Sarah lived on a farm with her family. She was 1 to learn to track, to identify each person and where they were going by the marks they left on the ground. And if her father couldn't teach her, she'd teach herself.

    To the2of her family, she borrowed all their 3 and taught herself to recognize everyone's footprints in the sand. More than once her father came outside shouting, “Sarah, bring me 4 my boots. ”

    Sarah developed the habit of walking around with her eyes fixed on the ground, 5 the comings and goings of every 6in the place.

    She also developed the annoying habit of 7 everyone. What were you doing down at the dam, Jack? You're not 8to play there. ” “Did you find what you were 9 in the garage, Auntie?” and “Who was the stranger visiting today wearing size ten boots, Mum?”

    After she'd 10 every pair of shoes that everyone 11, she turned to the farm's animals. By this time 12 her victims had to admit, 13, that she was good.

    Her best 14came one evening when she said the horse's front foot was 15. Her father said that the horse was 16 fine. Sarah 17 that its hoof (蹄）had a split. Sarah's father 18 the horse's hoof.

    “You're 19. The hoof is split. How did you know?”

    “You can see it in its 20. " Sarah moved the horse away. “Look, it's plain in the sand. "

    “If you can tell it has a split hoof from that sand, you're pretty good,” said her father.

    I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn't like attention drawn to myself.And1otherwise assigned（指定）a seat by the teacher,I always2to sit at the back of the classroom.

    All this3after I joined a sports team.It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team.At first I thought it was a crazy4because I didn't have a good sense of balance,nor did I have the5to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me.But for the teacher who kept insisting on my "6for it",I wouldn't have decided to give a try.

Getting up the courage to go to the tryouts（选拔）was only the7of it!When I first started8the practice sessions,I didn't even know the rules of the game,much9what I was doing.Sometimes I'd get10and take a shot at the wrong direction which made me feel really stupid.11,I wasn't the only one "new" at the game,so I decided to12on learning the game,do my best at each practice session,and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn't 13"just yet".

    I practiced and practiced.Soon I knew the14and the "moves".Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive15in me was winning over my lack of confidence.With time,I learned how to play and made friends in the16—friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player.I never had so much fun!

    With my17self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates.I have gone from "18" in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself,19raising my hand—even when I sometimes wasn't and not 100 percent20I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

    While I was waiting in line at a coffee shop earlier, a woman drove alongside the queue in a mobility scooter(踏板车). There was only a1space between the line of people and the tables, which she2to drive along. She drove over my foot and did not 3saying nothing at all.

    I got annoyed and expected she would have4, but then I just decided to5it and got down to selecting which pastry(点心)to go with my coffee. The lady and I ended up sitting at adjacent(领近的)tables. She was on the end of a row so that she could park her 6. After about half an hour, when she had7her coffee, she got up and back onto her scooter. It8start. She tried to turn the key several times9she telephoned the place she purchased it from.

    An engineer 10within five minutes. The place must have been local. I couldn't 11overhearing their conversation, and it turned out she had just 12the scooter that morning. This was her very first outing in it. She felt really13about driving it.14, she wasn't used to its speed, nor its 15, and this combination made it quite16to drive it through narrow gaps.

Suddenly, I felt 17for the lady. It really didn't 18me at all that she'd driven over my foot. I had made an assumption,19, that a person doing that should apologize.

    Next time you're about to 20someone, pause for a second and remind yourself that people have judged you without knowing what was going on in your mind or your life.

    When I was 12, I really liked snowmobiles. My brother Cody and I 1 together all the time. One 2 day, my cousin, Brittany, was here, and we decided to ride our really old, yet fun snowmobile. My mom was 3 about it at first but thought that we were4careful. So we went out just as usual and my brother carefully checked everything we 5before we rode. We got on: my brother in front,6 then my cousin Brittany and I in the 7 We were riding around in the back of the woods on the edge (边缘) of the field. Our faces were 8and became red,9we didn't care .We were having tons of 10! We had gone around the woods three times when we were coming to the edge that 11 the gravel road (碎石路). There was a driveway there and then a field across the road.

    I 12 my cousin shouting, “Faster! Faster! Cody! Go faster!” As she was shouting. I was 13 the gravel road in front of us. It was coming closer and closer but we still moved with a 14 speed. Just then. I knew something was 15 I looked up at my brother and could feel he was 16 starting to worry. We went through the driveway and I watched as we sped across the road. Then, BOOM! We hit the ditch (沟) and flew through the17for a short second and then hit the ground like a18 that had just fallen from the sky. At this point, there was nothing we could do. The snowmobile tipped and we all 19. We all felt frightened.20 we didn't have any serious problems.

    The park bench was deserted as I sat down beneath an old tree. I was feeling 1  for the world was trying to drag me down. And if that weren't enough to ruin my day, a young boy out of breath 2me, all tired from play. He stood right before me and said with great 3, “Look what I found!”

    In his hand was a flower, and what a4sight, with its petals(花瓣) all worn. 5him to take his dead flower and go off to play, I forced a6smile and then turned away. But instead of leaving, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his 7and declared with overacted(夸张的) surprise, “ It sure smells pretty and it's 8 , too. That's why I picked it; here, it's for you.”

    The flower before me was dying or dead. But I knew I9take it, or he might never leave. So I10for the flower, and replied, “Just what I need.” But11 placing the flower in my hand, he held it mid-air without reason or plan. It was then that I 12for the very first time that the boy could not 13.

    At that moment I heard my voice14; tears shone in the sun 15I thanked him for picking a very best one. “You're welcome,” he smiled, and then ran off to play, unaware of the16he'd had on my day.

    I sat there and wondered 17he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old tree. Perhaps he'd been blessed with true 18from his heart. Through the eyes of a blind child, I19 could see the problem was not with the world; it was me. And for all of those times I myself had been blind, I20 to see the beauty in life and appreciate every second that's mine.

    Raynor Winn and her husband Moth became homeless due to their wrong investment. Their savings had been 1 to pay lawyers' fees. To make matters worse, Moth was diagnosed（诊断）with a 2 disease. There was no 3, only pain relief.

    Failing to find any other way out, they decided to make a 4 journey, as they caught sight of an old hikers'(徒步旅行者）guide.

    This was a long journey of unaccustomed hardship and 5 recovery. When leaving home, Raynor and Moth had just ￡320 in the bank. They planned to keep the 6 low by living on boiled noodles, with the 7 hamburger shop treat.

    Wild camping is 8 in England. To avoid being caught, the Winns had to get their tent up 9and packed it away early in the morning. The Winns soon discovered that daily hiking in their 50s is a lot 10 than they remember it was in their 20s. Raynor 11 all over and desired a bath. Moth, meanwhile, after an initial 12, found his symptoms were strangely 13 by their daily tiring journey.

    14, the couple found that their bodies turned for the better, with re-found strong muscles that they thought had 15 forever. "Our hair was fried and falling out, nails broken, clothes 16 to a thread, but we were alive."

    During the journey, Raynor began a career as a nature writer. She writes, "17 had taken every material thing from me and left me torn bare, an empty page at the end of a(n) 18 written book. It had also given me a 19, either to leave that page 20 or to keep writing the story with hope. I chose hope."