One rainy evening I went to fill up at the gas station. A poor boy came up to my car and asked me for money to help him and his mother{#blank#}1{#/blank#}in their hotel for another week. They had to leave{#blank#}2{#/blank#}they did not come up with $25. Having worked in social services before, and being a little skeptical (怀疑的) , I asked why his mother hadn't asked social{#blank#}3{#/blank#}for help. The boy said that they needed to{#blank#}4{#/blank#}in their hotel for one more week until his grandmother, who lived out of town, could take them in. I gave the boy what I had—$5. He thanked me and continued to ask{#blank#}5{#/blank#}for help. I got my gas and drove{#blank#}6{#/blank#}. Weeks before, a boy asked me for money and I told him I didn't have any though I did because I didn't believe him.{#blank#}7{#/blank#}, I knew the boy was really poor. "This time," I thought, "I'll do it{#blank#}8{#/blank#}." I went to my bank and got $20, then I returned to the gas station. The boy was {#blank#}9{#/blank#}there. I handed him the $20 bill. He reached through my car window and gave me a{#blank#}10{#/blank#}hug. His hug told me all I needed to know was that finally this kid could get out of the rain.

    I remember the first time I got on a horse. I was two years old and we were watching a friend of the family ride. My mom agreed to let me take a short ride around the ground with the friend and that was it' I became crazy about having a horse. From then on, I drove my parents mad beg­ging for a horse. Whenever I saw a horse, I would beg even harder.

    When I was four years old, problems appeared in my life. I had Selective Mutism (选择性缄默症). This is an unusual childhood disorder (失调) in which children stop speaking in certain social situations, many times at around the age of four. I spoke to my parents as usual, my brother and certain other people, but was silent at school and in social situations. I went days, weeks, months without a sound at school. At most, I might very quietly speak to a friend.

    My parents looked for a cure. One psychologist (心理医生) had an idea. Having discussed his plan with my parents in advance, one day I was asked by the psychologist what I wanted more than anything in the world. He explained that I was going to be given a chance to work for what I wanted. I couldn't believe my good luck, but I could not answer. I just stood there. Finally, I was allowed to whisper (低声说) the answer in my mother's ear. "A horse," was all I could say.

    I was to get a little horse, but before we could even start looking, I had to try to talk. I had a chart of weekly tasks I had to finish. I had to answer the phone five times every week, something I had never done before. I did everything that was asked of me and the day came when my parents found the perfect horse. His name was Sequoia, a strong little chestnut (栗子马). He was perfect, of course, and I fell in love immediately. It truly was a dream come true. When I was with Sequoia, I forgot all about my problems and felt strong and life.

    By connecting with them, I have learned to hug what I was once not able to do and I found my voice back.

I like taking {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (photo) very much. Once I traveled by ship {#blank#}2{#/blank#} a cloudy morning. In the afternoon, the weather turned fine, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} I wanted to take some photos. I was looking around and I saw next to me a lovely little girl {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (sit) on her father's shoulders. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} was lucky for me to meet such a perfect moment—the girl {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (smile) and the surrounding view was beautiful. Without thinking, I took a picture of the little girl at that moment.

Her mother was surprised that a {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (strange) was photographing her daughter. I explained that I {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (move) by that sight and showed them {#blank#}9{#/blank#} photo on my digital camera. They loved it very much. I said I could email it to them when I got home. Finally, they gave me their email address. The next day, I sent them their {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (daughter) photo as I had promised.

This morning I received a message back saying they are grateful and that they are very happy with the lovely photo of their daughter and a lovely memory of the day.

Nick is my pen pal. He is 12 years old. He is from Canada. He lives in Ottawa. He speaks English and French. His favourite subject is Science. He likes Chinese, too. And he says he can speak a little Chinese, but he can't write in Chinese. He doesn't like Physics. He thinks it's too difficult.

Nick likes sports, too. He likes swimming best. He goes swimming at weekends with his father. He says he can swim very well.

Nick has a big family. There are his grandparents, his parents and his brothers and sisters. He has two brothers and two sisters. They are Bob, Tim, Jane and Susan. They are happy!

Last year, we took a trip to New York City. When we arrived at our hotel, it was around 1:00 am. My son, Joseph, looked out at the lights of Times Square and said he {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(want) to go outside. I told him it was too late, but he kept {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(look) out of the window and said, "Just for two minutes. "

My wife and I just looked {#blank#}3{#/blank#} each other, smiled and said, "Two minutes. " We got dressed and walked to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} centre of Times Square. When we got there, my son pointed at the lights and said, "Dad, look!", and then he started to fall {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(sleep). So we had to go back to the hotel. 

It took us twenty minutes {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(get) ready for the twenty seconds we spent outside. {#blank#}7{#/blank#}, it made our son happy and that meant a lot to us. That night, I learnt a lesson about happiness. We sometimes have chances to create happy {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(moment), but we often find an excuse to do something else. We {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(we) are the biggest enemies(敌人) to our own happiness. Although happiness is a door that is always open, we are the ones to decide whether we walk through the door {#blank#}10{#/blank#} not. Happiness is just beside us.