I was on a plane returning home to Dallas, Texas after completing my duty in Vietnam. There were no hometown parades for us veterans （退役老兵） from that1war and I had been warned about the unfriendliness from our countrymen at that time.2, I was just trying to get home without incident.

    I sat, in uniform, in a window seat,3eye contact with my fellow passengers. No one was sitting in the seat next to me, which4my loneliness. A little girl, not more than 10 years old, suddenly5 in the passage. She smiled and, without a word,6handed me a magazine. I accepted her7together with her quiet “welcome home”. I turned to the window and wept. Her small8of caring was the first I had9 in a long time.

    I believe in the10between strangers when we reach out to one another.

    Today, that young girl 11 has no memory of what happened years ago. I like to think of her as having grown up, continuing to12others and teaching her children to do the same. I know she might have been told to give me the “13” by her parents. It doesn't matter why she gave me the magazine. The 14thing is she did.

    From then on, I have followed her15 and tried, in different ways for 16people, to do the same for them. I know that my 17since then are all due to that little girl. Her offer of a magazine to a tired, scared and 18soldier has echoed throughout my 19. I have to believe that my small gestures have the same20 on others.

    My mother seemed to be able to make dolls (洋娃娃) out of anything. She made some dolls for me and my two elder sisters. I 1 playing with them, but still, secretly, I hoped for a store-bought 2like the one our rich cousin had. Her doll 3 open and close its blue glass eyes and even say "Mamma". I 4 stopped admiring it and hoping to have one.

    However, my dream 5came true when I was six. One day my father came back from his business trip with three 6 dolls! They were much smaller than our cousin's doll and their eyes were just painted ones, but I did not 7 such differences. They were 8 "store-bought" dolls. We each chose one and I named 9 Misako.

    Soon my sisters and I became devoted 10. Our "children" kept us 11 all day. We gave them a bath, 12 them, brushed their hair, took them out for a walk and put them to bed. Several months later, they got more like real children — their 13 and bodies became dirtier; their dresses got stained; their hair less smooth.

    But, by then, 14 interests seemed to have moved into 15 toys. Their dolls were abandoned (被抛弃) and in bad condition. One had 16 one of her arms, and 17 was one-legged. "You can 18 them if you want," my sisters said to me. Thus, I had 19 dolls. They were more or less handicapped (残疾) and they often looked at me as if they needed me to 20 them. I enjoyed this feeling of being needed — being the only one in the world who could protect them with a lot of love. Indeed, they made the rest of my childhood days very happy.

    My friend and I were at a restaurant in Berkeley for an evening fast food. All of a sudden we decided to do a small act of 1 —to use the smile card to. 2 someone's day.

    Being at a restaurant, we intended to pay for someone else anonymously(匿名)and see what 3. We got all excited with the 4 and set about doing that.

    We looked around for which table we should pay for, and then 5 a table—it seemed like an immigrant family with a few children, 6 their meals at that time. I could sense a family 7 in them and that they were having a nice time together. We called on our waitress to 8 the idea to her.

    As soon as we told her we wanted to pay for another table and showed her the 9, she got super thrilled! We told her about it and made sure she knew we wanted to be anonymous, which made us further 10. After a while, she came back and told us the waitress for that table was 11 to tears when hearing about our idea.

    Soon after, we left, feeling delighted and grateful to get all opportunity to 12 smiles. It is hard to explain how it felt in the moment, but it 13 felt special, not because I was “helping” someone, but because I felt 14 to people I didn't even know—the waitresses and the family. It also, in some form, melted me to see how people 15 to generosity, which has become so 16 in today's commercial lifestyle. I felt something inside me 17.  

    I don't know what happened next, how the family felt and 18 or how the waitresses 19 the situation, but I am sure it brought a few 20 to a few people including myself.

    A small dog's loyalty recently melted the hearts of millions of Japanese people. It was reported that it had been waiting for his owner to 1 for three years, not knowing that she 2 would.

    A few years ago, an old lady from Osaka, Japan, 3 a cute little lost dog that she named Fu Shi. The two lived 4 for a while, but tragedy came three years ago, when the old lady 5 a brain disease which eventually led to dementia (痴呆). She had to be taken to a nursing home to be under constant special 6, and the small dog found itself all alone again. But he had no 7 that the old lady was never coming back, so he 8 the last three years waiting for her.

    9 told news reporters that, every day, Fu Shi could be seen waiting for his 10 at the corner of the alley-to her house. He would sit there all day, until nightfall, and would then return to the now-abandoned house that they had 11 Touched by the animal's loyalty, one of the neighbors contacted an animal 12, and told them his touching story. Apparently, Fu Shi 13 on the food that the neighbors left for him ever since his owner 14, but they couldn't do anything about his 15.

    After giving Fu Shi a check up, a vet 16 that he was 8-years-old, and suffering from intestinal worms. He was given a 17 and made a full recovery.

    Fortunately, this heartbreaking story has a 18 ending. After full media 19 in Japan and other Asian countries, Fu Shi has been adopted by a loving family. He also has a new 20 now, Sky.

    Years after graduation, I tried to maintain the little bit of French I learned in school, but eventually I was 1 that new languages are best learned when young and our ability to learn 2 with age.

    However, before my 50th birthday, I signed up for French classes and was 3 in the class for basic level. Contrary to my 4 that learning a new language was tough, I was 5 by the number of students learning French as a third, or even fourth language when I first 6 my class.

    Still, I found it was really 7 that certain linguistic（语言学的）abilities decline with age. 8 I'd always regarded myself as a quick learner, that was no longer the 9.

    I absorbed new vocabulary very10. What I learned one week before seemed to 11 away as soon as I learned the next skill. I 12 the same words and language structures in the dictionary again and again.

Despite the 13, I make it and can listen to the news in French and catch 90 percent of it on the first 14. I can catch up a conversation that doesn't go too fast.

    Who knows what I might still 15? I've learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I meet people from around the world and all walks of life（各行各业的）who have the 16to make fools of themselves to learn something new. I've been taught by inspirational teachers from many corners of the world. Listening to the news as it is 17 to the people of France, I have a newer understanding of how something can look 18 different from another perspective. I've learned a language is not just a set of 19, but a way of thinking. But above all, I've learned it is never too 20 to learn something.

    I remember one of my last few years at an amusement park. I had spent about five years working a booth (货摊) across from a(n) 1 comedian (喜剧演员).

    His name was Moonie. He was 2 amazing, and his act was done using nothing but gestures and noises instead of 3. I remember watching his shows and always being 4 . Even when he was having a bad day, the audience wasn't 5 , or his tightrope skills weren't as good as he would have liked, he always 6 to keep things funny and fresh. That's a very 7 thing to do, considering I watched him do the same act for five years, several times a day, each weekend.

    When I heard it would be his 8 year performing at the amusement park, I had wanted to 9 him for all the amazing shows he had done on that stage. He was 10 with the crowd after one of his last shows of the day. As each person dropped a 11 into his big basket, he was pointing at them with a huge smile and then saying "No, you're the 12!" to each one.

    I 13 him and dropped a twenty-dollar bill into his basket. He turned to me then, smiling very brightly, and continued with another, "No, you're the greatest!" I 14 him directly and stopped him, saying, "No, Moonie, you are the greatest. I have been 15 your shows for five years from that booth right over there. And I just want to say thank you for the years of amazing 16 that you have given me.

    The look on his face said that he was truly touched by that 17 . He asked me what my 18 was and asked to shake my hand. I 19 and we shared a very deep moment of mutual (相互的) 20 and gratitude. I walked away with great happiness, and I know he did, too.