One summer evening I was sitting by the open window, reading a good but rather frightening mystery story. After a time it was too dark for me to read easily, so I put my book down and turned on the light.

    I was just about to draw the 1 as well when I heard a loud cry “Help! Help! ” It2to come from the trees at the end of the garden. I looked out but it was too3to see anything clearly. So I decided to go out and have a look in the garden, just4someone was in 5. I took the torch and picked up a strong walking stick, 6 that this might come to be useful, too. 7 with these, I went out into the garden. 8 I heard the cry. There was no 9that it came from the trees at the end of the garden.

    “Who's there?” I 10 as I walked, rather11, down the path that 12 to the trees. But there was no13. With the help of my torch， I 14the whole of that part of the garden and the lower15 of the trees. There was no sign of anybody or anything. I came to the 16that someone was playing a rather silly joke on me.

    17feeling rather puzzled, I went back to the house and 18 away the torch and the stick. I had just sat down when I was startled by the cry of “ Help! Help! ”, this time from19 my shoulder. I dropped my book and climbed up. There, sitting 20of the mantelpiece ( 壁炉 ), was a parrot!

    Jay Ruckelshaus won a full scholarship to Duke University. Then, just weeks before he was 1 to arrive on campus, he broke his neck in an accident.

    At the Shepherd Center, Jay had eight hours of exercise a day,2 his muscles and working on his 3. “Before, was 4 setting goals and achieving them. But this was not what you could achieve.”

    5the breakthrough came: He was able to 6 on his own, eat, and use an iPad. “The iPad was great, ”he said, “That gave me 7 to the world.” To stretch his mind further, he 8 for courses online.

    Most people, he said,9 he would change his plans to study after his accident. But throughout his 10 his place at Duke University was what kept him going. For Jay, there was never any 11 he would go to Duke. “There was also no doubt from the university, which was wonderful, and wouldn't have been the 12 at some other schools.

    Finally getting into Duke a year later than planned,13being in a wheelchair, he was 14 to have a fun college life. He needed 15, but soon made great friends. In 16 studying for a degree and sitting co-editing a journal, he was able to hang out with friends.

    Also, he thought of other wheelchair users and decided to help them. “I 17I was having an amazing time and meeting amazing people,” he said. The feeling was almost 18. Therefore, he started a charity called Ramp Less Traveled to spread the 19 that college is 20 for students with spinal cord (脊髓) injuries.

A Little Girl's Dream

    My father was a lawyer. One day he told me to wait for him in the back of the courtroom until he finished trying his case. But I was only nine years old and got 1 easily. So I wandered the shiny floors of the courthouse lobby until finally ending up in the back of another courtroom not too far from the first. I could not stop 2 at a man, wondering why he was crying. I could tell that he was trying to speak but his words were being suffocated (压制）by all of his 3. He remained in the arms of someone who was dressed just like my father always was—white shirt, suit and tie. They held on to each other lor quite some time. Then the man who was crying wiped his eyes, and 4 spoke. “Thank you,” he said to the man in the fancy blue suit. “Thank you for saving my life.”

    As I watched the human drama unfold before my young eyes, only realizing the full extent of what had happened after my father 5all of the details to me, I discovered what I would do with my future. “I want to save people's lives, Daddy,” I said with great determination. “Just like you and the man in the blue suit. ”

    The 6 in that courtroom that day became a window into my future. I knew instantly that I would be an attorney who helped protect the innocent from injustice. The only issue remained these years was that I'd have to wait7getting that opportunity. Again, I was only nine years old.

    So I filled my days with other ways to assist those in need. Beginning that year, I spent every Thanksgiving at the local soup kitchen cooking and serving those who couldn't 8 a Thanksgiving meal. As a student, I have also had the opportunity to help ESL children learn how to read and write properly and I've spent many days volunteering at the local hospital where I help9. And, of course, as I wait for the fulfillment (实现）of my ultimate goal, my participation in Law Club continues to 10me that this is the profession for me. I am exactly where I belong.

    The next chapter of my life is 11, for I am finally bringing my nine-year-old vision t life. I have grown a lot since then, taking countless opportunities to help others while continuing to learn more about the 12that I am so passionate about. And13 all of it, my goal has remained steadfast. My undergraduate studies and post graduate work are the final steps I will take, helping me to finally 14my childhood dream—the dream of finally being the on standing in a courtroom wearing the fancy 15 while saving lives.

    The family had had a cat for years. Then one day, the children finally1 to persuade their parents to get them a dog as well. So a little Labrador(拉布拉多犬)2.

    The dog was so3that everyone wanted to hold him and he charmed everyone by just loving them. The cat made it very clear that she did not welcome another4 in the house, but the dog just5the cat anyway. The little dog6her everywhere, trying to make friends with the angry cat. No amount of7 behavior from the cat could persuade the dog not to love the cat.

    The family thought the cat would8 like the dog.

    Then one day the family heard horrible9 from their back yard. They ran to the10 to see what was happening. They lived in the suburbs and so they saw a real lynx( 猞猁) was just planning on11 their cat for lunch. The poor cat had nowhere to run or hide. It would only be a matter of seconds and their cat would be12 .

    And then suddenly a black lightning ran to the cat. The little dog13 the big lynx with all its strength. It did not be14or stop to think. It saw its15in trouble and did what had to be done. The family opened the window and started yelling and the father ran to the yard. The lynx soon disappeared into the16 .

    And ever since that day the cat's behavior toward the dog17 totally. Now it was the cat that followed the hero dog everywhere. They18in the same basket. The cat even let the dog eat from her bowl.

    So we can 19: if ever anyone is20 towards you, don't turn your back on them. They may not rescue your life—but their kindness can certainly rescue your day!

    Sometimes people around you can change your life. The change may not be sudden or 1, but little habits can produce big 2 that make you think about what is important in your life. The person who changed my life is Julia Masi. She has 3 me so many things that I will carry with me 4 my life.

    One thing I've learned from Julia is how to balance 5. Julia has shown me how to 6 ahead so that I can finish all my school work, enjoy sports and 7 have time for my friends. She has taught me that you can do anything if you are 8 and if you never give up. I've also learned that you can find anything fun or 9 if you connect it with something that you enjoy.

    Last year I hated studying vocabulary, but I loved playing on my computer. Julia 10 the two and showed me a website called "freerice.com" where you can 11 a word game that gives you 5 grains of rice to donate to the poor with every correct word. She 12 me to learn a hundred new 13 by filling up the rice bowl. I liked playing the game so much that I 14 about 1, 000 words in just one month.

    Julia has always 15 me to try new hobbies. She showed me that going to the theater could help me become a better writer. 16, she taught me that discussing a play can excite an interest in reading.

    17 it wasn't for Julia I probably wouldn't have 18 how easy it is to help the poor. There are so many ways that one person can 19. I've learned to be more appreciative of what I own. I am 20 for the opportunities that I have been given. I will continue to think of ways to help those less fortunate for the rest of my life.

When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboat man. We had temporary ambitions of other sorts, but they were only temporary.

My father was a justice of the peace, and I supposed he possessed the power of life and death over all men and could hang anybody that offended him. This was distinction enough for me as a general thing; but the desire to be a steamboat man kept intruding(闯入), nevertheless. One of our boys in town, who went away and was not heard of for a long time, turned up as an apprentice engineer on a steamboat. This thing shook the bottom out of all my Sunday-school teachings. That boy was notoriously worldly, and I was just the opposite. There was nothing generous about this fellow in his greatness. He would always manage to have a rust y nail to scrub while his boat stopped at our town, and he would sit on the inside guard and scrub it, where we could all see him. And wherever his boat was laid up he would come home and show off in the town in his blackest and greasiest clothes, so that nobody could help remembering that he was a steamboat man; and he used all sorts of steamboat technical terms in his talk, as if he were so used to them that he forgot common people could not understand them.

This creature's career could produce but one result, and it was speedily followed. Boy after boy managed to get on the river. Despite many choices, pilot was the grandest position of all. The pilot, even in those days of trivial wages, had a princely salary—from 150-250 dollars a month, and no board payment. But our parents would not let us and our worry was that the next year would find us hunting for jobs with low pay again. So by and by I ran away. I said I never would come home again till I was a pilot and could come in glory.