That holiday morning I didn't have to attend school. Usually, on holiday, mother1me to sleep in. And I would certainly take full advantage of it .On this particular morning, 2.I felt like getting up early.

    I stood by my window overlooking the 3, having nothing better to do. But as it turned out, I was soon to learn about something 4in life.

    As I watched several people go by, get into their cars and drive off, I5an old man on a bicycle with a bucket on its 6and a basket of rags and bottles on its back—carrige.He7from one ear to another ,washing and cleaning them. From the water on the ground, it seemed that he had already 8washing and cleaning about a dozen or more ears. He must have begun to work quite early in the morning .

Several thoughts 9my mind as I watched him work. He wasn't well—dressed. He had on a pair of shorts and a (an)10T—shirt. The bicycle he rode was not by any means the kind modern 11would want to be seen riding on. But he seemed 12with life. There he was ,working hard at his small business,13at passers—by and stopping to chat now and then 14elderly men and women on their way to the market nearby.

There was a noticeable touch of 15in the way he seemed to be doing things —16the windscreen(挡风玻璃)，then standing back to admire it，scrubbing(擦净)the wheel and 17, standing back to see what they looked like after the scrub.

It was a 18to learn, I felt. At no age need one have to beg for a19if one has good health and is willing to work hard .For a while I felt 20of myself. Young as I am —just sixteen, and there was this old man who must have been usefully engaged perhaps before the Sun appeared above the horizon.

    “A bird with a broken wing will never fly as high.” I'm sure that John would agree with this saying1he felt this way almost every day in school.

    By high school, John was the most famous2in his town. He was always absent, didn't answer questions and got into 3He had failed almost every exam by the time he entered his senior year, yet was 4each year to a higher grade level. Teachers didn't want to 5 him again the following year. John was moving on, but definitely not moving 6

    I met John for the first time at a weekend leadership training program since John was one of 405 students who7At the start of the training, John was just standing 8the circle of students, against the back wall. He didn't 9 join the discussion groups. But slowly, the interactive games 10 him in.

    The ice really melted (融化) when the groups started building a list of 11and negative things that had occurred at school that year. John12 some constructive ideas on those situations. The other students in John's group 13 his comments. All of a sudden John felt like a 14 of the group, and before long he was 15 like a leader. By the end of the training, he had joined the Homeless Project team. The other students on the team were 16 with his passionate concern and ideas. They17 elected John co-chairman of the team.

    John started18at school every day and answered questions from teachers for the first time. He led a second project19300 blankets and 1,000 pairs of shoes for the homeless shelter.

A bird with a broken wing only needs20. Once healed, it can fly higher than the rest.

    My old friend Judy who worked at our local Wal-fart, had been down a pretty rough road. However, she somehow had maintained her 1 and cheerful outlook on life.

    Every time I 2 other, I felt a pull in my heart to do 3 to help. I just couldn't figure out what it was that I was 4 to do.

    Christmas was coming. This morning I was 5 by and turned in. I had Christmas cards in my car from work. I pulled one out and 6 it to her. I placed a gift of cash inside the card – more cash than I had ever given anyone but the 7 in my heart said, "Yes! Do it!"

    I went up to customer service and said to the clerk 8 there, "I'm looking for my friend, Judy." He said, "OK, she is here. I'll 9 her for you."

    When my friend 10 I said with a smile "Here is a card for you." She asked, "Should I 11it here?"

    "Sure," I 12 . She opened it and tears came to her eyes. She burst out a cry of 13 "Oh, thank you! I wasn't going to be able to give my girls Christmas gifts at all this year."

    It was 14 for me to see her happiness and it was also good to know I had finally 15 how I was supposed to help her. 16 she did next made me know I had done the right thing. She called me later to thank me again, 17 "It was too much, so I shared it 18 two other women at work who were not going to have Christmas gifts for their children 19. I hope you don't mind."

    My heart swelled with joy knowing I had done something that was passed on right 20 it was meant to go.

    I had seen my “old” friend working at our local Wal-Mart for several months. She always stopped to say hi, then1off saying she had to get back to work.

    Through our brief conversations, I discovered she had been down a pretty2road but somehow had remained a positive and cheerful3to life. She was living in an apartment building, which was4 for alcohol and drug problems, but that was all 5 she could afford. A few weeks later there was a fire at the apartment and all residents had to move. As she 6 said, it could be worse but ended with a positive point about her 7.

    I felt a pull in my heart to do something to help, because I had been in her 8 once or twice but my life had taken a turn for the 9.

    One day I had a few Christmas 10 in my car from work. I pulled one out and  11 it to her. I placed a gift of cash inside the card— more cash than I had ever given anyone but the 12 in my heart said, “Yes! Do it!” When my friend 13, I said, “Here is a card for you,” and we hugged. She opened it and tears came to her eyes.

    Seeing her happiness, I 14 figured out how I was 15 to help her. What she did next made me know I had done the right thing. She phoned me 16 to thank me again and said, “It was too much, so I 17 it with two other women at work who were not going to have Christmas gifts 18 their children either. I hope you don't 19.”

    My heart was filled with 20 knowing I had done something that was passed on right where it was meant to go.

    When my son Gene was about 12 years old, I started helping him learn to work. I 1 twenty chickens and asked him to 2 them. I told him that they would be his own chickens and we would 3 the eggs from him. However, he would have to buy chicken 4 with the money he made from the eggs. Whatever money was 5 would be his to keep. Gene was 6, thinking he would make his first 7 .

    After several weeks' successful work, I began to 8 that egg production was going down. I 9 nothing about it. Then one night, Gene told me he didn't have 10 money to buy the feed. He said the chickens had never 11 a meal and he could not figure out why some of them had stopped 12 eggs.

    Then I asked him if he had 13 the amount of feed he had given the chickens. He was 14. It was like he did not think anyone would ever 15 what he had done. After a long 16, he said yes. He thought he would make more money if he gave them 17 food. I asked him, “Did you fool the chickens?”

    I was just astonished at the question in my own 18. I was dumbfounded at the 19 of it. Yes, you can fool everyone else, but you can't “fool the chickens”, because 20, you will find out, as the saying goes,“ What goes around comes around.”

The Gift of Forgiveness

    The summer I turned 16, my father gave me his old 69 Chevy Malibu convertible. What did I know about classic cars? For me, the important thing was that Hannah and I could1around Tucson with the top down.

    Hannah was my best friend, a year younger but much2. That summer she3with a modeling agency, doing catalog and runway work.

    A month after my birthday, Hannah and I went to the movies. On the way home, we4at the McDonald's drive-through, putting the fries in the space between us to5. "Let's ride around awhile," I said. It was a clear night, hot, full moon hanging low over the desert. Taking a curve (弯) too6, I ran over some dirt and fishtailed. I then moved quickly through a neighbor's landscape wall and drove into a full-grown palm tree. The front wheel came to rest halfway7the tree trunk.

    There were French fries on the floor, the dash (仪表盘) and my lap. An impossible amount of8was on Hannah's face, pieces of skin hanging around her eyes. We were taken in separate ambulances. In the emergency room, my parents spoke quietly: "Best plastic surgeon (整容医生) in the city…but it is more likely the9of her modeling career…"

    We'd been wearing lap belts,10the car didn't have shoulder belts. I'd broken my cheekbone on the steering wheel; Hannah's11had split wide open on the dash. What would I say to her?

    When her mother, Sharon, came into my hospital room, I started to cry, preparing myself for her12. She sat beside me and took my hand. "I drove into the back of the car of my best friend when I was your age," she said. "I completely13her car and mine."

    "I'm so sorry," I said.

    "You're both14," she said. "Everything else doesn't matter." I started to explain, and Sharon stopped me. "I15you. Hannah will too."

    Sharon's forgiveness allowed Hannah and me to get back in the car together that summer, to stay16throughout high school and college, to be in each other's weddings. I think of her gift of forgiveness every time I tend to feel angry about someone for a perceived(可感知到的)17, and whenever I see Hannah. The scars (伤疤) are now18and no one else would notice, but in the sunlight I can still19the faint, shiny skin just below her hairline—for20, a sign of forgiveness.