Once upon a time a teacher and his student 1down under a big tree near the big grass area．Then suddenly the student asked the teacher，"Teacher，I'm puzzled．How do we 2 our soul mate(知己)?Could you please help me?"

    Silent for a few seconds，the teacher then answered，"Well，it's a pretty hard and easy question．" The teacher 3 ,"Look that way．There is a lot of grass．Why don't you walk there? But please don't walk 4 ． On your way，try to find a blade(叶片)of beautiful grass and 5 it and then give it to me．But just one．"

    The student said OK and then he walked straight ahead to the grassy field．A few minutes later，the student came back empty-handed．When the teacher asked the 6 ,the student said，"On my journey，I found quite a few beautiful blades of grass，but I 7     that I would find a better one，so I didn't pick it．But I didn't realize that I was at the 8 of the field，and I hadn't picked any because you told me not to go back，so I didn't go back." Hearing this, the teacher said，"That's what will happen in real life．"

    What is the 9 of this story? In the story，grass is the people around you；the beautiful blade grass is the people that 10 you and the grassy field is time．In looking for your soul mate，please don't always 11and hope that there will be a better one．By doing that，you'll 12your lifetime．Remember "Time Never Goes Back．"

    In one class, we discussed about Christmas. Jace1 said he had gone ten years, never experiencing the joy and surprise of 2  a present. I searched my internal data bank for a reason that he might be saying this. Then I remembered his story. He lived alone with his dad. His father had a hard time holding down a job. After class, the other students secretly came to me,3  to buy gifts for him.

    A couple of weeks after Jace's4, he was absent from school.

    As the gifts poured in, the 5  students told me how they found the “perfect gift”. I was so proud my students were truly demonstrating the 6  of Christmas.

    After several days of Jace's absences, you can imagine our 7 when we learned these absences were due to the fact that he had moved away!

    I was 8 of one thing. I couldn't let my students or Jace 9 . I found my information sheet and called every number 10 , but the number would ring with no 11 despite my continuous 12 . Finally, on Christmas Eve I was so used to it that I was startled (吓一跳) to hear a response.13 Jace answered the phone!

    When I drove to Jace's home, it took several 14back and forth to my car to get all the gifts. We15  his room with all of the carefully wrapped gifts especially for him. He was so surprised and grateful that his smile 16 the sky like twinkle lights.

    I went to sleep that night  17  about Jace and all of the18 he was going to have, my thoughtful students and how excited I was to tell them all about 19  Jace. I was thankful to be a part of one of the most important “20” of their lives.

    A little boy invited his mother to attend his school's first teacher-parent meeting. To the little boy's 1 , she said she would go. This 2be the first time that his classmates and teacher3his mother and he felt 4of her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar（疤痕）that 5 nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to 6why or how she got the scar.

    At the meeting, the people were7 by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother 8the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed（尴尬）and 9 himself from everyone. He, however,10 a conversation between his mother and his teacher.

    The teacher asked 11,“How did you get the scar on your face?”

The mother replied,“12 my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught fire. Everyone was13 afraid to go in because the fire was14 ，so I went in. As I was running toward his bed, I saw a piece of wood coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked 15 but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us.” She 16 the burned side of her face. “This scar will be 17 , but to this day, I have never18what I did.”

    At this point, the little boy came out running toward his mother with tears in his eyes. He held her in his arms and felt a great19 of the sacrifice（牺牲）that his mother had made for him. He held her hand 20for the rest of the day.

    My car needed some mechanical work that I could not do myself. Since the garage I had been taking my car to had 1, my friend Dave gave me a recommendation: D's Auto Repair.

    I was pleasantly 2 to discover that the owner of D's was a mechanic who had worked on my car several years earlier. 3 he was an employee at a gas station near my house. I knew that his work was good.

    I 4 the paperwork for the repair and 5 while D took a phone call from another customer. As I sat there, I looked around the small office to keep myself 6 A framed newspaper article caught my attention. The headline 7: "Local Dairy Farmer Kills Whole Herd.” The article was about the 8 of a fifth-generation dairy farmer during the polluted milk scare in Michigan several years earlier. Dairy cows were becoming 9 a disease that was affecting the milk supply. The fifth-generation dairy farmer paid to have all of his cows 10. It was found that out of the entire herd, only a few were were infected. Because no one could 11 that the other cows were totally 12, he had the herd killed and buried to make consumers feel rest assured(放心). The farmer's insurance did not cover his 13 because the state had not issued a(n) 14 for him to get rid of the herd. Asked why he did it, the farmer replied "Because it was the right thing to do.

    I asked D why he 15 the article on the wall. I thought that he might be related to or 16 knew the farmer. He said he had never met the man, but that the farmer was a(n) 17 to him and set a standard for integrity(正直), trust and honesty. He said that is how he 18 his auto Repair business.

    I was now doubly 19 by both the farmer and D. The next year, 20 my recommendation, my son started a nine-month mechanics apprenticeship(学徒) at D's Auto repair.

    During the war, my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California. I went to live there in order to be 1 him. I hated the place. I had never 2 been so unhappy. My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty, and I was left in a tiny shack(棚屋) alone. The heat was 3almost 125 ⁰F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌). 4 a soul to talk to. The wind blew non-stop, and all the food I ate, and the very air I breathed, were 5 with sand, sand, sand!

I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was 6 and coming back home. I said I couldn't stand it one minute longer. I 7 be in prison! My father answered my 8with just two lines — two lines that will always sing in my 9— 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 lines 10. I 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 had 13 to sell to tourists. I studied the delightful forms of the cactus. I watched for the desert sunsets, and 14 for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the desert had been an ocean 15.

    What brought about this 16 change in me? The desert hadn't changed, 17 I had. I had changed my 18. And by doing so, I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing 19of my life. I was excited by this new world that I had discovered. I had looked out of my self-created prison and 20 the stars.

    All of us can give others a hand as long as we are willing to do so. Actually, there are some people doing kind things all the time. Spreading kindness, one good deed at a time, is Karla Gibson's mission. "I wish everyone could join me. There are so many 1 things going on in the world; I mean every day," said Karla.

    Karla had the 2 and sense of duty in December of 2013. The single mother of three said she tended to feel depressed around the holidays, so she 3 to do something to cheer others up. She started a Facebook page and 4 her good deeds each day, from feeding the homeless to giving Easter gifts to the incarcerated (囚犯). She hoped to 5 others.

    "We have to do something. Our 6 can make a difference in someone's day. You 7 know when someone might be having their worst day, and then something like buying them a coffee can change their whole attitude," Karla 8.

    Karla's greatest 9 so far had to do with coffee. On September 27th, Karla's birthday, she went to her local Starbucks and gave the 10 $127 to pay for other people's drinks. She sat at the end of the drive-through holding a 11 that read, "Have a great day." She ended up 12 about 23 customers. "It was really fun. It was 13 one of the best birthdays ever." she said. Her kindness that day didn't go 14. One couple was so grateful that they surprised her with flowers and balloons to show their 15.

    Karla's acts of kindness have become a 16 affair. Her two sons are always 17 others. "Sometimes I'll ask Kyle, 'So, did you do anything extra nice today?' and his answers are like 'Somebody 18 something in the hallway and I picked it up' or 'I held the door for someone', that kind of thing," said Karla.

    It's because of Mom that the boys think it's 19 to give a hand to others. "I think it's a great idea of hers. It's always nice to help someone out 20 they really need it," said Karla's 15-year-old son Chad.