One day, while I was walking to work, I decided to bring some flowers that I had picked from my garden that morning. On the way, I 1 a stranger and presented the bunch to him with a smile card. 2 by the sense of joy I felt from giving flowers to another person, and may be 3 his day, I wanted to do it again.

    When I got to my office, I had the 4 of anonymously(匿名地) leaving flowers around the workplace. The impersonal(无人情味的) 5 of the building where I work makes me 6 . It just feels a little boring sometimes, 7 it's a nice building with great light. I 8 lots of people might feel the same way, so why not put a little 9 there, and throw in an inspirational10 while I'm at it? After all, who doesn't like flowers?

    So, for the past month, I've been 11 flowers in a little cup on the sink in the bathroom.

    Each week, I 12 the flowers and the quote. It always feels 13 for me to read quotes like Henry David Thoreau's “If one advances 14 in the direction of his dreams, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” and Gandhi's “The fragrance(香味) always 15 on the hand that gives the rose.” If anything, I figured, it at least makes me 16 each time I visit the bathroom.

    Then today, when I walked in, I noticed 17 flowers in the cup, and a quote that someone else had written! It 18 , “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”—Gandhi. This little act 19 me that, at the end of the day, we're all just people with hearts 20 the various roles and different hats we may wear in the workplace.

    I did a little dance and I am smiling wide for the rest of the day!

    My wife and I moved to the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee in November, from New York to a very rural area. While moving we had the1of our adult daughter.

    During the 2days of moving into our new home, we3in the local community a lot. One evening we decided to have a meal at a buffet style restaurant. It had been a long day of 4boxes and furniture, and the next day would see us on the long drive back to our former home for another 5, a thousand mile long trip. We were all 6. But the buffet was great, and we7our meal feeling rested and relaxed.

    When I went to pay our bill,8in hand, the waitress cashier told me that they didn't 9credit cards. Being from the big city, it was10to use a credit card. Oops!

    I had no11in my pocket, but about 10 miles back down the road I'd seen a bank with an ATM. I told the lady that I would 12my family there and return in a few minutes to pay for our meals. “ Oh, you 13do that,” she told me. “ You just come back 14time and pay us then.” WHAT? I looked at her in 15. These people had16seen me before, did not know if I would ever return, yet they 17me to return to pay for three adult meals? This is not something that I had ever experienced in the big 18, that's for sure.

    We have lived there for almost six years, and every single week I see other acts of trust like this happening. It may be a “country” thing, or just19Southern hospitality. Whatever it is, I certainly like it, and I pass on this 20every chance I get.

    During the war, my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California. I went to live there in order to be1him. I hated the place. I had never2been so unhappy. My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty, and I was left in a tiny shack alone. The heat was3-almost 125 ^°F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌).4a soul to talk to. The wind blew non-stop, and all the food I ate, and the every air I breathed, were5with sand, sand, sand!

    I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was6 and coming back home. I said I couldn't stand it one minute longer. I 7be in prison! My father answered my 8with just two lines-two lines that will always sing in my9 two lines that completely changed my life:

    Two men looked out from prison bars

    One saw the mud, the other saw the stars

    I read those two lines10I was ashamed of myself. I made up my mind I would find out what was good in my present 11 I would look for the stars.

    I made friends with the natives, and their 12 amazed me. They gave me presents of their favorite artworks which they had13to sell to tourists. I studied the delightful forms of the cactus. I watched for the desert sunsets, and14for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the desert had been an ocean15.

    What brought about this16change in me? The desert hadn't changed,17I had. I had changed my 18. And by doing so, I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing19of my life. I was excited by this new world that I had discovered I had looked out of my self-created prison and20the stars.

    My mother was a nurse and often took me along to visit the families she was caring for. Among them was a woman who had a 1 disease and was always lying on the bed.

    One afternoon, my mom told me that we needed to 2 the woman at her home to 3 treatment, and we would stop at a store 4 I thought we would stop at a5store, but we pulled up to a6 My mom headed to the make-up7and bought the most expensive bottle of8they offered. She also bought a 9nightdress. When I asked my mom who these things were for, she said they were for her patient. My mom 10explained that although this woman was older and unable to11her bed,  she was still a lady, and she 12dignity and beauty. She 13 to me that when we care for someone, we 14the disability or the illness and we look into the15 of the human so we can connect with them with sympathy. I 16 realized that my mother's 17strengths were caring for the very young and the very old, those who can not 18for themselves and need trustworthy care providers. I knew in 9th grade I would become a 19.

    Today, I work as a clinical psychologist, and I'm: not 20 that I find my practice filled with patients who are very young and very old.

A Story on an Island

    A ship was lost at sea and the only survivor was washed up on a small, inhabited (无人居住的) island. He prayed 1 for God to rescue him and for hours he just 2 at the horizon (地平线), waiting for a heaven-sent 3 but it never came.

    Then he decided to do something. 4 tired and upset, he 5 some branches and dry grass. Hours of hard work paid off and a little shelter was built. The "Robinson Crusoe" began his life on the island. Believe it or not, a couple of days going by, he 6 and it seemed not that hard.

    But then one day, after 7 for food, he arrived home to find his little shelter in flames and the 8 rolling up to the sky.

    The 9 had happened: everything was lost.

    "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried with 10 and anger.

    Early the next day, 11, he was awakened by the 12 of a ship that was coming near to the island. It had come to rescue him!

    "13 did you know that I was here?" he asked one of his rescuers.

    "We saw your smoke 14", they replied.

    It is easy to get 15 when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose 16, because God is at work in our lives, 17 when we are in pains and sufferings.

    Remember, next time your little 18 is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that calls 19 the grace of God. For all the negative (消极的) things we have to say to ourselves, God has a/an 20 answer for it.

    John's parents acquired the washer when he was a small boy. It happened during World War Ⅱ. His family never 1 a washing machine and, since gasoline was expensive, they could not 2 trips to the laundry several miles away. Keeping clothes 3 became a problem for young John's household.

    A family friend joined the army, and his wife 4 to go with him. John's family 5 to store their furniture while they were away. To the family's 6, the friend suggested they use their Bendix. So this is how they 7 the washer.

    Young John helped with the washing, and across the years he 8 a love for the old, green Bendix. But 9 the war ended. When the friends came to take it back, John grew terribly 10. His mother 11 him and said. "You must remember, that machine 12 belonged to us in the first place. That we ever got to use it at all was a gift. So, instead of being mad at it being taken 13, let's use this 14 to be grateful that we had it at all."

    The lesson turned out 15. Years later, John watched his eight-year-old daughter die a slow and painful death of leukemia (白血病). Though he 16 for months with her death, John could not begin getting over from the 17 until he remembered the old Bendix.

    His daughter was a 18. When he realized the simple fact, everything changed. He could now begin recovering from the death of his daughter. He started to see her as a marvelous gift that he was fortunate enough to 19 for a time. He felt 20. He found strength and recovery. He knew he could get through the valley of loss.