I think I will never forget the special day in November. It was hotter than normal. This was the 1 my father and I had waited so long for, because we had been working towards this race for three years. Dozens of familiar faces from church and school flashed across my view. They had come 2 me. I saw worry and 3 on my father's face. Then the race began!

    For the first two and a half miles, I felt 4. I had never before been so ready for something. The weeks leading up to the race were filled with controlled 5 and a strict diet. My friends hadn't seen me in weeks, but they understood the 6required to make my dream a reality. As in all of my races，I didn't 7 out in the front. I loved the pleasure of passing people as my strength overtook their premature speed.

    Then without warning，my strength began to decrease. Neck and neck with one of my greatest competitors, I 8 see the finish line. I had begun the final dash into 9 when my knees became weak and my legs gave way. Nothing I could do would make them 10 weight.

    I watched as runners rushed by me. 11 I knew my dreams of victory were destroyed, I had to finish the race. However, my legs hurt badly. With all of the 12 left in me, I got on my hands and knees and crawled (爬), inch by inch, across the finish line. Voices, both 13 and familiar, cheered me on. They gave me the courage to keep 14 until the very end.

    The doctors were there in seconds, but my eyes searched the crowd for him. There was only one person I wanted to 15 to. I whispered, “I' m so sorry, Dad, I'm so sorry I 16 you.” He looked at me, saying, “You could never disappoint me. Sometimes these things just 17. All that matters is that you did your best.”

    “But we worked so 18. What about our dream?” He reached over for my hand and said, “Don't you know that you are my dream and it has come true?”

    It wasn't long before my running shoes were back on, marking a 19 path for my journey. I learned that all of the miles, the tears, the sweat, and the pain my dad and I experienced together were not for a 20. What I realized, though, was that to him, I was the greatest prize he had ever won.

    As we slowly drove down the street on that cold December evening, we spotted the porch（门廊）light. “This 1be the house." I told our "Positive Teens In Action" group with certainty. We2in front of an older home with the porch light shining. We gathered up our 3 books, walked up the steps, and4on the door. We heard a 5 voice from inside say, "Come in. The door is open." We opened the door.

    There in a rocking chair 6 an elderly woman with a big 7 on her face. "I've been8you,"she said weakly. Ruth was one of our "Meals On Wheels" stops I had9. I had phoned her and told her about it. Going along with me were the10 church members who 11 singing carols（颁歌）.

    We 12 Ruth the basket of delicious food the teens had prepared earlier that evening. Then I asked Ruth what carols she would like to 13Ruth was smiling cheerfully when she 14 singing each song.

    15we hugged Ruth good-bye, she said to me with tears in her eyes, “The day you 16 I was still in bed. l had just finished17 .I asked God if it would be possible to have some Christmas carolers come to my home and18 this year. Thank you for being the 19to my Christmas prayer."

    Wow, what an awesome 20 to have the opportunity to make Ruth quite content!

    I believe that life's toughest lessons are best learned through personal experience. Throughout my childhood, my grandmother 1 me with unconditional love but always stressed, "You're not 2 than anyone else, but you're just as good as anyone. Treat others with 3, and you would earn respect 4.

    However, I never really 5 it until I was seventeen and got a summer job as a janitor. As I 6 floors and toilets, I watched people walk right by me and ignore my 7. This made me feel angry and wonder why they treated me so poorly.

    When I 8 to my grandmother, she offered me some words of 9 and reminded me never to forget the feeling of being "10" and to do the best job, because it was still my work, 11 which I should take pride. She added that it would make me a better man someday.

    Make me a better man someday? She must be 12, I thought to myself. But I needed the job to 13 college and there were few other jobs available, 14 I bit my tongue and kept on working as best as I could for the 15 of the summer.

    Today, when asked what job helped prepare me to gain the 16 of a key university, I tell people it was my summer job cleaning restrooms that 17 me as a man and, down the road, as an educator.

    As you can see, 18 can only be understood by walking in a lot of different shoes. So I suggest students 19 of their comfort zones and get deeply involved in different work and community experience. It's essential for people to find 20 in every person, no matter who they are or what they do for a living.

    There was a businessman who was deep in debt and could see no way out. He sat on the park bench, head in hands,1if anything could save his company from bankruptcy (破产).

    Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that something is2you," he said. After listening to the businessman's troubles, the old man said, "I believe I can help you." He asked the man his name, wrote out a3, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared as4as he had come.

    The businessman saw in his hand a check for $500,000,5by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! "I can6my money worries in an instant!" he realized. But7, he decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the8to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    With renewed9, he negotiated better deals. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

    Exactly one year later, he returned to the10with the uncashed check. At the11time, the old man appeared. But just as the businessman was about to12the check and share his success story, a 13came running up and grabbed the old man. "I'm so delighted I14him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's15escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller." And she led the old man away16the arm.

    The businessman just stood there,17. All year long he'd been buying and selling,18he had half a million dollars behind him.

Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or19, that had turned his life around. It was his20self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

    “None of us get out of life alive, so be brave and be thankful for all the opportunities (机会)you have.” Those were 1 words said by 18-year-old Jake Bailey, a cancer patient.

    Bailey was in the leading position of the Students' Union. The young man had planned to2 at his high school's end-of-year ceremony (典礼)on schedule. 3, just the week before, he received shocking 4. After several weeks of not feeling well, tests showed that he had a fast-growing form of cancer. Doctors said, without 5, he would only have weeks to live, so they didn't 6 him to take part in the event. But Bailey put on his school uniform along with his 7 face and left his hospital bed to give the inspiring speech to his 8. Without doubt, his surprise appearance 9 everyone at the ceremony. Sitting in the wheelchair, he began to 10 his ideas. He expressed that a strong-willed person would not easily 11, no matter how hard life was.

    At the speech, Bailey encouraged his schoolmates to 12 their time. "The future is truly in our hands. 13 about having impractical long-term dreams. Let's be 14to short-term goals ," He15. "We don't know where we might end up, or when we will end up, so work with pride on what is 16 us."

    When the senior 17 his speech with the school's 18, "Altiora Peto," which means "I fight for higher things", the entire room burst into cheers.19, Bailey's message was heard loud and clear. Bailey then closed his eyes and 20 the words "Thank you".

    Hannah Taylor is a schoolgirl from Manitoba, Canada. One day, when she was five years old, she was walking with her mother in downtown Winnipeg. They saw a man1out of a garbage can. She asked her mother why he did that and her mother said that the man was homeless and hungry. Hannah was very2.She couldn't understand why some people had to live their lives without shelter or enough food. Hannah started to think about how she could3, but, of course, there is not a lot one five-year-old can do to solve(解决)the problem of homelessness.

    Later, when Hannah attended school, she saw another homeless person. It was a woman,4 an old shopping trolley(购物车)which was piled with5. It seemed that everything the woman owned was in them. This made Hannah very sad, and even more6to do something. She had been talking to her mother about the lives of homeless people7they first saw the homeless man. Her mother told her that if she did something to change the problem that made her sad, she wouldn't8as bad.

Hannah began to speak out about the homelessness in Manitoba and then in other provinces. She hoped to9her message of hope and awareness. She started the Ladybug Foudation, an organization aiming at getting rid of homelessness. She began to 10 "Big Bosses" lunches, where she would try to persuade local business leaders to 11to the cause. She also organized a fundraising(募捐)drive in "Ladybug Jars" to collect everyone's spare change during "Make Change" month. More recently, the foundation began another 12 called National Red Scarf Day—a day when people donate $20 and wear red scarves in support of Canada's 13and homeless.

There is an emergency shelter in Winnipeg called "Hannah's Place", something that Hannah is very14of. Hannah's Place is divided into several areas, providing shelter for people when it is so cold that15outdoors can mean death. In the more than five years since Hannah began her activities, she has received a lot of 16. For example, she received the 2007 BRICK Award recognizing the 17 of young people to change the world. But 18 all this, Hannah still has the 19 life of a Winnipeg schoolgirl, except that she pays regular visits to homeless people.

    Hannah is one of many examples of young people who are making a 20 in the world. You can, too!