As I was taking a walk with my mom, I asked her, “Have you taken the senior bus yet?” I held my breath as I waited for her1. “Oh, yes. I have,” she said. “How was it?” I said the words as2 as I could to show my excitement, even though I sensed the answer was not going to be 3. She sighed heavily, “No one ever4 on that bus. They all sit there quietly and look sad. I only see about thirteen 5 old ladies and men.” My6 for her situation grasped my stomach.

    My dad had recently passed away, and his sudden leave made my mother7 and frightened. For fifty-seven years, my dad had walked by her side. Mom never learned to 8, so Dad drove her everywhere. Now, her wheels were gone, as one grandchild so properly9 her situation. I knew she needed great 10 to make the decision to take the senior bus. However, I firmly believed the11 wouldn't last too long, for Mom was so outgoing and active that she could chat with almost everybody whom she met in the street.

    Several days later, when I came to visit her, I asked, “Do they talk to you now?” She12 and there was a sparkle (火花) in her eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the 13 had changed. “It was silly that all of us just sat there14 saying a word. So one morning when I 15, I greeted them and then remarked that what a nice day it was. Soon, they began to 16 and we chatted happily. Now we are friends and always have some good 17 on the bus, ” she replied.

    My mother held the key to the 18 of the other lonely people on that bus. A smile and some 19 words were all it took. She sowed tiny seeds of 20 for herself and her friends on the bus.

    Were you happy and a little worried at the time? I thought so. Soon it would be the holidays, but before that, there were year exams. All the1had been working hard for some time, reviewing their lessons for the exams. If they didn't 2, they would have to retake them in September. There were usually a few who 3, but Jane didn't want to be one of them. She had worked hard all year, 4 just before the exams she was working so hard that her sister Barbara was 5about her. She went to bed too 6. The night before the first exam, Barbara 7 that she have an early night and take a 8pill. She promised to wake 9 up in the morning.

    She was not relaxed. As she was falling asleep, Jane was afraid that she might oversleep. Her 10 kept jumping from subject to subject. At last, with the help of 11, she went to sleep. In no time（不久）at all, she was sitting in the examination hall, looking at the examination 12 , but she couldn't answer any of the questions. 13 around her was writing pages and gages. 14she thought hard, she couldn't find anything to write 15. She kept looking at her 16. Time was running out. There was only an hour to go. She started one question, wrote two sentences, 17 and tried another one. With only half an hour left she wrote another two sentences. By this time she was so worried that she started 18. Her whole body shook. It shook so much that she 19 up. She was still in bed and it had all been a 20 dream. A minute later, Barbara called her name.

Dear Mr. Jones,

    I expect you may be slightly surprised to receive a letter from someone living as near as your next-door neighbor; but I have to raise a1that it will be easier for me to discuss in writing.

    You may have 2 that I have a line of apple trees running alongside the fence that 3our two gardens. You may also have taken pleasure in the frequent sight of your two children sitting on your lawn directly by the fence. And you may 4have noticed that my apple trees, so to speak, 5 the fence and seem to look down at your children with interest.

    It is only natural that your children should sometimes seem to 6that interest. And it is not only natural, but, I acknowledge, quite legal, for them 7 to show that interest by picking all the apples that8 on your side of the fence.

    But to be plain with you, Mr. Jones, I am tired of seeing your children, day after day, tear the 9 off the side of every one of my apple trees, and leave my trees looking as though a10had been fought on one side of them. I am, if anything, even more tired of11 these fine autumn mornings, to find even the apples on 12 side of the fence much less in 13. I know this is the work of your children, 14 last night I was woken at midnight by the noise they were making climbing one of my trees, and (as they may have told you) chased them home.

While I am on the subject, I am at least 15 to you for keeping your bonfires on the far side of your garden this year. Last year neither I nor your children had any apples, because the smoke from your bonfires 16 all the flowers before the apples had time to form. I very much hope that17 —-for the first time since I came to this village—-I shall have my apples, and your children will have theirs and that the sight of the line of apple trees will be a 18 to us both.

    19, I shall not express my displeasure in writing to you, but shall have to refer the matter to those capable of taking stronger 20 .

Yours sincerely,

J. Smith

    Brian Peters had one thing to do before leaving his job as a police officer in Brooklyn. He decided to spend $500 he 1 for his service to buy 10 gift cards and handed them out to strangers in Brooklyn Center on his 2 day.

    It took him about two hours to 3 the cards and that he could put smiles on a lot of people's 4, including one woman he stopped 5 noticing the condition of her car. "Her car was really old and really 6. I saw her screen wipers were 7 in the up position," Peters said. "I 8 what I was doing and gave her a gift card, and 9 she lit up with a smile."

    Once people 10 the initial shock of what he was doing, Peters said he 11 a lot more hugs that day. Monique Drier, who 12 with Peters, said Peters has 13 wanted to give back and didn't really want the attention. "He didn't even have a going away 14," Drier said. "He has always tried to 15 the human side of law practice. He was a great 16 and will be dearly missed."

    Peters, who started his 17 job three days ago, said he still wants to continue giving back to the 18. "Community service is extremely 19, and when you're fortunate in life, you should give back to others who aren't as fortunate as you, Peters said. That's what 20 the world go round."

Three years ago, I was working as a lawyer. For a year or longer, my work was beginning to suffer. I 1 got to the point where I couldn't concentrate — one of the early signs that something was 2. I kept forgetting things. Legal work is complicated, and you have to have a good 3 to do that work. So I 4 my job. I talked to my doctor about my family's 5 of Alzheimer's; my father and grandfather had it. Then I was asked to do some tests. It 6 that I have early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

    Needless to say, my life has 7. My husband Dan retired soon after my diagnosis (诊断) 8 we spend a lot of time together. 9 going to work, I used to spend my days having lunch with my friends and 10 my mother. I could drive up to see her before I started getting 11. The situation wasn't 12, but I'd had to turn around enough times that it frightened me. Now I 13 drive out of town. I stay in town.

    I am an independent person, but now I have to 14 some of that independence. My husband and I mostly do the shopping together because I 15 the list.

    Dan and I are enjoying life while we can. Some people are saving money for trips years down the road. We're not 16, we take a trip every year.

    The one thing I wish I could change is people's 17 when I tell them I have Alzheimer's. They shut down. I can still 18; it's not like suddenly I can't remember anything. This happened with my father. He was very 19, and he had lots of friends. When his friends learned he got Alzheimer's, they wouldn't come to visit him. I think people should learn more about Alzheimer's and 20 that people with the disease can still socialize.

    Nobody can inspire us like great teachers. They show us things about ourselves we can't see. They see 1 in us that others, including ourselves can't or won't see. 2 they give us the courage to find our own way and enough 3 to show us that what we feel 4 is anything but that.

    When Bill Gates 5 Seattle's View Ridge Elementary School, he was a really unattractive and shy fourth grader. 6 a kindly librarian named Blanche Caffiere, he was 7 to come into his own in a way that would one day 8 the world forever. Gates sets the stage for this tale like this:

    "When I first met Mrs Caffiere, she was the elegant and engaging school 9, and I was a shy fourth grader. I was 10 trying to go unnoticed, because I had some big shortcomings, like terrible handwriting…and I was trying to hide the 11 that I liked to read - something that was cool for girls but not for boys… Mrs Caffiere took me under her wing."

    He was grateful to Mrs Caffiere for helping him become less 12 , which resulted from the true spirit of 13 teaching. First she encouraged Gates' enthusiasm for 14 by helping him explore it through the use of introspective (内省的) questions, 15 what he liked to read and why. Next, she would go out of her 16 to source books that were 17 more interesting and challenging for him. Finally, 18 he'd read them, she would sit down with him and ask him if he liked what he had read, and more 19 what he'd learned and why. "She basically 20 what I had to say." Gates recalled.