It was 1952 and my father was away at war, leaving my mother and me behind to face hardship alone. I was ten. My mother was a 1 and worked at the local clinic a few blocks from where we lived.

    The bell rang and 2of Christmas were the only thing on my mind. I raced home. The apartment was empty and a note was  3to the refrigerator. My mother was working a double shift and  4 me instructions for the day. We had planned on making Christmas biscuits 5 , but my mother6 it.

    I carefully 7through mother's closet, finding most of the  8   for Christmas wrapped in linen cloth, all but one toy, a model airplane. I was still 9 at my mother and I threw the airplane onto the floor, breaking one of its wings. I stood10 . How was I going to explain this? Then I heard my mother coming through the door. I 11  to my room.

    After telling my mother the horrible12, I did not hear my mother 13  me. She just told me to follow her. Climbing the steps without catching our  14, we entered the clinic. There in a bed was a boy who looked very sick.

    “He is going to die, Danny,” my mother told me, “15  today, maybe tomorrow. He loves planes. I knew his mother could not 16   to buy him one. So I did. I count my blessings every night and think of this boy and how 17 I am that you are not in that bed.”

    The  18 cut hard and sharp in my heart. The tears 19 down my face and I was so guilty. I ran home as fast as I could and into my room where I 20  myself to sleep.

    I grew up in a small town and the main entertainment was football on Friday night. It was just a sleepy little town where parents wanted to raise their children away from crime and 1 of a big city, and where teenagers like me 2 leaving to find something bigger and better.

    All that changed one summer night. My friend Lisa, Martin and Tyler held a party for my eighteenth birthday at Lisa's house. 3 they kept handing alcohol to me, I was pretty 4. I asked Tyler to take me home. With some 5, we made it out to his car and drove home. News came next morning. My friend Martin was 6 in a car accident. That night after Tyler and I left, Martin, who was   7 more drunk than me, got into his car and 8 towards the highway to go home. Driving on the wrong side of the road, he never saw the truck coming. The driver didn't see him 9 to avoid the car. They hit head on. Martin died immediately, and the driver was thrown 10 the truck windshield（挡风玻璃）and died a week later.

    Whenever I 11 back on that day, I can't help thinking that it was my 12 to drink so much that night. 13 things would be different. I know Martin 14 the choice to drink and drive that night, but I will always feel 15 for what happened. I may not change the world with my story, but I do hope that by 16 my story I can make you 17 that you not only have a responsibility for yourself but also for others. Don't ever think that your choices are yours 18. Every choice is like a stone dropped into 19water—each ripple (涟漪) represents someone who your choice 20. That's quite an influence, isn't it?

    Whatever misfortune you face, just hold up your head and face it with a smile! I got to know this from a musical soul.

    The other day I was feeling quite 1, having just been laid off from my job. With so many 2 to pay, I was wondering what was going to happen to my family.

    I got off the bus when I heard piano music and singing rising above the noise of the 3. I walked a bit slower, trying to find out where it was coming from. Through the 4 I saw a young lady sitting at a piano with a box next to her.

    She was sin ging songs about love and her sweet voice 5 me a bit. Then I stood there watching her playing, thinking that it must take 6 to perform on her own in front of hundreds of people she didn't know.

    She might have felt my 7 for she occasionally looked in my direction.

    By now I was telling myself that I could at least tell her how good she sounded. I walked 8and put some money in her box and she expressed her thanks with a smile on her face.

    I asked her 9, “Why are you playing the piano in the middle of this crowded place?”

    She explained to me that she sees so many 10 people in the world that she is trying to relieve the pain by 11 motivational (激励的) music.

    Instead of continuing my way home, I said to her, “I have been going through a 12 time lately, but you've made me  13 again.”

     “I'm happy that I could be 14 to you,” she replied. “Why are you so sad?”

    I told her my story and said, “I'm not so 15 about what to do….”

     “You see, here's the 16,” she responded. “When you were walking, your head was down.” She looked me in the eyes and went on, “Don't look defeated, because 17 comes in different ways and if your head is down you might never see it. You should   18 more … lift your head up.”

    I was really 19 by what she said! I did hold my head up and soon got through the difficult time.

    So 20 in trouble, just face it bravely and you are sure to overcome your difficulty sooner or later.

    Like many perfectionists, I truly believed that self-sufficiency was a virtue. And1my brain was so good at finding what it was looking for, I noticed every single time that idea got proved2 and so I always had lots of3for why it really was better if I just handled everything myself.

    This kind of thinking, friends, was the 4in disguise (伪装).

    My self-reliance came in handy when I was a kid in the seventies and in adulthood when I was an independent 5Then, in the first years of 6the Organized Artist Company, I found myself 7everything I could about websites, copywriting, graphic design, etc. Later whenever one of my business friends 8about how her website was being held hostage (人质) by her designer, I9felt too satisfied10if mistakes were made in my business, they were all mine.

    Now this was where my false11showed up—in not wanting others to know I made mistakes. If I had other people12me, they would see my errors and13. Working alone, I could keep up a pretty good display of 14.

    But as the Organized Artist Company became increasingly 15, I realized I was doing harm to the people I was trying to serve by attempting to do everything myself. I was16my growth and the depth of my work.

    I had built a business with my own two hands, and I 17with a business that I could hold in my own two hands. Cozy,18limited in scope (范围).

    Once I was willing to control my ego( 自负) and admit that my vision of self-sufficiency was a 19my business took a remarkable leap forward, and revenue 20 Little change, big difference.

    Paen Long has had a dream ever since he saw a plane for the first time at the age of six. His dream was to 1 a plane. Last year, the 30-year-old man started building his plane 2. “I was afraid that people would 3 me, so sometimes I worked at night,” he said. It was a long time 4 he put his dream into practice. Paen Long tried to build his own plane, using the money he had 5 from running his own garage. He has spent three years 6 YouTube videos in order to 7 how to make a plane.

    It took him a year to build his plane, using mostly recycled materials. The plane's first 8 came at 3 pm on 8th, March. Local villagers gathered excitedly to watch the plane fly. 9, the plane only got 50 m in the air before crashing (撞击) to the 10. “When all people were looking at me, I felt very 11,” he said.

    Although the first try 12, Paen Long remains 13. His next project is to build a seaplane. Paen Long thinks the plane will cost over $10,000. “I never feel 14 for spending all my money building a plane,” he said.

    His wife, Hing Muoyheng, 15 about her husband, especially as they have two young sons. However, she has no 16. “I don't know how planes work and he doesn't have any 17 to help him. He can only search for information himself,” she said. “I tried to ask him to 18 a few times because I was afraid, but he said he wouldn't 19, so I have to support his 20.”

    During my second year at the city college, I was told that the education department was offering a "free" course, called Thinking Chess, for three credits.

    I 1 the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn't want to 2 a few dollars? More than that, I'd always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren't 3 enough about free credits, news about our 4 was appealing enough to me. He was an international grandmaster, which 5 I would be learning from one of the game's 6. I could hardly wait to 7 him.

    Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this 8was no game for him; he meant business. In his introduction, he made it 9 that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to 10 the class, among other criteria, we had to write a paper on how we plan to 11 what we would learn in class to our future professions and, 12, to our lives. I managed to get an A in that 13 and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the 14.

    Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I'm still putting to use what he 15 me: "The absolute most important 16 that you learn when you play chess is how to make good 17. On every single move you have to 18 a situation, process what your opponent (对手) is doing and 19 the best move from among all your options." These words still ring true today in my 20 as a journalist.