Cathy and I met a few days after I first arrived in China. I was walking around the English academy which had 1me, introducing myself to my new colleagues, most of whom were Chinese. I entered Cathy's2 , saw her, and immediately felt some 3 and happy emotions. She 4 so kind, yet professional. I couldn't stop smiling like a (n) 5 . After introducing ourselves and exchanging6 questions, I asked whether she knew anyone who could7 me in Chinese. She said she could, and 8 to meet after work.

    We sometimes exchanged non-romantic texts in the evening. After a couple9, I invited her to my apartment. I was very nervous. Later, I asked if she would consider 10 me. She didn't immediately 11, but said she would tell me the next day. I found it very difficult to 12, but wait I did.

    This was a13 difference. In American culture, starting to date someone is not a bit important 14, but I think in Chinese culture it is. Well, she said “yes”, and so we spent lots of time together, and 15 love. I asked her to 16 me about 6 or 7 months later.

    We had a Chinese style 17 in Cathy's hometown. My parents came, and it was great. It went really 18. Everyone was very 19. It was a very fun and interesting 20 for me, very different from a Western style wedding.

    Many people think that babysitting is one of the1jobs for young people. They imagine a teenager putting a few well-behaved children to bed and then continuing to watch television until the parents return home to hand over some money. Well, I can tell you how2that thought is.

    I now work all3on Wednesdays for a Ukrainian family with three young boys. In the early morning, I go there to 4the older two while their mother does her jobs or takes care of her six-month-old baby. However, I am also there to5their English by teaching them songs and games in my native language.

    Now, four months later, I get home at the end of the day6exhausted！Babysitting is not a job for the7or the weak. I expected8children who would behave well and listen to me all the time. 9,I don't think those kind of children exist at all. While my two boys are usually polite and calm, they are10children and also like to fight, scream and lose their temper for no real11. I often have no idea why they cry together.

Being a babysitter requires you to play a hundred different12throughout the day. I have to be a friend when I play with the boys, but their 13when I tell them to do something. When they hurt themselves, I have to be their14, and when they fight over15 things like sharing their crayons(彩笔)，I have to be a negotiator(调停者)。 When lunchtime rolls around, I am a(n) 16to prepare the meal and then a maid as I clean up after lunch. Finally, in English, if someone is very17, we say they have the "Patience of God". I think I embody(体现) this 18sometimes!

    Despite the19involved in my job, I usually do enjoy it. Working with children is so tiring that I always feel20after leaving them with their parents at the end of the day！

    No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own 1.

    I learned this lesson from a(n) 2many years ago. I took the head 3 job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

    It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the 4 team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn't even practice to 5 the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn't 6 I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to 7 that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were 8 me. I had to change my 9 about their ability and potential.

    I started doing anything I could to help them build a little 10. Most important, I began to treat them like 11. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their 12, we met every day and 13 passing and kicking the football.

    Six months after suffering our 14 on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to 15. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a 16 for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn't what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest 17 of my life!

    From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can 18 the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and 19 them. I helped them to see themselves 20, and they built themselves into winners.

    Winners are made, not born.

    An old woman was sitting outside an ice-cream shop with dirty clothes and rough hair. She got 1 and walked, but it seemed quite 2, her legs shivering(颤抖)and her eyes showing deep sorrow of being left alone and homeless.

    I did not 3 an ice cream, so I was outside the shop, 4 her, while my family went in. Her legs were weak and trembling. I saw her difficulties and came up to her with 10 dollars in my 5 and handed it over to her. She was so 6 and started blessing me instantly.

    I wanted to talk with her as that seemed very important 7. I asked about her 8. She said there was no one, and that all died one by one, with tears in her eyes.

    "Where does she live?" I 9. The response was quite 10. I noticed her "luggage", two plastic bags, containing her 11. At this point, I gave her my 12, smooth stole(披肩). It was bright yellow and looked new.

    But she was not ready to accept 13. She was worried about my feeling cold for a few minutes before I got home. She finally 14 the stole and covered herself, when I insisted. She was 15 me even more. I checked my bag and kept giving anything that I thought she could use. How grateful she was! At this moment, I saw change in her 16 state of mind. By this time, she seemed calm and 17. And so did I.

    The look of 18 and hopelessness was transformed. She looked at the people who passed by us with more 19 in that moment.

    I realized it was my small kind act 20 had counted a lot to the old woman.

    Alia Baker is a librarian in Iraq. Her library used to be a 1 place for all who loved books and liked to share knowledge. They 2 various matters all over the world. When the war was near, Alia was3that the fires of war would destroy the books, which are more 4 to her than mountain of gold. The books are in every language — new books, ancient books, 5 a book on the history of Iraq that is seven hundred years old.

    She had asked the government for to 6move the books to a 7place, but they refused. So Alia took matters into her own hands. 8, she brought books home every night,9her car late after work. Her friends came to 10her when the war broke out. Anis who owned a restaurant 11 to hide some books. All through the12, Alia, Anis, his brothers and neighbours took the books from the library, 13them over the seven-foot wall and 14them in the restaurant. The books stayed hidden as the war15. Then nine days laters, a fire burned the16to the ground.

    One day, the bombing stopped and the17 left. But the war was not over yet. Alia knew that if the books were to be safe, they must be 18 again while the city was 19. So she hired a truck to bring all the books to the houses of friends in the suburbs(郊区). Now Alia waited for the war to end and 20 peace and a new library.

    I boarded the airplane heading to Barcelona, frightened because in a matter of hours I'd be landing in a country populated by people who all spoke a language which was completely unknown to me. Not only that. I'd be 1 the next two weeks there.

    All the butterflies I had in my 2 immediately flew away because as I arrived at the warm, colorful campus 3 I'd be living for the next fourteen days. I felt like I'd found myself a second 4.Counselors and other staff members welcomed us at the gate, introducing themselves, and just being all round 5 .

    I made my 6 to my assigned room only to find a crying girl and two other girls 7 her down. Little 8 I know how many memories I'd make 9 these three girls, how close we'd become over the next 10 of weeks and how many times the camp director would have to come to our room at 3:00 a.m. and 11 not to send us shopping if we didn't go to bed 12 .

    In the mornings we took Spanish classes and a guy 13he learnt more Spanish over these two weeks than he did for the past year at 14.During the day, I formed life-long relationships with people from all 15 of the globe, and mostly visited the breathtaking Barcelonan beaches.

    Speaking of breakfast, the meals were restaurant—worthy, the 16were endless and people with special food needs were well 17.

    The staff always found some way or another to 18 us, whether it was having a surprise water party at ten p. m. or having an unannounced watermelon—eating contest, they always had 19 up their sleeves.

    By the end of camp, everyone was so sad that they had to leave, there were enough 20 to fill up an Olympic—sized pool.