Vandna loved sports and did well in her lessons at her high school in California. When a headache disturbed the 15-year-old girl's walk to class, she 1 it.

    “It was 2.” she thought, “Just a headache—harmless”

But when walking to her next class, she was 3 and collapsed to the floor. 4 she could hear other talking, she couldn't speak. She was 5 to the hospital in an ambulance. Tests indicated Vandna had a stroke affecting the right side of her brain, thus affecting the 6 side of her body.

    What was worse, the stroke caused her brain to began to swell, and she needed operation to 7 the pressure the swelling was putting 8 her brain. The doctors 9part of her skull（头骨）to make room for the swelling. 10 the swelling went down（消退）, her skull was placed back again.

    While the doctors predicted that she would never live a normal life, Vandna 11 improved. She was in a rehab center（康复中心）for about 3 months and began to realize how 12 her daily life might be. She had to wear a brace（支架）on her left leg to support her 13. Her left arm 14 lightly, and she often became tired. Though 15 on a campus wasn't easy, she finished high school and 16 a degree in speech therapy at University of Redlands.

    After the stroke, Vandna became 17 with the American Heart Association. She shared her 18 at public events and urged others to stay 19. She said if you 20 a tough time, remember tough times don't last, but tough people do.

While high school does not generally encourage students to explore new aspects of life, college sets the stage for that exploration. I myself went through this1process and found something that has changed my2at college for the better: I discovered ASL——American Sign Language(美式手语).

    I never felt an urge to3any sign language before. My entire family is hearing, and so are all my friends. The4languages were enough in all my interactions(交往).Little did I know that I would discover my5for ASL.

    The 6 began during my first week at college. I watched as the ASL Club 7 their translation of a song. Both the hand movements and the very8 of communicating without speaking 9me. What I saw was completely unlike anything I had experienced in the 10.This newness just left me11more.

After that, feeling the need to12 further, I decided to drop in on one of ASL club's meetings. I only learned how to 13 the alphabet that day. Yet instead of being discouraged by my 14 progress, I was excited. I then made it a point to15 those meetings and learn all I could.

    The following term, I 16 an ASL class. The professor was deaf and any talking was 17. I soon realized that the silence was not unpleasant.18, if there had been any talking, it would have19 us to learn less. Now, I appreciate the silence and the 20 way of communication it opens.

    Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter（伐木工） went to a timber merchant to ask for a job and he got it. The 1was really good and the work conditions were good ,too . For those2,the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

    His boss gave him an axe(斧头) and 3him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees. The boss offered  4to him and told him to5that way .Encouraged by the boss's6, the woodcutter tried harder the next day,7he could only bring 15 trees. The third day, 8he tried even harder, he could only bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing fewer and fewer trees. 9 ，he had to go to the boss and apologized to him, wondering whether he was losing his 10 ."When was the last time you sharpened (磨) your axe?" the boss asked. With a(an)11 look on his face, the woodcutter answered, "I had no12 to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to13trees..."

    Our lives are like that. It seems that everyone is14 than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that ? There's 15 wrong with activities and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we16 the truly important things in our 17 life, such as taking time to read and 18 more time with our family. We all need time to relax, to think, and to 19 .If we don't take the time to sharpen the "axe" , we will become20 and lose our effectiveness.

    During the early 1980s, I was a sales manager for a large training company. One of my 1 was to train people on how to sell. I taught people that lack of time and opportunity were only excuses for not producing 2.

    My mother is a Greek immigrant with 3 formal education. Her high point of each week was Sunday when she 4 take an hour-long bus ride to church, where she and her friends would 5 and exchange gossip and stories of their families.

    When the committee members decided to 6 money for a new Greek church, my mother jumped at the chance to 7. Her plan was simple: talk to as many people as possible about buying tickets and make them feel 8 if they didn't.

    That was 9 I came into the picture. She said I was a big shot and gave me ten booklets of ten tickets, each one worth one dollar, 10 up to a total of $100. A week later, I showed up with the 11 half. "I simply didn't have the time." I 12 to my mother.

    "You either do something or you have all the 13 why not," my mother shot back and started to cry. I was 14 and quickly agreed to buy the rest of my tickets myself. She stopped crying 15 and said, "When you want something, then you do 16 it takes to get the job done, even cry." With a 17 she said, "I knew that crying would work with you, and for being so sad with your excuses, here are ten more books." As a sales manager, I paled by 18. It 19 that my mother sold 7,000 tickets, 200 ahead of the second.

    I learned a new level of distinction between 20 and results. Soon afterwards, I quit my job and started my own business, training people in time management.

    When I was in middle school, my father went to my school and drove me home every Friday afternoon. On the way home, we usually talked and laughed. How happy we were!

    One day, my 1 was driving me home as usual. But to my surprise, he didn't say a word 2 the way home. It seemed that he was not very well. "Are you sick Dad?" I asked him. "No, dear. Don't worry," he answered.

    Later at home, I found my father smoking in the balcony(阳台). And I knew he had stopped 3 many years before. Something must be wrong with him. So I went to my mother and told her about my worries. My mother 4 me that my father had been out of work for several days, and he hadn't got a new 5 yet. Hearing this, I felt sorry and 6. Whenever I had 7 , my father always encouraged me. The next day, I made a card for my father. I wrote some words on it to 8 him. My father was moved to tears. He hugged me and said," Thank you, dear. Everything will be fine soon."

    Our parents always take good care of us, 9 some of us never think about them. How selfish we are! As teenagers, we should not only care about ourselves, but also 10 our parents and other people

    Pamela Malhotra and her husband Anil K. Malhotra have spent the last 25 years buying abandoned agricultural land and reforesting it. They want to 1 the land to a bio-diverse rainforest for elephants, birds and other 2

    Now the couple 3 300 acres of land in Brahmagiri, India. They've spotted more than 300 kinds of birds as well as many 4 and threatened(受到威胁的)animal species. But, this was not the 5 in 1991 when Anil and Pamela came to this part of the country. "When I came here, it was a 6. The owner wanted to sell because he couldn't grow coffee 7 anything else here," says Anil who worked in the real estate(房地产)and restaurant business in the US before moving to India. "For me and Pamela, this was what we were 8 all our life."

    The couple had a love for 9 from their childhood. When the Malhotras came to India, the pollution 10 them. "That was when we decided to 11 something to reclaim (开垦) the forests in India," says Anil. "We were not looking for money. Early on, we 12 that shortage of fresh water will be a 13 for India and the rest of the world. Acquisition, protection and reclamation of forested lands and wildlife habitat, where vital water sources have their origin, is the only way to 14 ourselves," explains Anil.

    They sold property (财产) they owned in America, bought the first 55 acres and began to grow a 15. Soon, they bought the land nearby as well. "Many of the 16 considered their holdings 'wasteland' as very little grew on it and were 17 to get money," says Anil.

    Stopping poaching (偷猎) was a 18 and often the locals did not understand what this couple was doing, so it required a lot of talking to create 19. They worked with the forest department to set up camera traps and keep poachers away. "There are times I have 20 with poachers. I was even in great danger once, "says Pamela. "I hope what we are doing now will make a difference to animals."