My first lesson is at a meeting. As we settle around the table I hear Meg, who is 1 a recent operation, talking to Judith, the manager of our project. “Thank you so much for 2 my daughters to their dance lessons last week.” “Don't mention it,” Judith says, “It was nothing.”

    Knowing how 3 Judith's schedule is, with her work, kids and aging parents, I find her driving Meg's children to lessons unbelievably 4. I am about to say more about this when Donna, another colleague, enters the room 5. She apologizes for being late, saying she just hosted a lunch for her friends who are over seventy. “That is so nice of you,” I say, 6 how busy she is, how she doesn't like to cook and clean. “Oh,” she says, waving her hand, “It was nothing.” 7, I can still tell the 8 in her voice. She did gain a sense of satisfaction from the entertainment offered to her friends.

    Seeing their 9 to help others selflessly, I start thinking about the concept of “nothing”, this peaceful and generous way of living — had it really been nothing or are they simply saying that? It 10 to me that once I spent a whole afternoon after work helping a friend 11 a speech she was going to deliver. I 12 her to rearrange the sequence of the stories in the lecture to make it sound more 13. After the fifth try, she finally 14 it . She hugged me with 15, saying thanks to me. I smiled and said it was nothing.

    Suddenly, I realized that helping someone was really something to me. I learned that giving from the heart doesn't 16 mean sacrifice and hard work. The 17 is finding something we love to do and finding someone who 18 that something. Our generosity can benefit others 19 ourselves. Once you have a good 20 of it, it's nothing. And it's really something.

    That morning, I got on the train as always. I was a publishing director and was reading my newspaper 1But that day, I read it very2 I thought I must be tired. At the office, I sat down, turned on my 3and found I couldn't read the message on the screen.

    Eventually, worried4drove me to hospital. There, confirmation came that I suffered from aphasia(失语症), a condition that5 it's difficult or impossible to receive and produce language.

    I was back at home a week later, and my 6was to get better and return to work in a couple of months. I started 7a speech therapist(治疗专家) three times a week, and was given homework to help8my vocabulary and grammar. After a month, my own speech became 9“Could you pass the salt?” “Shall we go for a walk?” but I couldn't have a conversation. I couldn't read the newspaper.

    For 25 years, I was used to a(n)10day of meetings, and bringing three manuscripts home with me each night. I didn't feel 11to say goodbye to my old self.

    In the darkest months, I devoted myself to 12I would spend hours writing a description of something13like a pencil. I couldn't14novels or newspapers, so I tried reading poetry, and found the shorter lines easier to 15.My speech came back, and I learned how to read again,16much more slowly. I spent more time with my family, and 17myself to slow down.

    Now, 10 years later, my relationship with my 18is deeper than ever. We have 19to be very patient with each other. I'm no longer a high-achieving publisher or someone who 2010 books a week. I'm a family man with aphasia, and if I read 10 books a year, that's good.

    The news of Stephen Hawking's death came a great shock to the whole world. To his family, he was “a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy（遗赠）will 1 for many years”.

    His parents, both Oxford graduates, placed a high  2 on education and family members were often seen reading books at dinner. 3 known at school as “Einstein”, Hawking was not 4 successful academically. With time, he began to show talents for scientific subjects and decided to read  5 at university. As mathematics was not  6at Oxford then, Hawking chose physics instead.

    Diagnosed with a rare motor neurone disease, Hawking eventually 7 a wheelchair. Though shocked and bitter, Hawking continued his work in physics  8. After the loss of his  9, he communicated through a speech-generating device, which  10 him to produce A Brief History of Time with the help of an assistant.

    Hawking once  11how he felt when first informed of his disease,  12 that he would never realize his potential. “But now, 50 years later, I  13 be more satisfied with my life,” he said.

    Hawking also gained popularity  14 the academic world and appeared in several TV shows. He was featured in the film The Theory of Everything, which  15 his rise to fame and relationship with his first wife, Jane.

    Prof James Hartle, who once worked with him ,praised his unique ability to see through all the clutter（混乱）in physics and get to the  16.” My 17 of him would be…first as a scientist and, second, as a human being whose story is a victory  18 misfortune, which inspired a lot of people.” Prof Jim Al-Khalili pictured Hawking as a  19 person. “He was a fun loving guy. Inside that paralyzed body was someone full of  20 for life,” he said.

    All of us can give others a hand as long as we are willing to do so. Actually, there are some people doing kind things all the time. Spreading kindness, one good deed at a time, is Karla Gibson's mission. "I wish everyone could join me. There are so many 1things going on in the world; I mean every day," said Karla.

    Karla had the commitment and sense of2in December of 2013. The single mother of three said she tended to feel depressed around the holidays, so she 3to do something to cheer others up. She started a Facebook page and4her good deeds each day, from feeding the homeless to giving Easter gifts to the incarcerated( 囚犯) .She hoped to 5others.

    "We have to do something. Our6can make a difference in someone's day. You7know when someone might be having their worst day, and then something like buying them a coffee can change their whole attitude," Karla8

    Karla's greatest9so far had to do with coffee. On September 27th, Karla's birthday, she went to her local Starbucks and gave the10$ 127 to pay for othe: people's drinks. She sat at the end of the drive-through holding a11that read. "Have a great day." She ended up12about 23 customers. "It was really fun. I was13one of the best birthdays ever," she said. Her kindness that day didn't go 14One couple were so grateful that they surprised her with flowers and balloons to show their15.

    Karla's acts of kindness have become a16affair. Her two sons are always17others. "Sometimes I'll ask Kyle, 'So, did you do anything extra nice today? and his answers are like 'Somebody18something in the hallway and I picked it up or 'I held the door for someone', that kind of thing," said Karla.

It's because of Mom that the boys think it's19to give a hand to others." think it's a great idea of hers. It's always nice to help someone out20they real need it," said Karla's 15-year-old son Chad.

    As the train picked up its speed, the passengers slowly settled down on their seats, I1the lower berth(铺位),so that I could enjoy the2of outside from the moving train. I don t know why I always preferred to get the 3 seat. An elderly lady4the front seat of mine. I looked at her. She must be in her eighties, I guessed. At one point, we met our5. She smiled at me and I gave her a response. Both of us were6. By that time, the train was in its full speed.

    It was 4:50 pm, evening time. So,7time was still in a long way, I couldn't8myself any longer and asked, "Auntie! Where are you going?"

    She looked at me and friendly said, "9 camp, dear."

    Suddenly my enthusiasm10to know the reason. I politely said. "Auntie, you are 11 someone?"

    She smiled and said, "Yes!"

    Just to continue the conversation, I talked to her in a very cheerful 12. "Auntie, you must he feeling so13to see your child and your grandchildren."

    14, this question hurt her a little but boldly (大胆地) she answered, "Oh, dear! You are so sweet! Anyway, I had only one son who was15and was killed in a battle just a few days before. I bought so many new clothes for him. So, I thought why not 16my son's clothes for some other soldiers, so that I would control my 17and would be happy thinking that my own son has18it."

    I was shocked hearing her heartbreaking story! But I19the old lady from the core of my heart, I was thinking of her20heart!

Dave McNee met Claudia Mandekic 14 years ago. When she told McNee how hard it could be to get students excited about math, her favourite discipline, he made a surprising suggestion: "Why not throw in something they enjoy, like sports?" The idea of mixing basketball and mathematics got its first shot in 2011, when the now colleagues — who had launched a tutoring non-profit — were invited to run a summer-school program for kids who'd failed Grade 9 math at Georges Secondary School.

When the students showed up for their first day, they weren't exactly excited. Over the next few hours, Mandekic and McNee gave the kids techniques to improve their shooting while also helping them calculate their field-goal percentage — which, in turn, taught them about fractions and decimal (分数和小数) points. At the end of the game, the winning team was determined based on which group had the highest total percentage and had done the most efficient math. "When the bell rang, they were so fixated on collecting their data and figuring out which team won that they didn't leave," says Mandekic. "I realized we might be onto something."

The classes, later named BallMatics, soon spread to other schools. "I was terrible at math," says Douglas, who enrolled in a fast-track summer program. "But once I started BallMatics and realized the sport I loved was directly tied to math, it made me a lot better at it. Every time I played basketball, I was thinking about math."

Almost any math problem, McNee and Mandekic realized, can be taught on the court. Kids can learn how to navigate an X-Y grid to find their next shooting spot or absorb the basic principles of trigonometry based on the angle at which they release the ball. In 2019, McNec and Mandekic established a private high school called Uchenna Academy. At the school, kids with top basketball skills can study all subjects, train at their sport and work part-time helping out with the BallMatics afterschool programs.

Douglas, now 20 and earning a degree in education believes the school's commitment to academics is the key reason it's been a winner. "If we didn't do our work, we weren't playing at the game," he says, adding that coaches would bench kids who didn't keep up in class. "At Uchenna, we were student athletes, not athlete students."