A few days ago my family and I were out for an evening walk. As we headed home, dark 1 started rolling in and we knew we probably wouldn't make it back without getting wet. 2 enough, the rain started falling just as we3our neighborhood. We all 4 down the street and into the house but when we got there I noticed that one of my sons was5I went back out in the rain and found him  6 in an irregular pattern in front of the house. His face was one of 7as he seemed to be going in circles. This is my child that usually hates getting 8.

    I shouted to him, “What are you doing?!!”

    “I hate getting wet!” he 9 back.

    “Then why are you running around in the 10 ? Hurry inside!”

    “I'm trying to but I have to 11 the rain drops!”

    He was getting more wet than any of the rest of us12 he was trying to avoid the raindrops. As I went and put him 13 my arm and walked him inside, I realized that there is a good14in this story.

    How often do you15life “avoiding the raindrops”? How often do you get so worried about the little 16that might happen, the failures that you miss out on the great 17 that you could be having? We can spend all of our time running around in circles trying not to fail or we can accept that failure is going to come and 18forward anyway. Any happy and successful person will tell you that the road to success is 19with failures.

    But every time you fail, you learn. Every time you learn, you improve. The more you improve, the more20 you will be.

    You've probably been asked what you would do if you found a leather wallet full of cash. Would you keep it. turn it in to the police or ask for a 1 ? Woralop, a homeless man from Thailand, only had 9 baht to his 2 when he found a leather wallet 3 20,000 baht and several credit cards in it.

    It was more than 4 to buy him food and even a place to stay for weeks. 5, he didn't think about keeping the wallet. He ran after the owner to 6 it, after seeing him dropping it 7. He wasn't able to run fast enough to 8 the man, so he went straight to the nearest police station to 9 it over.

    The owner, Niity, hadn't even 10 he had lost the expensive wallet when the police called to tell him they had it. When he learned that a homeless man had turned it in and saw that all the money and credit cards still 11 inside, he was more than totally 12. The owner admitted that if he had no money he probably would have kept it. What a(n) 13 person Woralop was!

    14 he initially offered Woralop a 2,000 baht reward, Niity later decided to also 15 the man a job at his factory in Bangkok. As a matter of fact, Woralop was more than happy to 16 it. It comes with a 11,000 baht 17 and good accommodation.

    Tarika has already started posting18 of Woralop at his new job on social media. His photos show that Woralop is such a good example that being kind really does19. When you're kind to others, others are 20 kind to you.

The Change of Bossy (好指挥人的) Lily

    I am a helpful person. However, my classmates used to call me “Bossy Lily”.

    One day, the class shouted again, “Bossy Lily, bossy Lily!” My teacher, Ms. Flora sent me to sit in the 1 for a while to quiet the class. I didn't understand why the class got 2 when I tried to show Mike how to handle the record player. I was only trying to 3 I also couldn't understand why the teacher had sent me to the corner. I was taught to always help my 4if they didn't know something. I thought the class was 5 in their judgment of me. I thought the teacher was wrong in 6 with them.

    When everyone was excused for break, Ms. Flora kept me in. I 7 I was in serious trouble, but I still didn't understand how my 8 could have caused the teacher to react like this.

     “Why am I here and not at break?” I asked Ms. Flora. The teacher didn't say a word.9 she placed a word puzzle in front of me. Surprised as I was, I got out my pencil and 10 to solve it. It was 11 with many words I didn't understand. I raised my hand for help, but Ms. Flora 12 me. I 13 with the word puzzle until I was about to give up. But I was not a quitter, so I stayed with the challenge. Soon I had solved the problem 14my own. I was so proud I did the puzzle by myself that I raised my hand high to get Ms. Flora's 15. Ms. Flora picked up the finished puzzle and 16.

    “I'm glad that you learned this important 17 from me.” I was 18. She hadn't done anything. Now she was taking the credit for my hard work!

    “Now perhaps you have learned to let other students make discoveries 19. After all, that is the fun of 20.”

    In that moment, I decided that I would never do anything that would cause them to call me “Bossy Lily” ever again.

    Some years ago on a hot summer day, a little boy decided to go for a 1 in the lake behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the 2 water, he ran out of the back door. He flew into the water, not3 that an alligator （鳄鱼）was swimming toward the 4. His mother in the house was 5of the window and saw the alligator  6 it got closer and closer. In fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as 7 as she could.

    Hearing her voice, the little boy became 8 and made a return to swim to his mother. It was too9.Just as he reached her, the alligator 10him. From the shore, the mother grasped her little boy by the arms just as the alligator grasped his legs. The alligator was much 11 than the mother, but the mother was much too struggling to let the boy go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her 12raced from his truck, took aim and13the alligator.

    14 after weeks in the hospital, the little boy15 His legs were scarred by the animal and, on his arms, were 16scratches where his mother's fingernails scratched. A newspaper reporter, who 17 the boy, asked if he would show him his18 The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious 19 he said to the reporter, “Bot look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom wouldn't let me go. They are my mother's 20 for me.”

    I come from one of those families where you have to yell at the dinner table to get in a word. Everyone has a strong 1, and talks at the same time, and no one has a 2 leading to heated arguments. We often talk or even debate with each other on different topics. 3 a family like mine has made me more 4 about the world around me, making me tend to question anything anyone tells me. But it has also made me realize that I'm not a good listener. And when I say "listening", I'm not 5 to the nodding-your-head-and-6-answering-Uh-huh-or-Ooh-I-see variety. I mean the kind of listening where you find yourself deeply 7 with the person you're speaking with, when his story becomes so 8 that your world becomes less about you and more about him. No, I was never very good at that.

    I spent summer in South Africa two years ago. I worked for a good non-profit 9 called Noah, which works 10 on behalf of children affected by AIDS. But 11 you asked me what I really did in South Africa, I'd tell you one thing: I listened, and I listened. Sometimes I 12, but mostly listened.

    And had I not spent two months 13, I might have missed the 14 moment when a quiet little girl at one of Noah's community centers, orphaned（孤儿）at the age of three, whispered after a long 15, "I love you."

    16 that summer, I knew how to hear. I could sit down with anyone and hear their 17 and nod and respond at the 18 time­but most of the time I was 19 about the next words out of my own mouth. Ever since my summer in South Africa, I have noticed that it's in those moments when my mouth is closed and my 20 is wide open that I've learned the most about other people, and perhaps about myself.

    The day we brought Julie home I knew that we were in quite a ride. She was more than just a 1. Though the smallest one in the house, she didn't let that 2her from trying to show off. It made me 3that she would walk up to the bowl of dog food and bark away a dog ten times her 4. She never once begged, but she wasn't afraid to ask for 5either. Too many times I found my toes being tickled(使发痒) by her tongue until I 6moved her up to my lap.

    Julie didn't mind being petted but wouldn't 7being carried around like a doll. The kids soon learned just how to 8her: with both love and respect. Julie loved a good dog treat and a 9touch. When it came to haircuts and baths, however, she wasn't afraid to show her 10about them with a gentle growl(怒吼声).

    Julie lived on and on while some of my younger dogs had 11over the years, but her 12slowly got worse and worse. She lost weight and had trouble 13. She became both blind and deaf and we had to 14her carefully when we were walking her. Sometimes she slept so 15that I was afraid that she had finally passed away. Yet, she always 16her head when I gently touched her old body. That was until last night.

    I buried Julie in the woods behind my home with 17eyes and hurting heart. I asked myself why I had taken so many dogs into my 18over the years when the 19of losing them was so great. As I was walking home remembering Julie, I came to 20the answer: the love was always far greater than the pain.