A Person Who Has Influenced My Life

    There is always a time in one's life when a hero comes along. Someone who has inspired you can really help you learn what life is about.

    I 1 it as if it was yesterday. I was fifteen years old that year. It was around eight o'clock one evening when my mother 2 a phone call from her brother-in-law, who told us my aunt was in hospital and that the doctor 3 them she would need an operation immediately. My family became very 4about my aunt's situation.

    While my aunt was in the hospital with special 5 , my cousin Mark, who is mentally disabled, spent time with my family. Mark was seventeen at the time, and had been born with severe mental disorders, which 6 a wide range of social and physical problems for him throughout everyday life. He never had any true friend 7 no one could relate to him. I must 8 that at the beginning I was filled with uncertainty as to how much of a 9 my cousin would bring on my family. Now looking back it saddens me to see the 10 I once showed.

    Over the two weeks when Mark lived with my family, I probably 11 more about life and its meanings. Thinking back, I took 12 in daily life for granted, believing it would always be there. I never even thought about being able to do things like walking, brushing my teeth, or going to the bathroom on my own. Now I see how 13 I am to be able to do these things independently.

    Mark was seventeen, but learned on a nine-year-old 14. Although his learning ability was slower than most, he could still learn. He explored 15 to do most of the things everyone else did. 16 he did pretty well and succeeded in almost everything he tried to do. He 17 his illness and showed an ambition to love life. To him, having a successful life means achieving goals on his own terms and at his own 18.

    Mark is my hero, for his disability has forever 19 my viewpoint on life. It seems like a well-deserved life when you're fifteen, and it is amazing how in a period of time your point of view can change so 20 .

    It was three in the afternoon. I was putting my baby to sleep 1the phone rang. It was a little girl asking for the Goldstein family. “ 2 ” I said, “you've got the wrong number.”3 the phone didn't stop ringing. Each time it was the voice of a little girl. She was 4one call after another, each time asking for the Goldstein family. My baby wouldn't stop crying. I started to become 5  I left the phone off the hook(挂钩) for about an hour,6that this would make her lose7. But hardly I put the phone back on the hook when she8again. I started to cry. After about the tenth call I told her that if she called one more time I would call the 9.

    At 6:30 pm, the phone rang for about the 25th time. I picked it up, but remained10  and I could hear the same voice of a girl. What kind of 11would allow her to do this all the afternoon! I12to speak to her mother. To my 13  she called her mother to the phone. I told the mother what her little girl had been doing to me all the 14  The mother assured(向—保证) me that this was the15phone call her daughter had made that day. “My daughter's teacher gave all the girls in the class the phone number of their new teaching assistant. The entire class of 30 girls was told to call the new assistant to 16 what time their class would be. The teacher must have given them the wrong number by mistake!”

    Until about 9:00 pm, the phone 17rang from time to time. Each time, it was a little girl wanting to know what time the class was! Some girls, even after hearing they had the wrong 18  would anyway ask if I knew the time! I would just19  It had turned into a joke now! I would never have thought that an entire 20 of girls, all with the same voice, was calling me!

    Two weeks earlier, my son, Ben, had got in touch. He'd moved to England with his mum when he was three and it had been 13 years since I'd 1 seen him. So imagine my 2 when he emailed me saying he wanted to come to visit me.

    I was 3 ! I arrived early at Byron Bay where we were supposed to 4 . The bay was5 in sunshine, and there was a group of kayakers around 150m off the shore. Getting a little 6 .I realized one kayak（皮划艇）was in 7 . "Something's not 8 !" I took off my T-shirt and 9 into the water. I saw there were two instructors on board and a man lying across the middle. He was 10 violently. Linking arms with one of the instructors. I helped 11 the young man out of the water. He was unconscious and as I looked at his face, something 12 to me. Those brown eyes were very 13 . "What's his name?" I asked the instructor. "Ben," he replied, and immediately I 14 . That stranger was my son!

    The instructors called for an ambulance. 15, after a brief stay in hospital. Ben was well enough to be allowed to 16 and later the family met up for dinner. We chatted about everything and then Ben 17 to me. "I'm just want to say thank you," he said, "You 18 my life!"

    I still can't believe what a 19 it was. I'm just so glad I was there 20 to help my son.

    Last Sunday, on my return from a trip to Waterloo, I took a taxi from Waterloo Station to my home. We hadn't gone very far 1 the traffic light changed to red. We waited for minutes. Just as the light was changing to 2, a policeman pulled open the door of the taxi,3 in, shouted to the driver, “4that blue car in front. It's been stolen.” and he sat down on the seat beside me. Then he seemed to see me for the first time for he politely 5, “ Sorry sir, but I've got to catch that car.” The taxi driver 6 the speed without saying anything. After a few hundred yards the blue car stopped at 7 traffic light and we drew up 8. The policeman got out, ran round to the driver's door of the blue car, opened it and 9the driver out. I couldn't hear what he said , but after a few minutes the policeman 10 to me and I went up to him. He asked me to help him take the car thief to the nearest11.

    The three of us got into the 12. We drove off 13 the taxi following. I didn't like sitting next to the 14, who was a young , rather tough-looking man, but I had no 15. Fortunately it wasn't far to the police station. 16 we got there the policeman took my name and address, thanked me for my 17 and said I could go home now. So I got back into my taxi and we drove off again. The taxi driver said 18 that it was the second time in a month he had been 19to help the police, and he 20 it wouldn't happen again.

    It was a warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon some fifteen or sixteen years ago. I took my two kids to the local playground. As soon as we got there my daughter headed for the swings(秋千) and asked for a 1. I noticed another little girl 2 to get her own swing going high as I was 3 my daughter to go higher and higher.

    I walked over to the little girl and asked 4 she need help. She smiled and said "Yes!" and I soon had her feet flying towards the  5 while she laughed happily. For the next two hours I found myself pushing swings and playing games with my daughter and the little girl. By the time we headed home, I was 6tired, but my spirits was still flying 7than those swings.

    Two years later I was 8again after a long day's work. Still, I needed to9 my kids from their school before heading home. I stood in the 10 waiting area waiting for my children. Suddenly, I felt two 11arms wrapped around my legs. I looked down and there was the little girl I met 3 years before in the 12smiling up at me. She gave me a big hug before running away to 13 the school bus. As I watched her 14, I didn't feel tired any more and my spirits were once again 15with that swing.

    The love we 16 with others will find its way back to us. It will travel from heart to heart, it may take seconds or it may take17. The law of love, 18, is never broken. We will get back what we give. We will harvest what we19. The kindness we give and the joy we create will always come back to 20 us.

All kinds of people come in to have their shoes shined. Most folks are friendly. But this man was different.

"How much do you make a week, boy?" he asked me. I felt he was 1 at me. He kept giving a sharp 2 around every now and then. All the time I kept 3 where I'd seen his face. Suddenly I knew. I'd seen his 4 in the post office many times. He was the big robber 5 by the police in three states!

"You know," he was saying, "it's imagination that people lack. You'll never get anywhere as a 6 boy."

I kept brushing away on his shoes as 7 as I could. The sooner I finished, the better. He said, "When I was sixteen, I had 8 $2,500 of my own."

That reminded me of something. Was it $2,500 or $5,000 or $7, 500? I wasn't 9. I knew a big reward was 10 for him.

But what could I do about it? 11 him with a can of shoe polish? A man of his 12 could grind (碾碎) me into the floor. If only someone would come in!

He kept talking away. "Along with 13, it takes courage. The courage to take a chance. Start something on a shoestring."

Suddenly I saw Officer Dailey 14 across the street. Then, real fast, I began tightening the man's shoestrings.

The policeman was at the window when I cried out, "Officer Dailey, 15！ This man's a robber."

"16, " the man shouted angrily. He started to jump off the stand. But he didn't go the way he 17. He fell flat on his face and knocked himself out cold.

"That was pretty 18 of you, " the officer said. "You'll get a reward of $7,500 for him."

"Well, it really wasn't my 19, " I said. "It was his. He told me if you had courage and imagination you could start something big on a 20."