One fall, I took some time off and went to visit relatives by train. I was1out of school and had just begun working. On my return2, I noticed a couple — a serviceman and a3 — having a conversation.

    4, I realized they two weren't traveling5after all, but had just met on the train. The woman got off at Rochester, New York, leaving the soldier 6, I couldn't7 noticing his good looks out of the corner of my8.

    He asked if he could look at the train timetable I was holding, and then if he could sit9to me. He's a fast mover, I thought. I would 10watched out for this one.

    I invited him to11the too-large lunch, and we talked12to my stop in Oneida. We exchanged addresses and he said he would be in13.

    After a week, I still hadn't14him and thought he'd forgotten about me. Then, on Saturday, the phone rang and a 15voice asked if I would like to see a movie with him16evening. He'd come to Oneida, and we17seeing it at the cinema.

    We had several18dates during his army leave, and then he was sent overseas. For the next years, we wrote to each other and he 19me on other vacations. In 1957, we married.

    Before taking this trip of mine and all those years ago, I was warned never to speak to strangers on a train. I'm certainly 20 I didn't listen.

    Last weekend, I was blessed with an opportunity to serve as a volunteer in Maryland. I don't have a car and the closest Amtrak station is about 30 minutes away from the actual site so I wasn't sure1I would get there. I started thinking that maybe it wouldn't be2and after a really long week, I thought that maybe I shouldn't3at all. But I went ahead and posted a request for a4on the ride-share board.

    A few days later, an individual I had never met5that he would be able to pick me up and6me off at the station. He was also planning on serving but said he would wait7my train arrived before driving out there. How kind8this person whom I've never even met, I thought to myself. My heart9, and the stress I had been feeling from my week10away.

    When my new friend drove me to the train station, he11that it was in a deserted kind of area. There was no one12around. It was cold outside, and I still had 30 minutes to wait. So he13his car and said, “We will wait for the train to come together.”

    I couldn't believe his compassion and14. I knew that he had to be at work the next day15me, and that his wife and son were waiting for his return. But he just waited there with me so16, generously serving with his time.

    With five minutes17before the train arrived, he shared with me stories from his childhood. As a young boy, he18sit near the edge of the train tracks, excitedly waiting for the trains to rush by with all their force. That night, before returning home to his family, he waited with me as my train19. It didn't rush by at full force but I left that station20the full force of his compassion and generosity.

My First Part-time Job

    It's been a month since the summer vacation started. We had a long holiday1most of us planned to find a part-time job in order to kill the boring time. I've been2 to take a part-time job since I was in junior high school, more to get some valuable3 than money.

    Lots of my friends have had some work experiences and have a more 4life as a result. They always share their work experiences with me. In their work life, they met many 5 but those setbacks made them stronger and everything easier afterwards6 they would also try to do something on their own in their work. I felt somehow 7of myself because I depended on my parents for everything. For this 8I took a part-time job together with my friends. Our9was demanding（费时的）. Sometimes we felt disappointed, made many complaints, and10 thought about giving up. But we11doing it.

    While working, I met some really 12people. There was a warm-hearted old man, who was a security guard. He took good care of us, which made us feel 13 in another city. We were very grateful to him14 I got a bad headache and a high temperature when I was planning to go back. That was 15the hot weather and the hard work. When I was ill, my friends16 me, as if my mother was around. They made me feel deeply about the importance of 17.

    When I got the first salary of my life, I18 how difficult it is to make 19Now, my first work experience in life is over. I 20 lots of things. It's been meaningful.

    I was having a period of bad health. I had one operation after another. I was falling 1 faster than the doctors could put me back together. But I just couldn't bear the operation, the hospital stay, the long recovery and the physical therapy（康复治疗）. I told my doctor I was going to try 2 else.

    I'd discovered that walking gave me a little 3. So I started walking. The first day, my wife 4 off our steep Silver Lake hill to a flat street. She got me out of the car, and I walked about two blocks 5 asking to be taken home. The next day, I walked about four 6.

    Slowly, feeling a little 7 every day, I began to walk a mile or more. I even 8some hills to my route. I became interested in the network of public stairways around Silver Lake I made a 9 of it and walked every public staircase in Silver Lake. That went pretty well, so I 10 onto Echo Park. I was feeling better, so I kept going. The search finally 11 “Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles' a book 12 in the spring of 2010. By then, I had 13. I'd been walking at least an hour a day for three years. My life 14 returned to normal.

    In three years of walks, I've met dozens of people who'd had 15 experiences of rebirth or recovery. One man told me he'd lost 80 pounds walking the secret stairs and was dating for the first time in a decade. One woman told me she'd 16 knee operation. Another told me she'd been 17 to start ballroom dancing again.

    All I'd 18 from the walks was relief from pain. What I got was 19, community and a whole new experience of my city. Out of the car, on my feet and moving at walking pace, I 20 Los Angeles for the first time.

    It was at a concert that I happened to find David. He was holding his head at a strange 1 as if he were staring down at something. Then the truth struck me. He was blind. The last thing he remembers 2 was his daughter being born. Then the world went 3.

Bad luck is no stranger to this 44-year-old man. His mother died of cancer, and his weak father had to 4 11-year-old David to the care of the state. Things seemed always to go from bad to 5. Two years ago, his beloved guide dog pulled him out of the 6 of a truck. David was not hurt. The dog 7 But David does not feel sorry for himself. "These are just little obstacles (障碍) you have to 8 in your life," he said. He has to make a daily two-hour trip to his working place—the X-ray department of an 9 room. It was a hard job to 10. Before he got it, David was determined to escape the workshop run by the Lighthouse, an organization 11 to help blind people. He wanted a job of developing X-ray film, something 12, not just he, must do in the dark, including people with 13 eyesight. The Lighthouse called many hospitals, with no result, 14 they offered to pay his first three months' salary.

    David works alone in a dark room that 15 chemicals. He cannot wear gloves. 16, he could not feel. Since this is an emergency room, lives can be 17 or out of danger. His directress says she trusts him 100 percent.  He makes $ 20 000 a year. But his motivation (动机) goes 18 money. "By working, I can actualize my own 19. That's the most important!" he said.

    What a shining example for us to 20!

    I don't remember the day my mother saved my life. But for her, the 1 of that day is vivid. When she 2 those events, she's thirty five years old again and I am a tiny baby in her arms.

    It was early March, but the3 wind bit like it was the depths of December. My mother 4 the blanket even tighter around me as she hurried to the 5 door. I was two months old, and that was our third 6 to the doctor that week. Each time a different face said the same words. "It's 7. Just a simple cold, ma'am." That day was no different. My mother left, feeling 8, convinced there must be something wrong with my breathing. At home, she kept me closer than normal, 9 monitoring my breathing.

    When I woke up the next day, fighting for breath, her 10 were around me with quick sureness, and I was rushed to the 11. We flew past red 12. "Breathe, Alana! Breathe!" she cried out. We reached the hospital, and her arms were around me again. "This baby can't 13!" my mother shouted. Even as doctors 14 me, her arms never let me go.

    I have grown up in Mum's arms. Today I'm seventeen, and for most people that means the times for 15 are over. But when I'm applying for colleges, I 16 at the computer screen for hours. Suddenly, I feel 17, not knowing what to do. I realize that dependence is not a(n) 18. Instead, with someone by my side, I am much stronger than I will ever be 19. I may not remember the moment my mother saved my life so long ago. 20, looking back, I see that my mother saves my life every day.