My father was a highly educated, intelligent gentleman. He could debate or discuss for hours on almost any topic and hold your 1 in the process. I thought there was nothing he wasn't 2 to do.

    A few days before my younger brother's 7th birthday, Dad planned to assemble（装配）a new  3 as a special birthday surprise. After nearly an hour of  4 the instructions, Dad was still unable to 5 the new bike together. Later he 6 the paper of instructions, 7 up his tool box, and decided to take the bike back to the local toy store and pay extra 8 to have it correctly assembled there. 9 an idea came to him, as he called out to Lovett, the quiet little man who cut our grassland.

    “Lovett, have you ever assembled a boy's bicycle?”

    As Lovett walked towards the bike, Dad handed him the 10 . Lovett handed it back to him, saying, “No, thanks. I can't read. When you can't read, you have to 11 .” Less than 15 minutes later, the new bicycle was 12  assembled, with no 13  parts remaining. Dad shook Lovett's hand, patted him on the back, thanked him, and hid the bike.

    On the night after my brother received his shiny new gift, Dad announced at the family dinner table what had happened several days earlier. He took great 14  in telling it over and over again — he used it as an example of thinking.

    He did not refer to illiteracy（文盲）, but strongly taught us to use our  15  . The joke was on my father,  16  he was able to turn it into a learning tool, and I liked him even more after that incident. I also gained a new  17  for Lovett. To me he had  18  been the old yard man who didn't 19  much, but after that day, he seemed to smile 20  , even walk taller. It's amazing what a real nod of approval can do to lift people up.

    On Christmas Eve despite the fun and laughter from relative reunions, 13-year-old Frank Wilson did not cheer up. It was true that he had1all the presents he wanted. And he also2the big Christmas dinner with family members.3 ， Frank was not happy because this was his first Christmas without his brother, Steve, who was killed in a car accident. Frank4his brother and the close companionship they had together.

    Frank said good-bye to his parents and relatives, saying he was leaving early to see a friend. Since it was cold outside, Frank5his new jacket, his favorite gift from Grandma. He placed the other6on his new sled (雪横）and then headed out.

    As Frank went down the street toward home, through one front window, he saw a room with old7hanging over an empty fireplace. A woman was seated nearby, crying. The stockings8him of the way he and his brother always9theirs side by side. The next morning they would find presents.

    A sudden 10struck Frank. He knocked on the door. “Yes? The 11voice of the woman answered. “May I come in?” asked Frank. “You are very welcome,” she said, seeing his 12full of gifts and thinking he was making a13of gifts. “But I have no food or gifts for you. I have 14for my own children.” “That's why I am here.” Frank said. “Please 15whatever presents you would like for your children from the sled.” “Why? God bless you!” the 16woman answered. She took some candies, a toy plane and a doll. Finally, the stockings were 17  The woman thanked Frank and he left.

    Frank's18was full of happiness. Later he gave his jacket to a poor boy. At last, he 19all his presents. Now Frank was wondering how he could 20to his parents where his presents had gone.

    I stopped to watch my little girl busy playing in her room. In one hand was a plastic 1 ; in the other a toy broom. I listened as she was speaking to her make-believe little friend and I'll never forget the words she said, even 2 it was a pretence.

    She said, “Suzie's in the corner because she's not been very 3  . She didn't listen to a 4 I said or do the things she should. “In the corner I saw her baby doll all dressed in lace and pink. It was5 that she'd been put there to sit alone and 6.

    My daughter 7 her “conversation”, as I sat down on the floor. She said, “I'm all fed up. I just don't know what to do with her any more. She cries whenever I have to work and wants to play games, too. She never8   me do the things that I just have to do.

    She tries to help me with the dishes, but her arms just cannot 9 . And she doesn't know 10  to fold towels. I don't have the 11  to teach. I have a lot of work to do and a big house to keep clean. I don't have the time to sit and play—see 12 I mean?”

    And that day I thought a lot about making some13  in my life, as I listened to her innocent words that14me ‘like a knife. I hadn't been paying enough attention to what I hold most15 I'd been caught up in responsibilities that increased throughout the year.

    But now my 16to life has changed, because, in my heart, I realize that I've17the world in a different light through my little darling's eyes. So, let the cobwebs（蜘蛛网）18  the corners and the dust bunny rabbit rule the floor. I'm not going to worry about keeping up with them19.

    I'm going to fill the house with20of a child and her mother, for we are granted only one childhood, and we will never get another.

    I often go to France to visit my grandmother who is very dear to me. She's now 76 years old, so every time I go to1 the two of us are very aware that it might be the2time we see each other for she has cancer.

    Last time I visited her in December of 2012. I did a series of short video3about her life. I asked her about her greatest memories and life learning so far, her 4books, food and stories. I learned a large quantity of amazing new things about her I5knew before.

    This year, I did not really have 6 only a great urge for her to know how much she is loved. I cooked for her and read her stories.

    Before leaving, I was7a way to leave something8behind besides the memory of our 9together. So I wrote her five different 10and gratitude notes to let her know how much she11to me, and hid them in different places where I knew she would 12find them. One under her pillow. Another one 13from the lamp cover by which she reads in the evening. Another one by her toothbrush. One in her14which she eagerly checks every day. And the last one on her car's steering wheel.

    I left 15knowing that these cards would surely 16her up after I left. She called me as I was departing for Paris to catch my plane back to the US and said, “I17your three cards! By the time I discovered the third card, I was laughing out loud!18 they did me so much good. Thank you so much!” I19to myself, knowing she still has two more to go! It was Sunday, so my 20was that she had not checked her mailbox and had not yet driven her car!

    In 1957, Jane Goodall first met the famous anthropologist (人类学者) Dr Louis Leakey, who later played an important role in her life. With the 1 of gaining insight into humans' evolutionary (进化的) past, Dr Leakey 2 a pioneering long-term field study on 3 chimps. Even though Jane had no formal 4, her patience and determination to understand animals 5 him to choose her for the study. 6 it was unusual for a woman to work in the forest of Africa, going there 7 the fulfillment (实现) of her childhood dream. In the summer of 1960 she 8 in Tanzania (坦桑尼亚) on Lake Tanganyika's eastern shore. This marked the 9 of the longest continuous field study of animals in their 10 habitat (栖息地). Five years 11, she earned a doctor's degree at Cambridge University and then 12 to Tanzania to found the Gombe Stream Research Center. And in 1977, to provide on—going 13 for chimp research, Dr Goodall 14 The Jane Goodall Institute.

    Today, she 15 most of her time traveling around the world, giving lectures on her 16 at Gombe and speaking to school groups about Roots && Shoots, her environmental education and humanitarian program for the 17.

    "Chimps have given me so 18. The long hours spent with them in the 19 have enriched my life beyond measure. What I have learned from them has shaped my 20 of human behavior, of our place in nature."

    "Smile!" I shouted, flashing a bright yellow poster at a crowd of people in Seattle.

    We were 3,000 miles away from home on a Random Acts of Kindness road trip. Our1was to try out our new "Smile!" signs and see how much kindness and joy we could2

    We weren't sure how people would3our signs. It's so easy to walk past a busy crowd, lost in your own world,4to make eye contact with strangers and feeling5while surrounded by hundreds of people. I6raised up a sign and shouted, "Hi there!" to a young couple. They looked over,7, then read my sign and broke into smiles. They even nudged (轻推) a person beside them, gesturing to our sign so their friend could8, too.

    This might9, I thought.

    Before long, our signs were10. Tourists wanted photos with us. Strangers stopped to ask us about our11and we told them the story of our Acts of Kindness road trip. The famous fish vendors (小贩) changed their12from "FISH! FRESH FISH"' to "HEY! SMILE, EVERYONE."

    Sometimes I'd see a(n)13face and feel nervous to show my sign, but I tried not to judge. I'd14be rewarded with a big grin (咧嘴笑),as suddenly a frowning elderly woman turned into my15old grandmother.

    Some people16if they could have a "Smile!" sign to take with them. One bus driver put a sign in his window; a bicyclist that17one of our signs emailed us several years later to say he still uses it whenever he races.

    The signs are more than a(n)18to smile — they're an excuse to connect with19and to remember we're not alone. This world is full of20people we just don't know yet.