Bradley's Bicycle

    When our son Bradley was ten, the new bicycle he had received earlier that year was missing. Having a bike was a big deal to our children. They spent hours and hours on their bikes, 1 up and down the footpath, and at the front of the house. We also rode as a 2 at holidays, when all the members enjoyed staying together. Bicycling was a great way to get the kids out of the house and into the fresh air 3 spending any money.

    Bradley discovered that his bicycle had been 4 from our backyard when he and his sister went outside for a morning ride. He couldn't 5 that someone would do this. 6, none of the other bicycles were touched and nothing else was missing.

    Bradley painted a sign (告示) on a large piece of cardboard,7 for the bicycle to be returned, and 8 it to the letterbox. The following morning, when I went out to collect the mail, I found a white 9 with the magical words, "Buy yourself a new bike." It took me a little while to 10what it was inside it. It was a $100 banknote.

    We were very 11that someone had the heart to do this. We've never been able to thank the person but we 12 that it may have been one of our wonderful neighbors. Bradley painted a big "Thank you" on the sign and we 13it outside for a couple of weeks afterwards in case it was someone who drove down our street.

    Bradley was able to 14 a new bicycle. As the years went on, bicycles became bigger and more expensive but remained just as 15 for those family bicycle rides. Now the kids have grown up and cars have 16their bicycles. Bradley is twenty-five this year. Sometimes I 17 the days when receiving a bicycle was the best thing in the world to them.

    All these years later we are still grateful to that incredibly kind 18. A young boy's sorrow turned to joy when he got his19. We were a young family with three little children and it meant a lot to us. We still talk about it and, even now, 20who actually gave us the help.

    When I was in primary school, I had a big argument with a boy in my class. I can't remember what it was about, 1 I have never forgotten the 2 I learned that day.

    I was 3 that I was right and he was wrong. However, he strongly believed that I was wrong and he was right. The 4 decided to teach us a lesson. She came up with a good idea. She5 both of us to the 6 of the class and 7 him on one side of her grey desk and me on 8, In the middle of the desk was a large, round object. I could 9 see that it was black. She asked the boy 10 color the object was. "White," he answered in a loud voice.

    I couldn't believe that the object was whites 11 it was certainly black! One more 12 started between the boy and me, this time about the13 of the object.

    The teacher told me to go stand where the boy was standing and told him to come stand where I had been. We changed 14, and then she asked me what the color of the object was. I 15 answer, "White." It was then that I knew what was wrong. It was an object with two 16 colored sides, and from his side it was white. 17 from my side was it black.

    My teacher taught me a very important 1esson that day: You must 18 in other person's position (位置) and look at the 19 through their eyes in order to20 understand their ideas.

    It's about 250 miles from the hills of west-central lowa to Ehlers' home in Minnesota. During the long trip home, following a weekend of hunting, Ehlers 1about the small dog he had seen 2 alongside the road. He had 3 to coax（哄）the dog to him but, frightened, it had 4.

    Back home, Ehlers was troubled by that 5 dog. So, four days later, he called his friend Greg, and the two drove 6. After a long and careful 7. Greg saw, across a field, the dog moving 8 away. Ehlers eventually succeeded in coaxing the animal to him. Nervousness and fear were replaced with 9. It just started licking（舔）Ehlers' face.

    A local farmer told them the dog sounded like one 10 as lost in the local paper. The ad had a 11 number for a town in southern Michigan. Ehlers 12 the number of Jeff and Lisa to tell them he had 13 their dog.

    Jeff had 14 in lowa before Thanksgiving with his dog, Rosie, but the gun shots had scared the dog off. Jeff searched 15 for Rosie in the next four days.

    Ehlers returned to Minnesotan, and then drove 100 miles to Minneapolis to put Rosie on a flight to Michigan. “It's good to know there's still someone out there who  16 enough to go to that kind of 17," says Lisa of Ehlers' rescue 18.

    I figured whoever lost the dog was probably just as  19 to it as I am to my dogs,” says Ehlers. “If it had been my dog, I'd hope that somebody would be 20 to go that extra mile.”

    My sister called the other day and told me how sad she was feeling about Mother's Day this year. 1, I was taken by surprise because May feels so far away. I felt instantly 2 because I hadn't thought about my mother in a while. And that's 3 when it occurred to me that our 4 doesn't always follow a calendar.

    After our mother died, I spent a good deal of time 5 her in front of her photo. It enabled me to 6 conversations with her that were 7 to me. I remember desiring to be picked up the phone on many occasions to 8 some good news or get her advice, only to be 9. Now, I simply talk to her in my head. Her photo has become a 10 of her spirit and I'm glad she's there.

    My sister, Ellen, said that this is a 11 difficult year for her and she is trying to 12 why. She sounded impatient with herself, 13 13 years should be enough time to "get past" being sad on Mother's Day.

    The truth is, that for me, every year is 14. At times, when the TV commercials. advertisements and local stores absolutely bomb us with fairy tales of flowers and chocolate and jewelry, I get angry: 15 these same reminders leave me feeling 16 for my wonderful mom, recalling (回忆) her generosity and serious style. She was always a trooper. And sometimes I don't 17 any of it at all.

    As Ellen and I talked, she seemed to come to a certain 18. She was going to be out of the country on business on Mother's Day, without her husband or any family around Without the presence of this 19, she worried about being 20. But she decided that it would be OK. Deep in our heart, Mum has always been with us.

    It was a cold, rainy day, and I had no desire to drive up for two hours along the winding mountain road to my daughter Carolyn's house. But she had1that I come to see something at the top of the mountain. So here I was, 2making the two-hour journey through the thick fog. Nothing could be worth this, I thought as I inched along the 3 highway.

    "I'll stay for lunch, but I'm 4back home straight after that," I announced when I arrived.

    "But I need you to drive me to the garage to5my car," Carolyn said. "Could we6 do that?"

    Turning down a narrow track, we parked the car and got out. To my7, the views before my eyes were 8 words.

    From the 9 of the mountain, sloping for several acres across valleys, were rivers of flowers in bloom. A mass of 10 —from the palest ivory to the deepest lemon and then to the most vivid pink—shone like a carpet before us. It looked 11 the sun had spilled gold down the mountainside.

    A series of questions 12 my mind. Who13 such beauty? When? How?

    As we approached the house that14 in the center of the land, we saw a sign that 15: "Answers to the Questions; I Know You Are 16."

    The first answer was: "One Woman—Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain." The second was: "One at a Time." The third: "17 in 1958."

    As we drove home, I was so moved by what we had seen. The18of it would not let me go. "Imagine," I said, "if I'd had a vision and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have 19?"

    Carolyn looked at me, smiling. "Start tomorrow," she said. "20 yet, start today."

    Eddie has lots of hobbies, but he loves baseball best. So it is his1sport. Eddie plays baseball on a team every year in the spring. He loves to go to baseball2.

    Every day when it is3, Eddies father throws a baseball to Eddie in the backyard. This is the time of day that Eddie4best. He enjoys spending time with his father and he loves practicing baseball.

    Eddie5baseball cards throughout the year. He and his father visit the6and buy cards for Eddie's collection. Eddie spends hours with his baseball cards. He arranges them in different7and trades them with other baseball8.

    One day, Eddie s father came home with two tickets to9the Atlanta Braves play the next Saturday. Eddie was so10. He counted down the days on the calendar.

    Finally it was the day of the game. Eddie and his father11to Atlanta early in the morning. Before they watched the match, they12the Braves' museum at the stadium and saw a short movie on the history of the Atlanta Braves. Eddie enjoyed seeing the13

    They ate14at the stadium when it was at noon, and soon it was time for the game.

    The game was exciting. Eddie tried to15every move the players made.16he watched carefully and practiced a lot, he might just be on one of those baseball cards some day!

    17the game, Eddie and his father drove home. They talked about the game. They talked about which18were the best, and which19were the most exciting. Eddie went to sleep that night still20of baseball. His dreams were filled with images from his very special day.