The day finally came，when I had to leave the warm home where I'd grown up.I ran to the back yard，as tears came up from my heart.Suddenly I1a hand rest on my shoulder.I looked up to2mygrandfather.“It isn't3 ， isit，Billy？”he said softly.

    Gently4myhand in his，we walked，hand in hand，tothe front yard，5a hugered rose­bush sat alone.

    “What do you see here，Billy？” he asked.I looked at the flowers，not knowing6to say，and then answered，“I see something soft and7 ， grandpa.”

    He pulled me8.“It isn't just the roses that are beautiful，Billy.It's that special place in your heart that makes them so.”“Billy，I9these roses when my first son was born.It was my10of saying 'thank you' to God.I11to watch him pick roses for his mother. Then, as a young man of only 20，a terrible war robbed him of his life.” Grandpa slowly stood up.“Never say good­bye，Billy. Never12to the sadness and the loneliness.Instead，I want you to remember the joy and the13when you first said hello to a friend.”

    A year later，my grandpa became very14.Then all members of the family were15back，and I returned to the old house. When it came to my16 ， I took his hand as17as  he had once taken mine.

    “Hello，grandpa，”I18.His eyes slowly opened and said，“Hello，my friend.” With a brief19he died. Suddenly，and truly.I knew what he had20about never saying good­bye—about refusing to give in to sadness.​

    Trying new things is the only way we can discover hidden talents. I 1 my career as an editor for a magazine. I didn't really mind the work, but I wanted something more 2Then I was offered a management 3 of a digital reading company. The job was a seemingly 4 mix of my skills and interests, so I jumped at it.

    5, soon after I joined the company, its model changed to focus on K-12 education, and everything about my position changed. I was asked to take on the 6 different roles of selling content to teachers and training people. I felt more than a little 7 my comfort zone.

    I knew I wanted to grow as a(an)8 and make a serious effect on the company. I told myself that everything feels 9 at first and I should at least try.10 I felt like I didn't have a(an)11. I knew jumping out of the 12 was the right thing for me, even though it felt pretty awful.

    I was fortunate to be 13by very helpful people, both at work and at home. They kept 14 me. I spent hours researching my company's 15. I asked lots of questions and spoke to many people in need. I looked for opportunities to put in extra 16 .The more I did, the better I felt.

    Over time, I discovered that the job was17I could do and liked doing. It was an amazing 18 to see the company grow and know that my efforts contributed to 19success and that it's important to take risks and accept new 20. Actually, there's nothing worse than failing because you refuse to even try.

    Last year I went on holiday to Spain. But 1, after two days in Madrid, I started to get severe 2 pain. I was in such suffering that I went to the local hospital for a(n)3.

    No sooner had I arrived than I was 4to a small room, and I had not been waiting too long5 a surgeon came to examine me. He didn't speak English and I only spoke a few words of Spanish. He 6that I had to remove my clothes and he gave me one of those funny hospital gowns （罩衣） which hardly 7anything.

    He then asked me in Spanish if I was embarrassed. "Si, unpoco （Yes, a little）", I replied with my face turning red. You see, not only did I feel embarrassed at 8 my clothes in front of a stranger but also this 9stranger was an extremely handsome man. He looked at me as though I was out of my10 and then he quickly 11 down the passage.

    I was beginning to 12what had happened to him when he suddenly reappeared, this time with a group of 13students, and again asked the same question in Spanish. Now I was feeling 14, and shouted in English, "Yes, I'm extremely embarrassed. I think you would mind too if you had to talk to a crowd of strangers with almost no clothes on." Then a female doctor in the group 15 my arm gently and 16 in perfect English, "I think I see the problem. My17 wants to take a photograph of your back﹣an X﹣ray﹣so he wants to know if you are 18a baby. You see, embarazada means pregnant in Spanish."

    No sooner had she told me this than I realized the 19of the misunderstanding. We all had a laugh, 20 I must admit that I felt rather stupid as well.

    One evening, Mr. Green was driving his car along a lonely country road. He had drawn $10,000 from the bank in town. Suddenly a man in rags (破旧衣服) stopped him and asked for 1. Mr. Green told him to get in and continued on his way. 2 he talked to the man, Mr. Green learned that he had just broken out of prison. Mr. Green was very afraid at the thought of his 3. Suddenly he saw a police-car and had a 4 idea. He put on speed and drove as quickly as possible. Then he found the police-car running 5 him. After a mile or so, the police-car passed him and 6 him to stop. A policeman came up. Mr. Green had hoped to tell him about the trouble but the man put a gun to Mr. Green's 7.

    The policeman said he wanted Mr. Green's name and 8 and Mr. Green told him. The policeman wrote it down in his notebook and put it in his 9. "You must go to the police station." He said. Then he talked to Mr. Green about dangerous 10. Mr. Green started up his car again. He had 11 all hope of his $10,000, but as he reached a more lonely part, the robber said he wanted to 12. Mr. Green stopped and the man said, "Thank you. You've been so 13 to me. This is what I can do in 14." And he handed Mr. Green the policeman's 15 which he stole while the policeman was talking to Mr. Green.

When I was about twelve, I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family. It was winter, and on that night the wind was really blowing hard. 

As my mum and I headed to the restaurant from our car, a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change(零钱). My mum right away asked where they lived. They pointed to an old car in a parking lot across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car. 

My mum said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings(兄弟姐妹). But she didn't come. Later, I found out she had gone home and put all the food in our cupboards into a few bags. Then, she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family. I wasn't there when that happened, but I can only imagine the joy it brought to those people. A few days later, when I actually found out about what she had done, I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remembered the face of that girl who had asked us for change. She was the same age as me, yet we looked so different. 

Here I stood, dressed in almost new clothes, headed to eat in a restaurant and then went back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remembered thinking the other girl didn't have any food to eat and that she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people. 

After painting this picture in my mind, I understood why my mum had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I have ever learned. 

Nanjing Yunjin brocade is traditional Chinese silk art with a history of about 1,600 years. Its complex weaving techniques, various colors and patterns, and its particular choices of materials make it valuable and ancient people said, "An inch of brocade, an inch of gold." Today, the traditional characteristics and unique skills of yunjin remain to be an award-winning art treasure. Its techniques are passed down from generation to generation by artisans. 

Zhou Shuangxi, a national-level inheritor of yunjin weaving techniques, is one of them. Back in 1973, he graduated from a mining school and was selected to become a student at the NanjingYunjin Research Institute along with five other students, just because he was "in good shape". There were only several masters in their 70s and not even a loom (织布机) to use. "The old masters finally remembered a loom was stored somewhere. When I opened the door, I saw what seemed like a pile of wood," Zhou recalled. 

"Weaving was difficult, but different from mining. Mining requires heavy physical labor, but working with the soft and thin silk requires studying and practicing in front of a loom for decades until you master the technique. My hands became quite awkward due to mining, so I used to put my hands in warm water whenever I could. In this way, they could become softer and weave the silk more easily," he said. 

Out of the six or so students, Zhou is the only one who has insisted on the trade to this day. Having devoted the past five decades to yunjin production despite all the sweat and struggles, he has developed his techniques to the point where he can weave the antique dragon robes in all their small details. He also made various artworks that not only show China's intangible cultural heritage but also serve as Zhou Shuangxi's artistic creations. 

"I am lucky to be in such a good era and I have the honor of being a representative inheritor," Zhou said.