My mum was young when she fell pregnant with me. After I was born it was decided that my father's relatives would 1 me in Manchester. No one spoke about Mum. Eventually, I was shown letters from Mum, 2 that she was a drug addict.

    All this was running through my head as I arrived in Glasgow on 27 December last year. My sister Leanne, from my mother's side, had 3 me down on Facebook, and we had been 4 for some time, but had met only once or twice. Leanne had been brought up by our mother's parents, and had some 5 with Mum throughout her life. She was now living in Canada, but returning for Christmas and 6 to see all the family together. A big party had been arranged to welcome her back, and everyone would be there, including our 7.

    In a very short time my sister and I hatched a 8. I'd meet my sister as she arrived at Manchester airport, then we'd drive up to Glasgow 9. Keeping it a surprise gave us a rush. After about a four-hour drive, we were there. I'd 10called someone “Mum” before. But there she was.

    We embraced (拥抱) and although we could hardly get the words out fast enough, we were soon 11. Seeing someone so alike looking back at me was the strangest but most 12 experience. Though a lifetime may have 13 us, this woman at a party in Glasgow was my mum. She 14 at me for a second, before giving me a tight hug. All she could say was that she never thought we'd 15 again.

    She'd been 16 of drugs for five years. She told me how she now works for a charity that helps young people 17 the same problems she had. We now talk regularly, and I feel 18 she's my mother. That's something I couldn't have even 19 when the door opened to her at that Christmas party. Life may be short, but it's always 20 enough to reconcile (和好).

    On a cold winter evening, I was walking home, tired and hungry, when suddenly came screams(呼喊声) from behind some tress.1 ， I slowed down to listen, and 2 that what I was hearing were the sounds of a fight. A woman was being3not far from where I stood.

    “Should I go to help her？” I thought. I was worried about my own 4 ， and I regretted having suddenly decided to take a new way home that night.“What if I am5too? Shouldn't I just6to the nearest phone and call the police？” But already the girl's7were growing weaker. I knew it was time for me to act fast because I could not8the life of this unknown woman，9 it meant risking my own life.

    I am not a 10 man. I didn't know where I found the11and physical strength(体力), but once I had finally12to help the girl, I became suddenly changed. I ran behind the bushes and 13the attacker off the woman. Struggling, we fell to the ground, where we fought for a few minutes 14the man jumped up and ran away.

    15 heavily，I stood up and came up to the girl, who was crying behind a tree. In the 16 ， I could not see her clearly, but I could certainly17her shock. Not wanting to frighten her any further, at first I spoke to her from a distance.

    “It's OK，” I said 18.“The man ran away. You're safe now.”There was a long stop and then I heard the words, said in both wonder and 19“Dad, is that you？” And then, from behind the tree, stepped my youngest 20 ， Katherine.

    When Dave was eighteen, he bought a secondhand car for 200 so that he could travel to and from work more1 than by bus. It worked quite well for a few years, but then it got so old, and it was costing him 2much in repairs that he decided that he had better3it.

    He asked among his friends to see if anyone was particularly4 to buy a cheap car, but they all knew that it was falling to pieces, so5of them had any desire to buy it. Dave's friend Sam saw that he was 6 when they met one evening, and said, "What's 7, Dave?"

    Dave told him, and Sam answered, "Well, what about advertising it in the paper? You may8more for it that way than the cost of the advertisement!" Thinking that Sam's9was sensible(合理的),he put an advertisement in an evening paper, which read "For sale: small car, 10 very little petrol, only two owners. Bargain at 50."

    For two days after the advertisement first appeared, there was no 11.But then on Saturday evening he had an enquiry(询问).A man rang up and said he would like to12 him about the car. "All right," Dave said, feeling happy. He asked the man whether ten o'clock the next morning would be13or not. "Fine," the man said, "and I'll 14my wife. We intend to go for a ride in it to 15it."

    The next morning, at a quarter to ten, Dave parked the car in the square outside his front door, 16to wait there for the people who had17 his advertisement. Even Dave had to18that the car really looked like a wreck(残骸).Then, soon after he had got the car as clean19 it could be, a police car stopped just behind him and a policeman got out. He looked at Dave's car and then said, "Have you reported this 20 to us yet, sir?"

    In 1989, an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened America, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the middle of complete damage and disorder, a father rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be, 1 that the building was 2.

    After the unforgettably initial shock, he 3 the promise he had made to his son: "No matter 4, I'll always be there for you!" And tears began to 5 his eyes. As he looked at the pile of ruins, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his 6 to his son. He rushed there and started 7 the ruins.

    As he was digging, other helpless parents arrived, 8: "It's too late! They're all dead! 9, face reality, there's nothing you can do!" To each parent he responded with 10: "Are you going to help me now?" No one helped. And then he continued to dig for his son, stone by stone.

    Courageously he went on alone because he needed to know 11: "Is my boy 12 or is he dead? "He dug for eight hours...12 hours...24 hours...36 hours...then, in 13 hour, he pulled back a large stone and heard his son's 14. He screamed his son's name, "ARMAND!" He heard back, "Dad! It's me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you 15 me and 16 you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised, 'No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you! 'You did it, Dad!"

    "What's going on in there?" the father asked.

    "There are 14 of us 17 18 33, Dad. We're scared, hungry, thirsty and thankful you're here. When the building collapsed, it made 19, and it saved us".

    "Come out, boy!"

    "No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, 20 I know you'll get me! No matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me!"

    It was 11 a.m. on October 8, 2018, when I set out on the 12-mile bike ride home from work along the Connecticut shoreline. The sun was brilliant 1 the blue sky, and the leaves were starting to change colors. It was a(n) 2 time for me.

    I love my job as a program manager at Peace Jam. My husband Sean, a mail carrier, was 3 with his work, so I'd made plans with a friend for a long ride later that afternoon.4 I settled into the right-hand lane of a busy avenue, a truck turned in my direction from a side street. He slowed at the corner. But for some reason, he suddenly 5 speed. There is nothing I could do but scream.6, the huge truck knocked me down onto my left side. I felt my leg cracking, but I still 7 my head just enough to see something sticking out from my leg. The skin had been 8 right off most of the lower half of my body. There wasn't any 9 flesh to see. People came rushing from all 10 and aided me. The doctors arrived and rolled my body onto a backboard. I was sent 11 to the emergency room, where, for the next eight hours, I kept dying. During this period, I was in and out of surgery several times. Sometimes I was unconscious, but other times I existed in a 12 that has no easy comparison. What 13 me out of my fear was remembering a speech by Nobel Prize Jody Williams. "Emotion without action is irrelevant".

    I thought of all the people who had saved my life. The strangers who ran to my side after the truck hit me; the 14 who brought me back from death more than once; the staff at Gaylord who were 15 to help me walk again and relearn basic tasks. And then there were the strangers who had donated their life-giving blood. Suddenly I felt a need to do something to 16 them. I may not have been able to walk yet, but I 17 organize a cycling tour to raise money for disabled athletes. I 18 raising more than ＄10.000. Then, I turned inward, concentrating on my own recovery.

    My injury also made me 19 just how lucky I am. In the darkest moments of being 20 in the coma（昏迷）their voice constantly comforts me. To this day, I am gratitude in motion with each step.

    Long long time ago, in a small and distant 1, there was a place known2 the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and 3 to visit it. When he arrived, he 4 happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail 5 as fast as it could. To his great 6, he found himself staring at 1000 other 7 little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was 8 with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he 9 the House, he thought to himself: This is a10 place. I will come back and visit it often."

    In the same village, 11 little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, was determined to visit the house. He 12 climbed the stairs and 13 his head low as he looked into the door. 14 he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was 15 to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a terrible place, and I will 16 go back there again."

    All the faces in the world are 17. When you smile at the world the whole world will 18 at you, and vice verse (反之亦然). 19, it is you who can choose to be happy or to be upset. And what kinds of reflections (思考) do you see in the 20 of the people you meet?