For a period of month some time ago I became a vegetarian(素食者). Some people won't eat meat because they think it is 1to animals, or they care about their health. My reason is a little 2 : it is love.

    I simply wanted to remember my grandmother by not eating meat. My grandmother spent a large part of her life as a vegetarian, and some of my happiest childhood memories in Thailand were about sharing a 3 with her.

    In fact, as a child, I learned how to value food not from dishes my mother often cooked, 4from the simple dinner, my grandmother prepared. Often, dinner with Grandma would come with interesting stories she had known from her childhood.

    Grandma passed away more than ten years ago. Now I am an adult living in San Francisco, and Grandma's vegetarian suppers and 5 have become a past.

    But one morning, I suddenly thought that I could 6 hear the sound of my grandmother's voice because she had left me forever. So I decided to become a vegetarian for a month.

    In a city famous for its dining experience, this was 7. I 8 several dinner panics for fear of offending(冒犯) the hosts. I stopped walking by 9 where the smell of good cooking would be in the air. My best friend wondered if there was something wrong with me.

    Now, I 10 her way. I invited friends who wanted to taste vegetarian food. And as we ate, I told them stories I had known as a child.

    I was born and grew up in the small town of Pineville, which I left at the age of sixteen. Twenty years 1 I came back on a visit. I went to see my old friend Tom Clark, who, active as ever, was head of a Reading Club. He was 2 getting ready to welcome a famous writer, who had been invited to come to give a talk on novels at the public library that evening. Since I happened to have read a book or two 3 this famous writer, when Tom asked me to go with him, I gladly 4.

    Tom was going to introduce the writer to the f audience. 5we went to the library a little earlier to welcome him. As the writer hadn't arrived yet, I left Tom and went into the reading room. A large number of people had already been there. I was sorry to find that I didn't know 6person. So I found a seat in the corner and sat quietly waiting.

    When it was just about time for the 7 to begin, I saw Tom standing at the door making a sign for 8 to come out. He looked worried about something, so I got up right away and went to him. He said that he had just had a telephone call from the writer. He had 9 his flight and would not be arriving! While we were considering the problem, Tom suddenly asked me if I would mind giving a talk instead of the writer. I never had time to 10 it when all at once I found I was being pushed back into the reading room to speak to the waiting audience.

    There was once a young man in a town. He liked puppets (木偶) so much that he became an apprentice (学徒) to a great puppet-maker. Sadly, the young man was not so clever, and people around him always said he had no 1 for making puppets.

However, he enjoyed it so much that he worked day after day to 2his skills. Though he was hard-working, they would always find something wrong with his puppets. The young man was 3 but he wasn't going to give up. After thinking for a few days, he 4 to spend all his time making just one kind of puppet. As long as he found a fault (缺陷) in his puppet, he would throw it away and start again. Years passed, he was much 5 at making puppets than any other apprentice, but he kept making improvements. Living 6 that, the man wasn't making any money. Many people laughed at how poor he was.

    By the time he was an old man, his puppet was 7 wonderful. Finally, after so many years of work, he finished his puppet, and said, "8 wrong with it this time. It's perfect (完美的)". And for the first time in all those years, he didn't throw his puppet and felt so happy.

    The man's name was Geppetto. 9 he made the perfect puppet, he got more happiness than any other famous puppet-maker. His 10 tells us how important it is to keep on something.

    So never give up the things you really enjoy.

    Last Sunday, my daughter and I went to the supermarket. A little girl with her mother was in line in front of 1. The little girl was asking her mother for a box of2. The polite way she was asking almost broke the mother's heart. "Sorry, honey.3we don't have enough money to get it."

    My daughter heard that dialogue. By the way, she had made some money to buy herself a bike by cleaning our garden once a week. As she watched the mother and daughter leave the supermarket, she rushed to the candy counter and bought a box of smarty(模版) with her money. Then she ran4and caught up with the little girl and her mother, and sent them the box. She came back and told me 5she told them, "Every child should have a box of smarty because they can6you smart."

    I was so7that I bought a box of smarty for my daughter. I told her that I was proud of her8her good action just now. She replied, " 9 we do nice things for others we shouldn't wish to be returned." I explained," When you do something nice for someone, you shouldn't expect to get anything, but when you get something from others, you should be very 10. "

    Before Father's Day, I found my father was unhappy because he was out of work. I decided to cheer him up by buying him a special Father's Day gift.

    One day after school I1to the Agins which was known for fashions and styles. I told the Agins salesperson that I was looking for a Father's Day present.

    "Do you think he'd like a2?" she asked. "Yes, I think he might, "I told her.

    She 3 a Swiss watch and I told her that he would like it.

    "How much money do you have?" she asked.

    "4dollars, "I replied.

    "You're so lucky!" she told me." It's only $11.You still have $l for the 5." She packed the watch and I thanked for my business, and I rode off home with the gift under my arm.

    When my father opened the gift, he asked 6, "Where did you get it?"

    "I bought it at the Agins. It cost me $11, "I said. My father was shocked into silence.

    Many years later, I did learn that the watch was worth several hundred dollars, 7I appreciated(感激)how wonderful the Agins sales-person had been to me. I always felt8that I never had a chance to thank her.

    "What really amazes me to this day...…my daughter, "my father said." Letting you have the watch for 11 dollars was 9 enough. But the fact that she let you leave the shop with a dollar for the card was a touch (触动)of 10.I'll never forget it."