Six years ago, I walked into a local animal shelter on a cold, rainy day.1my house was already full of cats and dogs, I still couldn't 2an occasional visit to the shelter. This time as I was walking down the row of pens(畜栏) full of barking dogs, I3a small boy looking into one of them.

    He had a malnourished（营养不良的）looking body and a4face with a big nose5out of the middle of it. He was looking at a small golden dog. Its ribs（肋骨）were showing and its thin tail was folded between its legs. It wasn't begging for6like the other puppies7was hiding in the corner instead. The boy looked up at me with8eyes and asked what was wrong with it. “It was probably abused and9 ” I said. “That is why it is so 10 ”

    The boy 11turned to an old lady and said, “ Grandma, I want this one.” The old woman smiled and walked to the front desk to fill out the 12forms. I followed her and asked 13the boy. She told me that he'd had a 14start in life, too. She had just gotten custody(监护权) of him15the state had taken him from his parents. She hoped getting a dog would make his life 16for him. I looked back at him, holding his scared puppy, and said a prayer for them both.

    It was yesterday that I was driving down the road enjoying a gloriously sunny, spring day. Then in a green front yard I saw the boy. His 17body was tall and strong. His nose no longer 18big but fit well into his smiling face. He was throwing a ball to a healthy, happy dog shining golden hair. His little act of love and 19had indeed gone a long way. It had saved a dog's life, 20his own heart, and given this middle-aged man fresh hope for the whole world.

    Sitting here, I go through my mom's old journals, reading them very differently from the first time I found them.

    It was a number of years ago, when I was twelve, I found 1 just lying around her 2 room.That day I read each line with growing 3 and horror.I couldn't believe that woman who fed me as a baby and read me fairy tales had written this.I will never forget the first line I read: “They all want to take me away and 4 me！”

    5 I thought of the other day, when she was 6 around the house.I was sitting at the dining room table with my grandmother, working on a five­thousand­piece puzzle (拼图) that takes a 7 to solve.Suddenly, the front door was violently thrown open.My mother ran in screaming at the top of her lungs.

    Then she ran into the room and shoved (推) our puzzle off the table, smashing it into the five thousand pieces we had 8.It scared me.9 ， something was 10 my mother.

    My 11 ended then, when the doctor told me she had hallucinations (幻想症).I started to understand that her illness wasn't something I could 12.That was when I realized that other kids always 13 she was different when they came over to play.

    I always wondered 14 I could do but there is no solution.But dealing with my mother has given me a different outlook on life.I try not to 15 my problems.If my mom starts making strange remarks, I leave the room and call someone.Just 16 is one of the best relaxing ways in the world.If there's no one to talk to, I 17 the violin or some other hobbies to forget about things for a time.

    As I think about the past, I see that Mom was 18an entire life.Thankfully, I haven't been.To me, each day is just one piece of the 19 ， one piece among the thousands we spend our lives putting together, hoping it won't 20.

    I believe in my mother very much, and my belief began when I was just a kid. I dreamed of becoming a 1 then.

    My mother was a servant. Through her work, she 2 that reliable people spent a lot of time 3 than they did watching TV. So she 4 my brother and I could only watch two TV programs every week. We had to read two books each week and 5 our book reports to her, 6 she would mark them. Years later we realized her marks were a 7 --she was illiterate (不认识字的).

    When I entered high school I was an A-student. But I wanted the fancy 8 and to hang out with other guys. I went from being an A-student to a B-student then a C-student. One night my mother came home from work and I 9 about not having an Italian shirt. She said, "I'll give you all the money I 10 this week, and you can buy the family food and pay the bills.11 there is some money left, you can have all you want."

    I was very 12 with that arrangement but once I allocated (分配)the money, there was 13 left. I realized my mother was a financial genius and was able to have a(n)14 over our heads. I also realized that 15satisfaction wasn't going to get me anywhere.

    I went back to my 16 and became an A-student again, and eventually I17 my dream and became a doctor.

    My mother is a woman with 18education who can only take her position as a parent to 19 the lives of us. There is no job more 20 than parenting(养育) and it's just what I believe.

    MacArthur's love for sailing dates back to when she was just 4 years old, when she first got the opportunity to have a try on a boat. "It kind of 1 me that this boat had everything we needed to take us anywhere in the world. And as a child,that opened up everything and made me feel the greatest sense of 2 ， " she explained.

    This experience 3 a passion within MacArthur that she wanted to sail around the world. Growing up in the countryside, she had no idea how to 4 it. However, she knew that was what she wanted to do at some stage. So she acquired knowledge and 5 for years to seek her dream in sailing. Having merely potatoes and beans every day for eight years, she 6 could afford the right equipment. By reaching such 7 goals and asking technical questions about 8, MacArthur felt as though she was getting 9 to her ambition.

    "The impossible could be possible and 10 high is not necessarily such a crazy thing to do." she said. And it seems that MacArthur's 11 to become a sailor went beyond her expectations. At the age of 24, she started to 12 media attention after winning the second place in the Vendee Globe, a single­handed non­stop yacht (帆船)race that went around the world.

    Four years later, MacArthur chose to sail for 71 days and 14 hours, 13 more than 26_,000 miles. This led to her scoring a new record. 14 this record has since been surpassed (超过), MacArthur is still considered as Britain's most successful offshore racer.

    So when you know where you're going, you can actually get there—even if it seems 15!

On a hot afternoon Rhiannon was driving her old van down the highway. As she 1 her window to let in some fresh air, her car registration paper blew off the sun visor (防晒板) and onto the floor inside. When leaning down to 2 it, she accidentally drifted into oncoming traffic, in panic, she over-corrected and pulled the 3 sharply in the other direction. 4 , the van rolled over three times, and Rhiannon was thrown onto the road, lying in the middle of the road and bleeding, nearly 5 .

A medical student witnessed the accident and came to her 6 . He covered Rhiannon with his coat and gave her emergency first aid, including 7 the wound on her left arm before the ambulance arrived.

8 , Rhiannon was rushed to a hospital where an emergency room doctor spent hours 9 all the pieces of windshield (挡风玻璃) from her arm, and gave her three dozen stitches (缝针).

Luckily, Rhiannon was saved. Not for the bandage, she would not have 10 long enough for the emergency personnel to arrive. Though Rhiannon didn't know him, she was grateful to the medical student who saved her life. So she 11 the words online, "It's a pity that I don't know your name. If you happen to see or hear this story and recognize yourself, thank you for your kind 12 ."

Rhiannon also had a message for the other 13 heroes, "Please consider this a pay-it-forward letter of 14 —a letter from the 15 you helped who, for whatever reason, couldn't thank you themselves."

I was born legally blind. Of all the stories of my early childhood, the one about a 1 is my mother's favorite. I was only two when the 2 occurred. We had just arrived home from a trip. Mom lifted me out of the car and 3 to speak to the driver. I took advantage of my brief 4 to dash across the lawn (草坪) and hit a large maple tree! I was running so fast that I bounced off the trunk and landed on my backside. Mom 5 me to start crying, but I just sat there for a minute. Then I 6 myself up and kept right on going. 

Mom loves to use this story as an 7 . It reminds her that children don't enter life 8 to take risks or unwilling to 9 again when they fall down. She never wanted me to lose that toughness as I grew older. When I 10 my major life decisions, I was still that little girl tearing full-speed across the lawn. I studied abroad and later moved away from my parents' home to look for a 11 . Through years of 12 , I have become a respected teacher in a school serving high-need students. 

We are almost certain to get 13 at some point during the process of achieving our goal. When that happens, don't sit in the grass and 14 . Just get up and keep on going. It will all be worth it 15 .