Do you hate to get your hands dirty? When I see my 10-year-old son1the dirty plates  in the sink or my 8 year-old daughter cringing(畏缩) at the wet sand clinging(黏住) to her hands, I am reminded of a time when I was 2to get my hands a little dirty.

    My parents owned a 500-acre 3 n Montana when I was young. I'd often come home from school to find a/an 4lamb or a calf being bottle-fed in the basement.One exceptionally cold day, I was the5sheep with my mother in the ranch when she spied a ewe(母羊)6.The poor thing was trying to7 her baby lamb and needed our help.My mother calmly held the ewe's head and8 me to grab hold of the two protruding(突出的) legs.

I hesitated, and must have had quite a look of 9 on my young face.The slimy little things were 10not something I wanted to touch.But I worked up my 11and wrapped my fingers around them.I can still recall the feel of 12the delicate legs and their sharp little hooves(蹄子) as of it happened yesterday.

    My heart beat in fear and excitement as I 13with all my strength.The lamb was delivered with an outpouring, and I'd never seen14so beautiful.I was no 15to see ranch animals being born, but to have a hand16it was something I cherished then and will cherish forever.

    Looking back, I'm so glad that I didn't 17to get my hands dirty.18I had, the miraculous moment and the precious memory would have been lost.These days I try to instill(灌输) that life lesson into my own 19 .Sometimes you need to get your hands a little dirty to experience something 20 and pure.

    I was wandering around the Albuquerque airport. My flight had been 1 , and I heard a(n)2: “If anyone near Gate A-4 3 Arabic，please come to the gate immediately." Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.

    An older woman was 4, sitting on the floor. In her 5 Arabic dress, she reminded me of my grandmother.

    “6 to her,” the flight agent urged. “We told her the flight was going to be late, and she did this."

    I spoke to the woman 7in Arabic while putting my arm around her. She 8crying. It turned out that she thought the 9 had been canceled. She planned to be in New York for some medical treatment the next day. I comforted her and suggested 10her family.

    We telephoned her son. In English, I told him that I would 11 with his mother until we got on the plane. Then his son was12. Next we called my dad. They spoke for a while in Arabic and 13 that they had ten shared friends. After that, I called some Arabic friends I14 and let them talk to her.

    She was in a 15mood by then and took some homemade 16— little cakes stuffed with nuts and topped with sugar 一 from her bag and 17 them to the people near the gate. To my amazement, no one 18. It was like a party. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo — we were all smiling, enjoying the same 19.

    I looked around and thought, this is the world I want to live in. One with no 20. Everyone can be happy anywhere.

    Singing or listening to music during math class is usually not accepted. However, in Kurt's classroom, it's not the1 . Kurt is a math teacher in a high school. This former hip-hop artist is using his 2 background to make math a lot easier and less 3 for his students.

    As a child, he had difficulty 4 math. However, as he grew older, he realized that it wasn't completely his 5 and that the traditional education system just doesn't work for all the students. So he decided to come up with a new 6 which would make kids more interested in school. Finally a good idea 7 him.

    With the help of some friends, Kurt 8 60-second math tracks（跑道）. They are given a(an) 9 name, like “Van Guard” and she 10 multiplication tables（乘法表）to hip-hop beats. He also encourages dancing during class, 11 it helps the children get into the mood（情绪）and 12 them in their learning. So far, Kurt has only invented musical materials for the multiplications, but the13 have been so positive that he is now working on new learning materials.

    Even since Kurt 14 hip-hop into the classroom, he has had 15 trouble during class. And attendance（出勤率）is always at 100% and the students' grades have gone up greatly. What's more, the kids 16 love learning math now.

    Kurt wants to 17 the traditional way of teaching, but he's not saying that it doesn't work. It just doesn't work for 18, because not all students learn in the same way. He only 19 to show that we need to keep a(an) open mind when it 20 children's education.

    Next week, strangers with a truck will take away everything we own, except the clothes on our backs, the car we will drive, and as much stuff as we can pack into it.

    It's called 1. Some people do it often. For others, like me, it's a 2experience. In all my adult years, I've moved only three times.

    My first 3 and I moved into our first house with a bed, our clothes and a few gifts. That was many years ago. Over the years, I 4 that house with three children, a few dogs and enough stuff to 5 the ceiling.

    Then the kids grew up, I lost my husband to cancer, and I began to learn about 6.

    First, I let go of the 7 of being in contro1. Life isn't about being in charge of what 8, it's about being in charge of what we do with it.

Next, I let go of 9 the things I care most about, like keeping in touch with the people that 10 the most to me.

    I let go of the people whose 11 are about anger or hatred, and tried instead to 12 myself with those who shine with 13.

    Finally, I let go of being alone—I remarried. I 14 moved to a new city with my new husband, and after that move, I15 I'd stop collecting meaningless things. But 12 years later, here I am, still learning about letting go.

    We'll all move someday from this 16 to the next, but we won't need a truck to do it. We'll take 17 with us and leave behind a(n) 18 of the life we lived, the mistakes we 19 , and all the love and kindness we tried to show.

    That memory might not be a treasure, but if we're20 , someone will keep it and hold it close and never let it go.

    It's about 250 miles from the hills of west-central Iowa to Ehlers' home in Minnesota. During the long trip home, following a weekend of hunting. Ehlers 1about the small dog he had seen 2alongside the road. He had 3to coax(哄) the dog to him but, frightened, it had 4.

    Back home, Ehlers was troubled by that 5dog. So, four days later, he called his friend Greg, and the two drove 6. After a long and careful 7, Greg saw, across a field, the dog moving 8away. Ehlers eventually succeeded in coaxing the animal to him. Nervousness and fear were replaced with 9. It just started licking(舔) Ehlers' face.

    A local farmer told them the dog sounded like one 10as lost in the local paper. The ad had a 11number for a town in southern Michigan. Ehlers 12the number of Jeff and Lisa to tell them he had 13their dog.

    Jeff had 14in Iowa before Thanksgiving with his dog, Rosie, but the gun shots had scared the dog off. Jeff searched 15for Rosie in the next four days.

    Ehlers returned to Minnesota, and then drove 100 miles to Minneapolis to put Rosie on a flight to Michigan. "It's good to know there's still someone out there who 16enough to go to that kind of 17,"says Lisa of Ehlers' rescue 18.

    "I figured whoever lost the dog was probably just as 19to it as I am to my dogs," says Ehlers. "If it had been my dog, I'd hope that somebody would be 20to go that extra mile."

    I'm not a person who loves collecting, but the TV room of my house is full of things. In it are things that there's no other place to put, and things I can't decide1to throw away, such as a lot of old bottles and boxes, some books and out-of-date magazines and a wood stove (炉子) I2use. The TV itself could actually work, but I only turn it3every four years to watch the presidential election.

    The other night, scratching (抓) sounds from the TV room4me up. Quietly, I entered the room,5the stove and opened its front door. There it was, a trembling squirrel,6me desperately.

    I decided to give it a(n)7escape way. Therefore, I opened the outside door, stepped back and8. The squirrel jumped out of the9, but didn't head outside.10, it run through my magazine pile and then struggled among the bottles.

    "Why didn't it11?" I wondered for a while until I12 that I probably put13into that small squirrel's heart. So I quickly14myself in the kitchen and watched the uninvited guest through the window. In my15, the squirrel became16enough to look around and assess the situation. Suddenly, it17merrily.

    The animal actually did a great18: I couldn't stand my19TV room for so long, so after the unexpected guest's leaving I spent half a day cleaning and throwing. I eventually got a tidy TV room and some20space.