Abbaye, a master artist, was ready to retire in 1392. One day, Bartoli, a rich Italian merchant,  1 him saying, "Could you 2  my portrait on my banquet room wall? It's 20 feet tall.”

    “I'm ready to retire," Abbaye shook his head,“so I'm not  3.”But seeing the disappointment in Bartoli's eyes, he   4  his mind, "Well, there's a possibility if you can find it in your  5  to allow me to explore the  6  of my abilities. Furthermore, already I can see your 7 .So I insist

that while l work your portrait stay 8  even from you!”

    “No problem," Bartoli agreed, though he thought it was  9  ，"Anything you wish, but it must look realistic．”

Immediately the master artist  10  a high curtain in front of the wall, -through which Bartoli couldn't see at all.

A week passed. "How is it coming?" asked the  11   Bartoli.

     “It's coming quite well. You see, a masterpiece  12   quite a while at least.” Abbaye answered from behind the  13   ．

Another three, four weeks passed and  14half a year went by. Bartoli lost his  15 .“Today I must see it!" he shouted.

Stepping from behind the curtain 16  surprised by such anger, Abbaye said calmly," That's fine.

You needed only to request it.” And he  17  aside the 20 - foot curtain.

          Bartoli stared at the masterpiece and then his mouth 18  open. He was obviously so angry that his eyes  19  red. So what was wrong? Abbaye had drawn to his heart's  20  for 20 feet tall. Perhaps Bartoli couldn't tolerate his abstract expression, which Picasso would have been proud of.

    For one hour twice a week, I sat patiently and watched my son have his martial-arts (武术)lessons. I started to see martial-arts1effects on him. What I didn't know was that it would2me, too.

    One evening, I sat3my sons martial-arts lesson. At the moment, martial-arts seemed like such a beautiful art. I thought I might4to do this. Two weeks later, I stepped5into the martial-arts world at the age of thirty-six. I6completely nothing about martial arts. The first class was the hardest, I7that first class feeling silly. I left feeling8and helpless, as if keeping any balance was far out of my9. I was fairly10that I would never go back again,  11having already paid the first months fee.

    However, I 12to the very next class, not because I wanted to, 13 because I wanted to set a good14for my child. I am so glad I did. In the years since those first silly ad nervous  15onto the training ground, I've learned a lot of important 16.I learned that I don't have to be 17in everything, that even though something doesn't come easily. It doesn't mean it isn't worth learning, and that having  18with myself is far more important, and far more difficult, than having patience with19.

    Two months before my fortieth birthday, I20a physical and mental test and came out with a black belt.

    Sitting in my favorite restaurant one day I noticed a man come in. He looked 1 and mad with the world, a look I had 2 many times before. I gave him my happy "good morning"3 but his response was still less than 4. He looked at me, sat down and 5 his head in the menu.

    I was not 6 by his response but I wondered if he would 7 and give just a small hello or smile. Over an hour passed and every time he looked my way, he looked meaner (低劣的) and meaner. Finally he called the 8 over to 9 his bill. I turned my head away for just a 10 and he was gone quickly. 

    I looked down at his 11 and there was a beautiful rolled up $ 100 bill on it. I was in shock. I 12 got up to get the cash. In my head Right and Wrong were fighting it out. Before I knew it, I was 13 behind the man to offer this 14 back to him. Out of breath, I said, "Sir, did you 15 this?" He looked shocked. His face turned 16 and a big lump (块) that could 17 an elephant came in his throat. He looked at the ground and finally said "yes", and then he slowly said "thank you".

    Without 18 looking at me, he turned around, got in his car and 19 away. I said "thank you" to God for letting me change one person's 20 towards friendly strangers.

    Several years ago, my company experienced a slowdown in business. We hoped that it was only 1. We had work enough for only four days of the week. So we decided that we would 2 from Monday through Thursday, and take Fridays to do 3 projects in our hometown.

    One day, we went to a very old gentleman's 4 to do a total cleanup. When we arrived, an elderly woman 5 us at the door. We thought she was the wife, but it turned out she was the 6. She was 75, and her father 97! Soon, we began to 7 the house and the yard. It was 8 how much work a group could get done when everyone was working 9. That gentleman's house went from dirt to a sparkling clean palace by the time we 10.

    The thing I most remember about that day, 11, was not the great cleaning job that we did, but something 12. When we walked into the house, I noticed the wonderful drawings that 13 the walls. The daughter told us that her father had 14 them, and that he hadn't 15 art until he was 80 years old. I was 16: these drawings were works of art that could have easily been hanging in a museum. At the time, I was in my early 30s and wanted to do something that would 17 my creative and artistic competence more than being president of a company would 18. I had felt that it was too 19 to make a change at this "advanced" stage of my life. Boy! My 20 belief system got expanded that afternoon!

    Owura Kwadwo Hottish teaches computers in the school he works in. I think it is a 1 school except for the fact that the school didn't have 2.

    Owura became famous after he posted photos of him on the Internet. In the picture, people could see he was teaching his students by 3 an entire computer on the blackboard. The photos showed the 4 level of education for children in Ghana. People were 5 that Owura made sure each button (按钮)was drawn correctly.

    Owura wanted the students to 6 what life with a computer could be like someday. He would come to school half an hour ahead of the 7 every day. He drew the computer on the blackboard, but at the end of his class, it was 8 off to start the next class, so he had to 9 it the next day!

    Owura's efforts were 10 when Microsoft (微软公司)took 11 of his act. They first took him to an international educators' meeting in Singapore. He made a 12 about his teaching methods at the meeting. He 13 a standing ovation (致敬)after the speech.

    14 , Owura got the thing he always wanted for his students—some companies 15 computers to the school. Not a single child in the 16 had seen a real computer in their lives. Thanks to their teacher's 17, the world took notice and responded with 18 to them.

    "Your work has really made us feel 19 about the world. At Microsoft, we believe that educators are heroes. They 20 influence the lifelong skills of their students." said Anthony Salcito, Vice president at Microsoft.

    When my wife, Jane, and I were 16, we were in the same class. About a week before Thanksgiving Day, we found out that our teacher Edward was having some 1challenges. We wanted to do something to help, so as a class we 2to gather food, clothing and gifts to 3his family had a good Thanksgiving Day.

    When Jane told her family about our plan, her mother was 4. Together they searched their house for things they could 5. Her mother went to the kitchen, 6 a big turkey and saying, "Thanksgiving Day won't be 7without a turkey dinner." To this day, Jane remembers how moved she was by her mother's 8.

Before making our 9, we said a prayer of appreciation for the wonderful 10 to help others. I will never forget the surprised 11 of our teacher and his wife when they 12 the door; their four children gathered around them as we handed out the gifts. It was a cold night; we all felt warm inside, 13.

    Last month while I was in a meeting, my secretary informed me, "Your high school teacher Mr. Edward is wondering if you could 14 him a few minutes. He's sitting in your office right now!"

    I left my meeting and went to my office 15. My teacher and I hugged and began to 16 the last 42 years. He told me he 17 remembered that cold winter night when we brought the 18of Thanksgiving Day to his family. The food and gifts were certainly appreciated, 19what warmed his heart that night was to see a group of teenagers who understood the 20of Thanksgiving Day.