Robby was 11 when he took his first piano lesson.I1 students begin at an earlier age,2 I explained to Robby.Robby said it had always been his mother's dream to hear him play the piano.So I took him as a student.

    Much3Robby tried,he4 the sense of tone and basic rhythm.But be dutifully reviewed his lessons.

    Over the months he tried and tried,and he'd always say,“My mom's going to hear me play someday.”But it seemed5.He just did not have any inborn ability.

    Then one day Robby stopped coming.I was glad,as he was a bad6for my teaching!I 7he had decided to pursue something else.

    Several weeks later,my students were to have a recital（演奏会）.To my surprise,Robby came,asking to play in the recital.

    “It is for 8 pupils,but you dropped.”

    “My mom was sick.But I have been practicing.I've just got to play!”he insisted and I agreed.

    The night for the recital came.I put Robby up just in the program9I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece.I thought I could save his poor performance through my "curtain closer".

    The recital10well.Robby came up on stage.His clothes were wrinkled and his hair looked dirty.“How could his Mom...?”I thought.

    Robby began and it was Mozart's work.I was not prepared for what I heard next.His fingers even11 on the keys.After six and a half minutes he ended and people were all on their feet in wild12.

    13and in tears I ran up and put my arms around Robby in joy."I've never heard you play like that,Robby! How did you do it?"

    Through the microphone Robby explained:"Well,Miss Hondorf,remember I told you my mom was sick?Well...14she had cancer and15this morning.And well...She was born deaf,so tonight was the 16 time she ever heard me play.I wanted to make it 17."

    There wasn't a 18eye that evening.I thought to myself how much 19 my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil.However,he was the teacher,for it is he that showed me the meaning of20and love and believing in oneself.

    Were you happy and a little worried at the time? I thought so. Soon it would be the holidays, but before that, there were year exams. All the 1 had been working hard for some time, reviewing their lessons for the exams. If they didn't 2, they would have to retake them in September. There were usually a few who 3, but Jane didn't want to be one of them. She had worked hard all year, 4 just before the exams she was working so hard that her sister Barbara was 5about her. She went to bed too 6. The night before the first exam, Barbara 7 that she have an early night and take a 8 pill. She promised to wake 9 up in the morning.

    She was not relaxed. As she was falling asleep, Jane was afraid that she might oversleep. Her 10 kept jumping from subject to subject. At last, with the help of 11, she went to sleep. In no time（不久）at all, she was sitting in the examination hall, looking at the examination 12 , but she couldn't answer any of the questions. 13 around her was writing pages and gages. 14she thought hard, she couldn't find anything to write 15. She kept looking at her 16. Time was running out. There was only an hour to go. She started one question, wrote two sentences, 17 and tried another one. With only half an hour left she wrote another two sentences. By this time she was so worried that she started 18. Her whole body shook. It shook so much that she 19 up. She was still in bed and it had all been a 20 dream. A minute later, Barbara called her name.

    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 quite1, having just been laid off from my job. With so many2to pay, I was wondering what was going to happen to my family.

    I got off the bus when I heard piano music and3rising above the noise of the traffic. I walked a bit slower, trying to find out where it was coming from. Through the4I saw a young lady sitting at a piano with a box next to her.

    She was singing songs about love and her sweet voice5me a bit. Then I stood there watching her playing, thinking that it must take6to perform on her own in front of hundreds of people she didn't know.

    She might have felt my7for she occasionally looked in my direction.

    By now I was telling myself that I could at least tell her how good she sounded. I walked8and put some money in her box and she expressed her thanks with a smile on her face.

    I asked her9, “Why are you playing the piano in the middle of this crowded place?”

    She explained to me that she sees so many10people in the world that she is trying to relieve the pain by11motivational music.

    Instead of continuing my way home, I said to her, “I have been going through a12time lately, but you've made me13again.”

    “I'm happy that I could be14to you,” she replied. “Why are you so sad?”

    I told her my story and said, “I'm not so15about what to do….”

    “You see, here's the16,” she responded. “When you were walking, your head was down.” She looked me in the eyes and went on, “Don't look defeated, because17comes in different ways and if your head is down you might never see it. You should18more… lift your head up.”

    I was really19by what she said! I did hold my head up and soon got through the difficult time.

    So20in trouble, just face it bravely and you are sure to overcome your difficulty sooner or later.

    At the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. As was usually the 1, I fully expected one of the women to2 , but on this evening one of the men raised his hand. He appeared quite moved and a bit3 .

    He began by saying, “Dennis, I was quite4 with you last week when you gave us this 5 I didn't feel that I had anyone to say those words to, and6, who were you to tell me to do something that is 7? But as I began driving home a8 deep down in my heart started talking to me. It was 9me that I knew exactly who I needed to say 'I love you' to. You see, five years ago, my father and I had a cruel 10and really never resolved it since that time. We 11seeing each other unless we totally had to at Christmas or other family 12. But even then, we13 spoke to each other. So, last Tuesday by the time I got home I had14 myself I was going to tell my father I loved him.”

    “It's15, but just making that decision16to lift a heavy load off my chest.”

    “When I got home, I rushed into the house to tell my wife what I was going to do. She was already in17 , but I woke her up anyway. She catapulted (弹射) out and 18 me, and for the first time in our married life she saw me cry. We19half the night drinking coffee and talking. It was20.”

    Growing up in Georgia in the 1970s, I always felt that the bad old day of Southern prejudice (偏见) and ignorance had passed and that we were1a new South built upon hard-won racial equality, charity and the sense that no one was 2 than anyone else.

    I'm not so3anymore. Lately, I feel like our moral compass has been4, spinning to intolerance, greed and meanness.

    In times of 5, I put my faith in Elvis Presley, who6the South's better angles. He was a hard worker, and 7 he lived the high life, he never forgot that he had been born into 8. I don't think you'll 9hear an interview with the man when he didn't express 10for all that life had given him.

    And he was a self-made talent, perhaps the11entertainer of all time, born in a two-room shack(棚屋) in Tupelo, Mississippi. I've been there many times, reflecting on what it says about America .Greatness can be born12.

Elvis was famous for his generosity—13cars, expensive gifts and other handouts to anyone in need. That's how the Presleys14 the Great Depression(1929-1933). His father Vernon was a laborer who was often out of15, and the Presleys relied on the kindness of family and neighbors to get them 16 the hard time.

    Today's politicians please the crowds with messages that praise the rich and powerful and think of the poor as 17 their fate18, the crowds believe that their problems could be solved if only the poor people below them didn't 19 so much. To blame an immigrant (移民)for “ 20 ” a job, instead of the CEO who won't pay a living wage.

    Yet, I still believe, as Elvis once said, “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it can't go in a way”.

    There was a businessman who was deep in debt and could see no way out. He sat on the park bench, head in hands,1if anything could save his company from bankruptcy (破产).

    Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that something is2you," he said. After listening to the businessman's troubles, the old man said, "I believe I can help you." He asked the man his name, wrote out a3, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared as4as he had come.

    The businessman saw in his hand a check for $500,000,5by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! "I can6my money worries in an instant!" he realized. But7, he decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the8to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    With renewed9, he negotiated better deals. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

    Exactly one year later, he returned to the10with the uncashed check. At the11time, the old man appeared. But just as the businessman was about to12the check and share his success story, a 13came running up and grabbed the old man. "I'm so delighted I14him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's15escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller." And she led the old man away16the arm.

    The businessman just stood there,17. All year long he'd been buying and selling,18he had half a million dollars behind him.

Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or19, that had turned his life around. It was his20self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.