A large cat arrived at a farm where many mice lived. None of them dared go outside for fear of being1by the cat.

    The mice decided to hold a 2to find a way of stopping themselves from being in 3One day, when the cat was out, mice of all ages4 into the meeting room.

     “Let's build a big trap,” one mouse5 When this idea was6 another said. “What about poisoning(毒死)her?” But7knew where to buy the poison. One young mouse, whose mother had become the cat's food, said 8.” Let's cut her teeth, so she can do no more harm.” But the meeting did not accept his 9.

    At last, one mouse,10than the rest, jumped onto a table. Waving a bell, he called for11 “Be quiet! We'll tie this bell to the cat's tail, so we'll always know12she is! We'll have13to escape, and the slower and weaker mice will hear her coming and be able to 14!” Hearing the words, everyone got15and they congratulated him on his good idea.

     “We'll tie it so tightly(紧紧地)that it will never16!”

     “She'll never be able to walk 17again! Why, the other day, she suddenly appeared right in front of me! Just imagine”.

    However, the wise mouse said, “We must18who is going to tic it on her tail.” There was not a sound in the room. Nobody was19enough to put the plan into action. The meeting ended without any decision being made.

It's often very easy to have bright ideas, but putting them into practice is more20matter.

    There was a woman in Detroit, who has two sons. She was 1 about them, especially the younger one, Ben, 2 he was not doing well in school. Boys in his class 3 him because he seemed so 4.

    The mother 5 that she would, herself, have to get her sons to do better in school.

    She6 them to go to the Detroit Public Library to read a 7 a week and do a report about it for her.

    One day, in Ben's 8, the teacher held up a rock and asked if anyone knew it. Ben 9up his hand and the teacher let him 10. "Why did Ben raise his hand?" they wondered. He 11 said anything; what could he possibly want to say？

    Well, Ben not only 12 the rock; he said a lot about it. He named other rocks in its group and even knew 13 the teacher had found it. The teacher and the students were 14. Ben had learned all this from doing one of his book 15.

    Ben later went on to the 16 of his class. When he finished high school, he went to Yale University 17 at last became one of the best doctors in the United States.

    After Ben had grown up, he 18 something about his mother that he did not know as a19. She, herself, had never learned how to 20.

    Growing up in the 1960s, I was taught from an early age to send a handwritten thank-you note expressing 1 for kindness. My mother used to buy me a box of paper and 2 me in the art and value of saying “thank you”. She 3 to be right.

    A study showed that it took most volunteers less than 5 minutes to write the thank-you notes. Just 5 minutes to make 4 person feel “overjoyed”! 5, in our “instant” world, the idea of getting an actual pen and writing an actual note seems to never come to mind. We tend to do what is 6 for us — a quick text or an email.

    It's easy to use the 7 of being busy, but even very busy and 8 businessmen find time to 9 thank-you notes. For example, when Doug Conant became CEO of Campbell's Soup, the company had 10 half of its market value and morale(士气) was at an all-time low. He 11fixing that by doing some simple things that are probably not 12 in any MBA class. For one thing, Conant wrote to every 13. He gained their confidence and 14, turned the company 15.

    In his ten years as CEO, Conant wrote over 30,000 notes to employees. It's 16 not to ask how he did it. 17, he had many other things to do 18 writing a thank-you note. Conant made time for 19 because he knew the impact(影响) each one would have. An expression of 20 in this crazy world still makes a difference.

    I work as the reception manager at my hotel. A(n) 1 came in a few weeks ago with a note attached that the guest would be travelling with her 2 father. Just so that we would be aware when 3 with them when they arrived as his daughter wanted to make his trip to Ireland as 4 as possible. Upon seeing this note and noting I would be the one to 5 them in, I decided to learn some basic 6 language.

    I greeted the guest in my usual way, 7 for the surname on the booking. Once I heard the name I 8 immediately who was standing in front of me.

I had been learning for over two 9 how to say” welcome to Ireland. My sign language is 10 , but if you need anything during your 11 just let me know and we will help you”.

    I smiled at the father and daughter in front of me, turning to the father who I greeted in sign language and began the bit I had 12 for him. The father smiled and was so 13 .Seeing his reaction was 14 for me. It was so worth the last few weeks of learning basic sign language.

    On check-out I sadly wasn't 15 .but they had left a gift for me with a note saying” thank you very much for what you did on check-in. My father has been in 16 form since you checked us in and insisted we get you a 17 before we left. You have no idea how much this 18 to my father and me and we can't thank you enough. You've made his trip very special with one simple 19”.

    They wrote a letter to the general manager also asking to give me a raise, which I really 20 . I cried for a solid 5 minutes when I came to work today to find this gift in my locker.

The Parents' Lifesaving Touch

    On March 25, 2010, Kate and David heard the words every parent feels frightened of: Their newborn wasn't going to make it. Their twins—a girl and a boy—were born two minutes apart and 14 weeks premature(早产的), 1 just over two pounds each. Doctors had tried to save the boy for 20 minutes but saw no 2. His heartbeat was nearly gone, and he'd stopped breathing. The baby had just minutes to 3.

    "I saw him gasp(喘息) weakly, but the doctor said it was no 4," Kate told the Daily Mail five years later. "I know it sounds stupid, 5 if he was still gasping, that was a sign of life. I wasn't going to give up 6."

    In an effort to cherish(珍惜) her last moments with the tiny boy, Kate asked to 7 him. The couple knew this was likely a 8.

    Kate removed the hospital blanket 9 the boy, whom the couple had already 10 Jamie, and ordered David to take his shirt off and 11 her and the boy in bed. The first-time parents wanted their son to be as warm as possible in their arms and hoped the skin-to-skin contact would improve his 12. They also talked to him.

    "We were trying to entice(说服) him to stay," Kate told the Daily Mail. "We explained his name and 13 he had a twin who he had to look out for and how hard we had tried to 14 him."

    Then something completely 15 happened. Jamie started 16 again. Finally, he reached for his father's finger.

    The couple's lost boy had made it.

    "We're the 17 people in the world," David said.

    Eight years later, Jamie and his sister, Emily, are happy and 18. The parents only recently told the kids the story of their 19. "Emily burst into tears," Kate told the Daily Mail. "She was really upset, and she kept hugging Jamie. This whole 20 makes you cherish them more."

    Little was road testing his mountain bike outside of Columbus, when his riding partner, Dixon, stopped suddenly. Something in the distance moving among the trees had 1 her attention. It 2 to be a five-month-old dog.

    "He was really thin and had a 3 leg," Little told CBS News. The cyclists fed the dog and 4 their water. They realized that the dog was coming with them, although they had no 5 how they could be. They were more than seven miles from downtown and riding bikes. "We couldn't 6 him," Little told the Ledger-Enquirer. "Out there, he was going to 7 others' food."

    Little had an idea. He carefully 8 up his new friend and slipped (使滑入) the dog's hind (后面的) legs into the back 9 of his cycling clothes. Then he put the dog's front paws (爪子) over his 10.

    "He was injured, so he wasn't trying to 11," Little says. "It was also 12 that we were there and ready to help."

    They came to a 13. There they got more water and food for the dog. That was when Shaw passed 14. The dog 15 her, licking (舔) her, Shaw found the dog was lovable and, after learning what had happened, 16, "I am keeping this dog. "

    Shaw named him Columbo 17 the town where they'd met and scheduled a (n) 18 on his broken leg. Today, Columbo is living on a farm with a horse and a six-year-old boy to keep him 19. As Dixon said, "He is the 20 dog alive."