My previous home had a stand of woods behind it and many animals in the backyard. That first year, I1 feeding peanuts to the blue jays, then the squirrels. The squirrels had no2 coming up right to me for them. As the months went by, the rabbits saw that I was no 3and didn't escape. When I threw carrot slices(薄片)，they even came for a nibble(啃).Slowly they came to4 me, and by the end of the year they were eating out of my hand.

    That second year, the rabbits5 me, and one would even sit up for slices! While I was feeding them, I 6 that a groundhog who used to run away was now taking an7interest in this food situation. I carefully extended a long8, with a keen eye on those teeth, and 9,there were times I would have the groundhog sitting next to a rabbit, both munching(津津有味的咀嚼) on carrots. A few months later, while 10,she would even turn her back to me.11when she was facing away, I reached out and 12scratched（搔）her back with my finger, She didn't move.

    By year three, the rabbits and the groundhog were back. The groundhog 13didn't have a problem with me scratching her back, and I got an idea, I'd always14,while slicing up carrots, that the end looked like a cap.15one day, just to see what she would do ,I gently 16 one on top of the groundhog's head. Again, not a 17,The next time, I had my camera ready to record what you see here, one of several dozen such pictures,18she had a slice to eat, she never 19 the one of her head. It was a fair 20 —I got a pleasure, and she had yet another tasty treat.

    I was on my way home from work, cutting through the park. On that day, the sun seemed to 1 faster than usual, and all of a sudden I found myself walking 2 I was less than half a mile from my apartment,3the path would lead me over a bridge, across train tracks, and 4 an unlit underpass (地下通道).

Then 5 I heard him — a stranger running alongside me. My mouth went 6. My legs felt like water. But I didn't7my pace. Instead, I stopped, turned, and8 him. He came out of the bushes and said he'd been watching me for a long time.9he walked beside me, I moved a little closer to the edge of the10When we reached the bridge, a train raced past, and he seized the moment,11 himself suddenly at me as his hands12my throat. The self-defense skills I had learned years before kicked in, and I dug my 13into his eye, hard. But he14grew bolder (大胆), pulling at my clothes. So I put all my 15into that thumb, and finally he16.

I was shaking with 17but I looked him straight in the eye and began to back away. I 18to run the hell out of there, but then I 19 another self-defense lesson: Never20 because then you're prey (猎物). So I walked away —alone — through the dark underpass as I dialed 911 with trembling fingers.

    Anna was very picky(挑剔的)about food. She never ate the wonderful pizzas or ice creams her mother made, which was her parents'1. She just ate other things. Anna was2 ， but her parents were both fat. Their likes were her dislikes. 3 ， everyone wondered who she had taken after…Anna's parents thought she was ill.

    One day, they went to see a4. He took them to a machine. Then he put a plate of fish in front of them, and5on the machine.

    It started playing sounds: waves'6sound and the songs of seabirds. After some time the doctor7the fish with fruit and vegetables. The sounds of the sea8 ， and there came the sounds of gentle wind, birdsong, and rain. All of them9the beautiful sounds of nature, but the doctor10the plate again, and this time it was a dish of meat. The machine started making lively sounds: the sound of11animals. Still quite pleasant. Then the doctor brought a strong smelling pizza. The machine seemed to 12down. Instead of beautiful sounds, out 13noisy sounds. The noise was so disturbing that the family had to ask the doctor to change the14of food. The doctor brought them ice creams, burgers, and candy…but they thought the sounds were still15. Finally Anna's parents16 the doctor to bring fruit back.

    "Anna isn't ill, "said the doctor. "She can understand each type of food's own17. It comes from where the food was born, raised, and18. Anna wants to eat the foods whose music is 19. That's why she's slim and healthy."

    These days, they all look slim, 20from then on, in the house pizzas, burgers, puddings, and ice creams were replaced by fruit, vegetables, and fish.

    What did your dinner sound like today?

    Herman Travis, 55, lives in Holly Courts, a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco. Every Tuesday, Travis 1a shopping cart with groceries from a local food bank (食品赈济站). Then he makes home 2 to his elderly and disabled 3. He started doing it in 2007 and when he first 4, people were doubtful. They didn't welcome it as he had 5. "At first people were 6. They didn't let me in. However, 7 they got to really know me they would just be 8 to see me," Travis once told me.

    I am one of Travis' neighbors who 9deliveries from him. Like everyone else, I 10 appreciate his help, and love to see the joy Travis gets out of making his rounds. I'm 11 with the way he handled himself with the people here. He's so very kind and warm, always smiling, as if he's 12 a favor for his own family. 13 , people are happy when they see him coming, knowing they are treated with 14.

    There are people in nearby15that have been trying to steal Travis for years. They suggest 16 him to go and deliver food for them. But he simply wouldn't do it for money.

    What Travis does for us might be 17 things, but he does them with big love. It's 18 rewarding for himself. And for those of us who receive his 19every week, it is truly20. He's a modern-day hero.

    It started four years ago. My wife would see a 1 man near where she worked. It was the week before Christmas and she said she wanted to purchase a new coat for him because his coat was 2. We don't have a lot of 3. We are really a step away from being homeless in rags most months but we try to 4 when we can.

    We talked and found a way to get some money together to 5 him a coat. I 6 that since we were giving a coat to him, we should look at what else he might 7. We decided to fill a 8 with some useful 9 things—a toothbrush, soap, clothes, a hat, gloves and some food. A small gift and Christmas card was put in it as well.

    We haven't had money to exchange 10 for birthdays or Christmas for many years, too. It feels wonderful to have someone 11 you at Christmas but I've always been a little 12 when friends ask "What did you get for Christmas?" It always makes my wife feel bad that she can't 13 to give me anything and I feel the same. So I would 14 and say she bought me this thing or that. But that year we could say we 15 something to others instead and that's 16 what happened.

    People asked and we said what we did. They also wanted to help the following 17 and we made ten more backpacks the following Christmas, and this year we really 18 the gifts.

    I still can't afford to buy my wife some gifts to 19 on Christmas day, but the 20 we feel makes up for it ten times!

When I was three, I was inseparable from my parents. Where they went I went, always reaching out for their hands to ensure their1.

As we2 my preschool for the first time, my hands tightly3 my parents'. We walked past the 4 sign out front which read "Welcome to the Lakeschool!", up the stairs and through the front door. I was happy and5– what could this new place be? Soon enough, however, I was introduced to my teachers and as they warmly6 me, they separated my hands from my parents' hands. As we progressed across the room, my parents7 broke away from our little group and went a8 way. They seemed, in fact, to be heading toward the door. When I realized what was happening, I9 to run after them, only to be held back by my teachers. My small face contorted (变形) and tears began to flood my cheeks. My mouth opened and a desperate10 escaped, loud enough for my parents, who were now outside, to11. I stared at them, pressed up against the12. But soon another little girl13. She wrapped her14 around me until I stopped crying. Then she took my hand and led me away from the window. My parents breathed a sigh of15.

The girl was Helen, and from that moment on we were best friends.