Lita CabEllut is one of Spain's most successful artists, “My 1 was like that of thousands of street kids around the world.” says Lita. She used to 2 the streets of Barcelona with other homeless children and 3 in the open air.

    Lita was 4 in a village in Aragon, north-east Spain, in 1961.While she was a baby, her mother 5 Barcelona. She was left with her grandmother—but 6 she spent most of her time out on the 7 .

8 , she says that “art was there because art is 9 around us”, but she didn't think about it in a 10 sense —she was focused on 11 .

    Lita's grandmother 12 when she was about 10 years old and she 13 a Barcelona orphanage（孤儿院）before being 14 by “a beautiful Catalan family” two years later.

She didn't 15 much about them, except that they 16 her to art. They took her to Madrid's Prado museum, and showed Goya's works to her. Her adopted family 17 Lita to keep painting—they 18 paid for private teachers to make up for 19 time. She slowly made progress at school, started to listen to the “voice of art” and 20 to study hard.

    The famous composer（作曲家）, Albert Roussel, didn't have a good start in this career. However, he achieved a great deal of success as a result of a 1 .

    Roussel's parents died when he was eight and he went to live with his  2  . As a little boy, he fell in love with music and  3  himself about it by reading through the family collection that his mother kept,  4  which there were a lot of related books.

    Three years later, Roussel's grandfather died, and his mother's sister decided to  5  him. Her husband was a kind man and  6  for young Roussel's music lessons. One summer vacation at a Belgian seaside added a second  7  to his life—the sea. Then he studied to be a naval cadet（海军学员），but still made time to study  8  .

    In the French Navy, he and two friends found the time to  9  a band, playing the works of Beethoven and other  10  . Roussel also began composing. On Christmas day 1892, he had his first chance to  11  as a composer, which turned out to be a success.

    That success  12  Roussel to write a wedding march（婚礼进行曲），and one of his navy friends  13  to show it to a famous conductor, Edouard Colonne. When Roussel's friend  14  with the manuscript（手稿）, he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to  15  his naval career and devote his life to music.

    Not long  16  , at the age of 25, Roussel decided to  17  Edouard Colonne's advice. He gave his heart and soul to his composing and  18  a major force in twentieth century French music. Because of Eduoard Colonne's inspiring  19  , Roussel devoted his life to music—but Rousssel's  20  friend later admitted that he had made it up. He said he had never even shown Roussel's manuscript to the famous conductor.

    My first full time job after high school was selling vacation packages via telephone for a well-known company. One day, the dialer 1me to a man who answered the phone and2a bit out of breath. I started with my normal pitch（推销), and3to hear the normal, "I don't want any," and be hung up on.

    Instead he spoke in a low, weak voice and told me how he wished he could take a4like the one I was offering, but couldn't5he was dying of emphysema (肺气肿). He 6how he was on oxygen, and it took almost all his7just to get to the phone to answer the call. I8 and my heart fell into my stomach. He asked me if I smoked, which I did, and then begged me to stop. He told me smoking is 9was killing him, and how horrible it was. He told me to 10every day with my loved ones, and tell them all the time how much I love them. At this 11, I was in tears, and couldn't control myself, and he could tell.

    After a few moments, I decided to write down his name and 12, and just send him a card telling him that I13his advice and that I would pray for him and his family. Shortly after, I received a nice letter back from Frank, along with a picture of him and his wife. We continued to write back and forth over the next few months or so, and became very 14of each other. He was old enough to be my grandfather, and in many ways, I felt 15he were.

    It was about a year later I received a letter from his wife, and when I started to read it, my eyes were filled with tears. She told me how Frank's 16with the disease had finally come to an end, and he 17shortly before Christmas .She wanted to thank me for the letters I had written to Frank, and then explained how Frank touched many lives over the years. At his 18  to show just that, they read the 1st letter I had written to Frank to show how he 19a 19-year- old person he had20even met.

    I will never forget how much that meant to me.

    I walked into a bank in town a couple of days ago and waited in the queue. I was the second1and I couldn't help overhearing the2in front of me. The bank clerk must have been having a(an)3 day and after asking how the4was and so on, he began to complain about our government, 5them for not doing enough to6the coast from storms and floods as this had been much on the news at the time.

    He was in7spirits and you could tell that he was really8about a lot of things going on in the world.

    My heart went out to him. I was 9 next and all I could do was10. 1didn't have any words. Afterwards, it 11to me something that had been running under my own thoughts.

    So I left the bank, found a12and on it I wrote: Sometimes the bad parts of the world seem so13. There are so many sad things going on in the news. They make it hard to see 14going on around us. But that doesn't15life right now can't be beautiful. All you have to do is open your eyes. It's in the gaps(缝隙) that beauty is16.

    I17the postcard back into the bank, wandered around and18 it on a table, 19that the bank clerk would find it. Whether he did or not, I never found out, but it20would do someone some good, which I'm certain of.

    First one person stood up and then another and another. Someone in the crowd began to applaud and soon everyone else 1 in as Glenn Cunninghan made his final lap around the track(跑道). He was about to break a world record in the mile. As he made his victory, you might wonder how he could walk, let alone 2. It was hard to ignore Glenn's scarred legs.

    When Glenn was six years old, his 3 were so badly burned in a schoolhouse fire that his doctor never thought he would 4 again. But Glenn thought otherwise. After spending weeks in 5, he got up and started using crutches(拐杖) to get around. When his legs got 6, he tried walking without the crutches. It was very 7. Glenn said later, “It hurt like hell to walk, 8 it didn't hurt at all when I ran. So for five or six years, about all I did was run.”

    With all the 9 he had had in running, it was natural for Glenn to join his school's track team. By the time he got to high school, he became a track star and set 10 times in the mile run.

    After he 11 from high school, he went to the University of Kansas. Glenn Cunninghan was 12 as “The Kansas Flyer”, and he won the National College Amateur Track Championships in 1931 and 1932.

    Glenn went on to run on the U.S. Olympic Team in 1932, received the Sullivan Award 13 outstanding amateur athletes in 1933, and won a silver medal in the 1936 Olympic Games. The boy who was 14 never to walk again won two National College Amateur Athlete titles in track, was named the 15 track performer in the 100-year history of Madison Square Garden, and was 16 to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

    It was never easy for Glenn. It took him nearly an hour to 17 for a race and the smoke-filled indoor stadium made it hard for him to 18. But he never let that stop him or 19 him down. He just ran as hard as he could with his wounded lungs and scarred legs, and he won.

    If determination and spirit can 20 a runner to greatness, it might be said that Glenn Cunninghan was the greatest runner of all time.

    I hadn't even wanted the dog in the first place! My husband insisted I get him to 1 the dog that had died recently.

    Soon, he was "my dog", a friend and 2 companion, not asking for any more than I was willing to give a daily meal and a warm bed. But not my 3! No dogs are allowed on my bed.

    The night after my husband died, I lay there, staring into the darkness, my eyes full of4. The bed seemed so 5all by myself and I was wondering how long it takes for a good case of loneliness to 6. It was cold and moving slowly into my open hand outside the 7. It has prickly (刺痒的) hairs and just before I 8, a familiar call came from the creature that was forcing its cold, wet nose into my trembling (颤抖的) hand.

    "Oh, Shawn! What are you doing on my bed?" I put my arms around his hairy neck and 9 him.

    In the months to follow, I came to realize that this dog I hadn't 10 was a gift of love. He was a warm companion always 11 and available to go for a 12 when I needed to get out of the house. Twice, he snapped (咬) at me 13 I cried loudly and out of control, as if to tell me to be 14.

    Shawn taught me all about love, 15 and forgiveness. That crazy dog 16 me just as I am. And I've learned to help those around me who are 17 and to approach them 18, loving them just as they are. Like a dog curling up by the warm fire, I just want to be there in case I'm 19. I thank life for providing me with a(n) 20 when I felt alone, and for the comfort of a cold, wet nose.