In the United States there was an unusual tale telling of the daughter of a mechanic（技工）. One day while walking along the bank of a lake, the girl 1 to see 20 eggs laid by a wild goose. After some time the girl 2 the mother would not return to her eggs and she 3 to take them home. There she carefully 4 the eggs in the heat of a lamp. Several days 5 the eggs broke and the baby geese came into the 6.

    Geese are known to take the first living thing they see as their mother. 7, to these young geese, the girl was their mother.

    As they 8, the girl was able to 9 her birds to run across the grass, but she could not teach them to 10. The girl became increasingly worried about this, both when 11 and in her dreams. Later, she had a(n) 12: She would pilot a plane to guide them in 13. She asked her father for a plane and he assembled（组装）a small aircraft for her.

    Caring about 14 safety, the father decided to pilot the plane himself. However, the birds did not 15 or follow him, and 16 slept in the grass.

    One day, the girl 17 into the plane, started it and soon left the 18. Seeing their mother take to the air, the birds 19 flapped（拍打）their wings and 20. She flew the plane freely in the sky, her young birds following.

    An accidental injury taught me how to deal with my siblings (兄弟姐妹).

On a typical autumn 1 the eight people of our afterschool carpool (拼车)  2into a car built for seven. My brother teased me the entire way home. Hearing the 3 in the back of the car, my mother dropped us off first.

    As we4 the car, I ran after my little brother, planning on getting back at him. Because of my 5backpack, uncomfortable shoes, and terrible sense of balance, I fell on the hard pavement.6 whole carpool rushed to my aid. They lifted my weighty backpack,7 my fallen items, and helped me stand up. With tears in my eyes, I dragged myself into the 8

     “You realize I will 9you for chasing your brother after this, “my mom said to me in her most 10 voice. She would have been more 11 but she obviously didn't know how much I was12 I complained to her the pain I was feeling in my right13Then we went to the clinic where the bone doctor concluded that I had a 14 break in my right elbow.

    I got15 at school the next day because friends surrounded me carefully. But breaking my arm had more 16 than benefits. I was 17 to write with my left hand. I had to wrap my arm in a garbage bag before 18 and I had to go to the health centre instead of PE.

    19 it was an awful week, I think I deserved it20 plotting revenge (报复) against my brother. Since then, there hasn't been anything disharmonious among our siblings.

    I guess I was spoiled at first. I was an only child, 1 by all relatives. Up until I was eight years old, life was 2. Then along came Grant and everything 3.

    Grant is my little brother. He was born a month earlier, so he needed a lot of extra 4. My parents still 5 me, but I was no longer the center of the universe. I was angry about the change. And at first, I was also 6 with Grant.

    Fortunately, Grants didn't cause any real 7 in his growth. Gradually, he developed the habit of 8 himself to me. My parents want me to be 9 to him, but I found him totally annoying. By the time I became a teenager, he was, at five, my shadow, 10 me around, copying my every move, and asking endless questions.

    Still, in spite of my unhappiness towards him, I began to 11 the time we spent together.

    As time went on, we developed connections and partnership, becoming more 12. Grant stopped asking to go along on dates with me, and I set aside time to go fishing with him. He cheered me on at my soccer games, and I 13 to coach his T-ball team. He became less 14 and more of a buddy. I became more patient, more able to 15 and more likely to accept the unconditional love he 16.

    Today I am happy to say that Grant and I are a 17. We have already 18 how he will come visit me when I am in college. It will be hard to be 19, but I know that we will always be close, if not in age or distance, we will be close in the long journey shared by 20.

    As a banker, Chip Paillex had never planted so much until he moved to rural Pittstown, New Jersey, seven years ago. 1by farms, he quickly became interested in growing and rented a 30-by-30-foot land. One weekend, he 2tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant—enough to feed his family for the summer.

He ended up with so much 3that he couldn't give it away. Thus he founded a local food 4, and by the time he delivered his last5, he had 6120 pounds of fresh vegetables.

    The following year, with a handful of 7from his church and a memorable name “America's Grow-a-Row”, Paillex planted,8,and harvested 2,500 pounds of vegetables, all of which he donated to food banks. Later he had more volunteers, rented more land and donated more vegetables.

    Paillex also 9 local school kids. On a 10Friday morning in May, 40 third and fifth graders trooped onto a freshly plowed field, each 11with a spade. Squatting or kneeling in teams of two, they loosened the dirt, then carefully12the plants .Several rows later, they eagerly lined up to seed corn under a hot mid-morning sun. Nobody 13.

    “The 14makes kids know there are people 15, says Paillex, “and it plants the seed for giving back. When they become tomorrow's 16, it will be much more possible for them to 17 their coworkers and employees to get 18 in something like this.

    “Paillex makes people want to 19,” says Colleen Duerr, a mother of two who has signed on as an 20“Grow-a-Row” member. “And families love this. Pallex has given us a way to raise our kids with a giving heart.”

    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 1the 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 3enough about free credits, news about our 4was 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 7him.

    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 9that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to 10the class, among other criteria, we had to write a paper on how we plan to 11what we would learn in class to our future professions and, 12, to our lives. I managed to get an A in that 13and 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 15me: “The absolute most important 16that you learn when you play chess is how to make good 17. On every single move you have to 18a situation, process what your opponent(对手）is doing and 19the best move from among all your options." These words still ring true today in my 20as a journalist.

    I often go to France to visit my grandmother who is very dear to me. She's now 76 years old, 1 every time I go to visit, the two of us are very 2 that it might be the last time we see each other for she has cancer.

    Last time I visited her in December of 2012. I did a series of short video interviews about her 3. I asked her about her greatest 4 and life learning so far, her favorite books, food and stories. I learned a large quantity of amazing 5 things about her I never knew before.

    This year, I did not really have questions, only a strong 6 for her to know how much she is loved. I cooked for her and 7 her stories.

    8 leaving, I was looking for a way to leave something special behind 9 the memory of our time together. So I wrote her five different love and gratitude 10 to let her know how much she means to me, and hid them in 11 places where I knew she would finally 12 them. One under her pillow. Another one hanging from the lamp cover by which she reads in the evening. Another one by her toothbrush. One in her mailbox which she eagerly 13 every day. And the last one on her car's steering wheel (方向盘).

    I left joyfully 14 that these cards would surely cheer her up after I left She 15 me as I was departing for Paris to catch my plane back to the US and said, "I found your three cards! By the time I discovered the third card, I was 16 out loud! Obviously, they did me so much 17. Thank you so much!" I smiled to myself, knowing she still has two more to 18! It was Sunday, so my guess was that she had not checked her 19 and had not yet 20 her car!