).

    I encouraged the woman I had bought the ticket for to come the following night to an event where there would be many representatives(代表) of various social services. I thought they could be of some help to her. She did come and I was able to direct her to an agency that helped women in her situation. At the same time, a woman came toward me and said, “Are you the person who bought a ticket for the woman outside the theater asking for handouts?” When I said yes she said, “I want you to come to the community center where I work. I want the other employees there to meet you.”

    This was the beginning of a deep friendship and colleague relationship. I now have a great job and have more work than I've ever had in my 20 years in France. And the woman I took to the cinema that night? I learned that she was not homeless and that she was a secretary.

    A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

    A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pock et and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(听出) his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

    The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day; I can not see it."

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply sign the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective (有效的)?

    The back door of the ambulance(救护车) was suddenly shut and the driver ran to the front, jumped into his seat, and started the engine. Inside were the1 parents, Mr. and Mrs. Green, the mother holding their baby daughter Ally. The little girl had 2 food stuck in her throat and could hardly breathe.

    The driver, Mr. White, 3 his siren (报警器) and flashing light, and started speeding towards the nearest hospital, fighting against4. The cars ahead of him pulled out of the way as he drove through the 5from the back of the 6 the parents were shouting at him to    7 , since Ally had almost stopped breathing. In front of him he saw some traffic lights, with the red "STOP" light shining. Mr. White knew that he had no time to 8 , so he drove straight past the traffic lights, looking to his left and right as he did so.

    Coming towards him from his right was a taxi. The driver had the windows 9, since the car was air-conditioned, and he was playing his radio. He did not10the ambulance. The lights were green, so he drove straight on into the path of the ambulance.

    Mr. White tried to stop his ambulance but it was too late. It hit the taxi. Everybody was shaken but no one was hurt. Mr. White looked to see how little Ally was. He was astonished to see relief instead of 11on the faces of the parents.

    "Look!" cried Mrs. Green. "She is 12again."

    "It must have been the crash." said her husband. "It 13 the food out of her throat." The baby's color was turning to14 , and she was crying in a loud but healthy 15.

    They were all joyful, and quite forgot about the accident, the taxi, and the lines of cars all around them.