When I was in my twenties, I travelled alone through the UK. In order to 1 locations that the public transportation couldn't get to, I bought a(n)2 car, drove it around for three months and sold it before I returned to Australia. The car cost most of my money, so I lived mainly on3during that trip, it being cheap and filling. In Ireland, my4 was stolen, and it was impossible to get another. So for the rest of the trip I 5out in my car, being too poor to afford bed and breakfast.

    One morning, I 6 in my old Skoda under a twisted tree on a remote lane in the Irish countryside, with no more than a 7 house in sight. I had a terrible desire for a 8 cup of tea and some hot water to make porridge with 9 I would not have to eat the cold leftovers from the previous day.

    My thermos (暖瓶) had gone cold overnight so I knocked on the door of the house. A woman opened it. Hot water? She 10 let me get away with just that! I was invited indoors, seated at the breakfast table with the 11 and given a delicious breakfast, as much as I could eat. I was 12 to eat something more than porridge! I 13 being friends with the whole family.

    That was only one of many acts of 14strangers showed me when I was traveling alone in foreign regions. One London businessman rushing to work, seeing me 15 offered to pull my ridiculously heavy suitcase 16several flights of stairs in the underground. After he'd done so, with a smile and a wave, he 17 into the crowd.

    Kindness gets 18. The other day, I was able to point out a rare parking spot to a young man who had been driving around the railway car park, looking 19 desperate. His grateful smile was all the 20 I needed as I dashed off to catch my train.

    In the eyes of a teenage girl, my dad is not the considerate type. He's not the father who will prepare a 1 for his daughter's birthday, and nor is he the man who can easily come up with words 2 an upset kid. So he is not a 3 father I admire very much.

    Being in grade 10 was far more difficult than I had 4. The most horrible thing wasn't my5 grades but my lack of confidence. Under the pressure (压力) of both 6 and relationships, I began to doubt if I could finish school 7.

    It only took less than half a year before I became 8. Worse still, I didn't dare to tell my parents9 about the fact that I had lost all my 10 to study hard.

    One difficult Saturday, I felt sad when I couldn't 11 a math problem. I let tears 12 my face and onto my homework. It was disappointing that my father was right there in the room with me but I still couldn't ask him for 13.

    I was doing my homework 14 Dad silently went out on a burning hot day. I 15 he would be out for the rest of the day. However, this thought turned out to be 16 when he returned home with a big bottle of iced tea for me, and a big smile.

    There are surely countless 17 in our way as we grow up. Never be disappointed and the most important thing we need to keep in mind is that our parents are always our 18. They can 19 their characters for us，so why can't we 20 our real thoughts with them forever and always?

    When Dave was eighteen, he bought a secondhand car for 200 so that he could travel to and from work more 1 than by bus.It worked quite well for a few years, but then it got so old, and it was costing him 2much in repairs that he decided that he had better 3 it.

    He asked among his friends to see if anyone was particularly  4 to buy a cheap car, but they all knew that it was falling to pieces, so 5 of them had any desire to buy it.Dave's friend Sam saw that he was6when they met one evening, and said, “What's  7, Dave?”

    Dave told him, and Sam answered, “Well, what about advertising it in the paper? You may  8 more for it that way than the cost of the advertisement!” Thinking that Sam's9was sensible（合理的）,he put an advertisement in an evening paper, which read “For sale: small car, 10 very little petrol, only two owners.Bargain（要价）at 50.”For two days after the advertisement first appeared, there was no 11.But then on Saturday evening he had an enquiry（询问）.A man rang up and said he would like to12 him about the car.“All right,” Dave said, feeling happy.He asked the man whether ten o'clock the next morning would be13or not.“Fine,” the man said, “and I'll 14my wife.We intend to go for a ride in it to 15it.”

    The next morning, at a quarter to ten, Dave parked the car in the square outside his front door, 16 to wait there for the people who had17 his advertisement.Even Dave had to18that the car really looked like a  wreck（残骸）.Then, soon after he had got the car as clean19 it could be, a police car stopped just behind him and a policeman got out.He looked at Dave's car and then said, “Have you reported this20 to us yet, sir?”

    I have always been a big girl. I am comfortable with my body but there is a price to pay for being1 .

    In primary school, I was enthusiastic about gymnastics but I had to 2  my shortcomings by hours after hours of extra practice, going over every3. It took months to master the ribbon (带子), which I used to get in a terrible 4. However, I carried on and 5  greatly so that in 2015 I was in the National Championships Final.

    Whenever I went up in a 6, I always got the sense that the 7  did not expect much from the overweight child before them. They 8 about my weight in low voices. One man9 said, "That's the ugliest leotard (紧身衣) I've ever seen and the elephant inside it isn't much10!"

    I felt11 . Trying to smile away the tears, I decided to let my ribbon do the talking. I had worked particularly hard on my ribbon and it showed. On the first beat I knew it was to be 12. I was gliding on the music, each move under 13  control. Soon the 14  of the crowd turned to cheers. As I went into that last split leap, the crowd15. I turned to face them and found each one on their feet, applauding. It was incredible.

    I was titled National Champion that year, but the best thing I got from hours of16 practice was the knowledge that my appearance cannot 17 who I am and should never limit what I can do. Society seems to18 that overweight people are unhappy with their weight and have little19, so they never amount to much. What a ridiculous guess! I believe I can achieve anything20 I am bigger than my body. Who wants to be ordinary anyway?

    I was driving on the freeway when I noticed heavy clouds roll in. A storm was coming. Glancing at the boxes of 1in the back seat, 1 smiled to myself. The rain began beating 2against my car window, making driving impossible. I 3onto the shoulder of the road and stopped. The rain 4me of Hurricane (飓风) Katrina.

    Hurricane Katrina struck when I was nine years old. I had 5it would strike us in Houston. It missed us, 6other cities were not so lucky. I remembered watching the 7. A reporter stood inside the Houston Astrodome (体育馆), 8people. Many wore dirty and 9 clothes, and some had no shoes on their feet. I noticed a little boy behind the reporter 10an old teddy bear. Watching him, I knew I had to do 11.

    The next day, my friends 12me at our volunteer club and we came up with a plan. We wanted to 13toys and give them to the kids at the Astrodome, which would bring some 14into the lives of these families. We 15the word to our schools and other organizations. Three days later, the donation bins were overflowing with new toys! When we 16the Astrodome with our gifts, children 17toward us from all directions, smiles lighting up their faces.

    BZZZZ. My cell phone brought me back to the present. To my joy, the storm had 18. "Hector. We have more 19of yesterday's tornado." "Well, I've brought clothes I'd like to donate to them. The 20 delayed me, but I'll be there soon!" I eased my car into the suddenly busy traffic. It felt good to know that I was making a difference again.

    It's been five years since I came to America. The year before I arrived, every weekend I was woken up by "Spring River in the Flower Moon Night", 1 by my mother on a zheng.

    My mom was always enchanted(着迷)by the beauty of Chinese traditional music2she never had the chance to learn a(n)3. In 2009, she got a zheng from a friend and has been playing and 4 ever since. Sometimes when I miss her, I search for the songs she used to play on the Internet. I 5 expected to hear them here in Boston.

    Earlier this year, as I6 a new apartment, I met Zhantao Lin, the director of the Boston Chinese Musicians Association. At Lin's house, I heard the7of the erhu. Lin later8me to his music team and I heard the rehearse(排练)for a9this year. It was beautiful and powerful — it10 brought me back to my hometown in China.

    11is also part of Lin's daily routine. Besides performing, he passed on his love of the erhu to his12. I went to one of Lin's classes and met 9-year-old London Turk. I asked him13he chose to learn the erhu. "It's much14to learn than the violin," he said. Perhaps Turk hasn't really started to15the beauty of the erhu, but his mother has always loved the instrument. "There are so many beautiful things in Chinese16: the music, the language, and the art. So we just try our best to let him have a17to explore it," she said.

    I18my mom for giving me a chance to immerse(使沉浸)myself in the Chinese musical world. The music makes me feel relaxed. It can also19me of my homesickness. If you listen to one piece, you will20its uniqueness, power, and beauty.