These days，upcycling(升级改造)is popular with people.They 1 something unique from existing materials rather than buy more.My granny，Bobo has spent 92 years doing just that out of necessity.

    Wasting time and resources was 2 an option in the world she grew up in.With seven children to 3she lived a hard and economical life.Bobo has been upcycling 4 the day Great-Granny Annie put a needle in her hand and taught her how to give new 5 to every fabric(织物)in their farmhouse.

    Just like Bobo，my mother，Cindy6making her clothes.She7 her homecoming dress and bought the fabric with money she earned8 at the can factory.One generation passed on to the next the 9of creating something beautiful and useful by hand.

    Granny's and Mom's sewing skills meant that no matter the budget，Christmas，birthday，and wedding gifts were 10From a baby blanket to a bib(围嘴)，each treasure 11a special quality of personalization.In my home I am 12 by upcycling at its best.

    Thanks to Bobo's13 ways，the artistry of handwork lives on in four 14 of crafters.Granny Bobo lived it.Mom carried it on.I am picking it up by listening and 15Now my daughter，Greta，is also learning to use those 16.

    I sit and watch 17 as Bobo's hands weave needle and thread.In 92 years，her hands have known and 18 life，home and family.Age has brought the19 of some memories.But if you listen to her stories while she20you'll journey back to the old farm with her.

    Have you ever been sad because of failure? Please remember, for often achieving what you set out to do is not the most important thing.

    A boy decided to dig a 1 hole behind his house. As he was 2, a couple of old boys stopped by to give a/an 3. "What are you doing?" asked one of the 4. "I want to dig a hole all the way through the earth!" the boy 5 excitedly. The older boys began to 6, telling him that digging a hole all the way-through the earth was 7. After a while, the boy picked up a jar. He 8 it to the visitors. It was full of all kinds of stones and insects. Then he said calmly and 9, "Maybe I can't finish digging all the way through the earth,10 look at what I've found during this period!"

    The boy's goal was far too 11, but it did cause him to go on. And that is what a goal is 12 -to cause us to move in the 13 we have chosen, in other words, to cause: us to keep working!

    Not 14goal will be fully achieved. Not every job will 15 up with a success. Not every dream will come true. But when you16 short of your aim, maybe you can say, "Yes, but look at 17 I've found along the way! So many wonderful things have 18 my life because I tried to do something!"19 is in the digging that life is lived. It is a joy on the 20 that really makes sense.

    It was a terrible day. Snow had been falling all day long making the trip 1. I would rather have been in my warm home than drive along on such a cold day, but I didn't have a 2. I had to have my paper work handed in and then 3 my son.

    The snow continued to fall as we drove along for the 15-mile trip back home. I slowed the car and 4 at my son in his heavy coat as he looked 5 out of the window with a blank expression. In the 6 of the world he was looked upon as a mentally disabled child. 7, over the years what I saw was a beautiful, kind and 8 soul. He had shown me more about love than I could have ever 9 on my own.

    I slowed the car even more as we 10 a sharp curve (弯). As we rounded it I saw a shivering (颤抖的), young woman in a 11 jacket walking in the snow storm . I pulled over and let her in. She was heading for her Mom's house to visit her 12 whom she hadn't seen for months. She had experienced a lot of disappointments and 13. Yet, she still held out hope for a new job and tried to 14 a new life for her son and herself.

    I took her as 15 as I was able to and dropped her off. She thanked me for the 16 and I told her I wished I could have done more to help. Then as we were about to leave, my sweet son took off his coat, 17 down the window and gave it to her. She put it on, smiled and 18 to us as we pulled out on the road.

    In this world we will 19 many problems and challenges. Sometimes it seems that our entire lives are a trip down a curvy and dangerous road. Yet the power of 20 takes us straight back to a broad smooth highway.

    I grew up in a West Virginia mining town in Fayette County. A man named John moved into our town from New Orleans. He was a(n) 1 man, who was at least 6 feet tall and weighed 245 pounds. He had 2 shoulders and truly fitted the V body type. He was really a man with 3and patience.

    John worked for some days, when there were no 4 and John was absolutely an admirable miner. However, when I was ten, the 5 day came. A terrible disaster 6. Timber crossbars(木材横木) were often used in mines to 7 the top. That day my father was working 8 John in the mine. A timber cracked somewhere and the loud cry of a man was 9. Hearing this, my dad and John rushed to the site of the 10. There some miners were trapped. They felt 11 and they sat depressed, either in shock or in prayer(祈祷).

    That's when John did it. He held the timber and applied all his 12 to it. Surprisingly, the blocking moved. Then John raised the timber while all the miners13, but in doing so, the wood was becoming further weakened and John himself was 14 below instead. My father and the other miners 15 started to work with their tools, desperately trying to 16 John, but the top fell and there was no 17 of reaching him. John was buried there forever.

    18 John, a small marble monument(纪念碑) was 19 in front of the entrance to the mine. The 20 had given up his life so that others could live. The monument is still there to this day.

Roberta appeared on the stage. She took a deep breath and began to 1. Now she was Portia, a strong­willed 2 in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.  The theater was filled with people. She was speaking with a power she had never before experienced, the words flowing 3 from her.

4, Roberta had never acted in her life before the audition (选拔试演). She 5 being in front of other people. She was very 6 at school. She had never thought she was good enough at anything to 7 much attention. She stayed mostly to herself, making 8 friends. She had excellent grades, 9 she always thought that something was missing.

Two weeks before the audition, Robertsa's mother had heard about it and 10 her to join in.

"I can't think of anyone else better suited to 11 the part. Remember all the plays you used to act out for us?"

Her mother wouldn't let the 12 drop. "You're just a little scared. Everyone gets scared. You know you 13 do it. The trick is to look past the 14 to find the love of what you're doing. "

So Roberta had made an appointment with the head of the Drama Club. She had read the play and found herself excited by the 15 of speaking such rich words. In secret she practiced Portia's part, 16 the lines by repeating them over and over. It wasn't hard; she 17 every minute of it. Every time she spoke the words, she had a new 18 of the lines, as if Shakespeare had written Portia on many levels.

On the day of the audition, she 19 two of Portia's famous speeches for the auditors. When she had finished, the head of the Drama Club announced the 20 was hers.

One month ago my kind grandmother, Nonie, was put into hospice（临终安养院）. This was as much a (n) 1 as anything, since it 2 her to go home with what she needed, rather than being 3 in the hospital. It wasn't clear whether or not she was all that close to 4 . My mother said it could be a 5 still or it could be any time. My parents 6 I should pick a proper time to visit her in New York.

Three weekends were possible for me to make a 7 in the coming months: October 20th, November 10th, or December 1st. The 8 in October was certainly the least convenient as I was pretty 9, and I'd have to get all the arrangements in order very 10. But I chose it because if I waited just out of11, and Nonie died before I saw her, I'd never 12 myself. It turns out I did the 13 thing. When her driver came to pick her up today around noon, Nonie passed out, and never14 .

My trip was a 15 one, but I got to spend a full day and a half 16 next to her and asking her questions. Some questions got more 17 answers. I wanted to know more about her and my grandpa's love story and how they can stay happily 18 for nearly 70 years, dedicated to each other until the very end.

My grandpa got dementia(痴呆),and he almost19 everything slowly. 20, for years he still remembered Nonie. He died two years ago, and Nonie told me she'd been asking the Lord to take her ever since.