Mr. West wanted to buy his wife a Christmas present, but he was always very1, so he was never able to find time to go to the shop. At last, when it was the week2 Christmas, and the shops were very crowded, he decided that he could not 3any longer. He worked in an office, and 4had lunch in a restaurant, but one day he bought some sandwiches, ate them 5 and went out to a big shop near his 6 during his lunch hour.

    The shop was full of women, who were also buying 7during their lunch hour. Mr. West stood 8at the edge of the crowd of9 who were pushing forward to try to get to the people who were10 necklaces and earrings. He tried to move forwards slowly, taking his turn with the others, but more and more women were11into the shop the whole time and pushing selfishly(自私地) 12 him. After half an hour, he was just as13from the people who were selling the necklaces as he had been when he came in, and his lunch hour was coming to 14 , so he decided to change his 15 of doing things: he put his head down, gave a sudden loud shout and started to 16his way towards the 17of the crowd as hard as he could.

    The women around him became very 18when they saw what he was doing, and began to scold(责备) him. “Why can't you behave(做事) like a 19 ?” they shouted.

    “Ladies,” he answered them, “I have been behaving like a gentleman for the past half an hour, and it has got me20, so now I am starting to behave like a lady.

    Katy and I have been friends since college, for more than thirty years. Our friendship has 1 constant(不变的). We have seen each other through all the times when we really need a friend. In 2 of our friendship, Katy and I took our first 3 trip together.

    The first day of our trip ended in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 4 with the long drive, we decided to go to the restaurant for dinner. We sat down and 5our meal. As we talked, I noticed a（n）6 couple sitting a short distance away from us. The look of 7 on the woman's face attracted me.. She stared into the face of the man as he talked, 8 me of a teenager in love!

    I called Katy's 9 to the couple. As we watched, the man reached 10 to place a gentle kiss on the woman's cheek. She 11. “Now that's what I call real love! I imagine they've been married for a long time.” I said. “12 maybe,” remarked Katy, “They haven't been together long.” “Well, whatever the case, it's 13 they care much for each other,” I said.

    Katy and I watched and listened 14 to their conversation. She smiled and 15 whatever he said. We were touched by the warm scene we were witnessing (看到). Then the 16 changed. The woman's wrinkled but beautiful face was suddenly covered with a 17 look. She asked the man in a sweet voice, “Do I know you? What is this place?” “You know me. I'm Ralph, your husband. We're in Santa Fe,” the man said. “Oh, I 18 to have forgotten. I'm not sure,” she said. “That's okay, sweetheart. You'll be all right,” he 19 her, kissing her cheek again. Tears coursed down our cheeks as Katy and I looked at each other. “We were right,” she said 20. “It is the real thing. That is love.”

    I arrived at my mother's home for our Monday family dinner. Mother was 1 quilt after quilt from the boxes, 2 showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to 3and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the4of one box.

    “What is this?” I asked.

    “Oh?” Mom said, “That's Mama's quilt.”

    I 5 the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had pieced it together; 6designs, 7 pictures, a winding line on the right.

    “Grandmother made this?” I said, 8 My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This 9 didn't look like any of the quilts she had made.

    “Yes, right before she died. I 10 it home with me last year and made some 11” she said. “I'm still 12 on it. See, this is what I've done so far.”

    I looked at it more 13 At the center of the quilt, she had sewn a piece

of14 with these words:  “My mother made many quilts. She didn't get all lines15. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it 16. Her last quilt.”

    “Oh, this is so nice, Mom,” I said. It17to me that by completing my grandmother's quilt, my mother was honoring her own 18. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family

    19. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and 20 with the loving hands of another.

    One day when I was 13, my family was working in the fields to clear away old brush when somehow the electric fence sparked(冒火星) and1a fire. We didn't see the fire2it had blocked the way to the only gate. I3to jump over the fence to safety but the fire was all around us. I could only watch in4as the flames continued to rise. Little did I know that my father had once been a(an)5and knew what to do.6with only a pump sprayer, buckets, and his boots, he7down to the nearby pond, filled the buckets and the sprayer, and began spraying the8while my older brother threw water with the buckets. Soon the wind9 however, and with the Fire Department too far away to arrive in time, my father began to stomp(踩灭) out the flames as he moved to the10 so that my family was able to move inch by inch toward the gate.11he arrived at the gate, he jumped into the truck, rolled up the windows, and drove12the fire. Then the fire was put out, and my mother was looking at my father with her13eyes.

    After that, my father began telling us about his days as a firelighter, and my brother and I became14 asking him what other jobs he had done before he15 Well, it turned out that he had done just about16except brain surgery!

    He had been in the military as a carpenter, carpet layer, and electrician, and had built B2 bombers before being poisoned in an accident that had17him to retire. My father has a blood disorder as a result of that18 but that hasn't stopped him from being a full-time electrician.

    To all those people whose fathers have worked in the military and in other dangerous jobs, be19of them, and remember that some day their20might save your life.

Failing Successfully

    Two years ago I took part in a speech competition. It was a hard time for me when the judge1 the winners. At last, the moment of truth came. I got the worst.2  not being placed in the competition, I really wanted to 3  again. I realized that finding the right topic was the most important part of the whole 4 . It needs to be motivational and inspirational to the 5 . So I reworked my speech for the following year,6  a different topic and spending countless hours 7  the speech, line by line, word by word to make it 8 better.

The next year I participated in the 9  again. As was expected, my speech 10 down well and I was hoping to do that a bit better this year.11 , my wish didn't come true. The competition was so fierce that again I didn't 12 it.

    I was deeply disappointed, since I couldn't accept the fact that I had 13  twice in something that I had worked so hard on. However, I knew that losing is 14  and part of life. One of the judges said to me that my speech was quite good,15  it needed to be better if I wanted to go any further. He advised me to struggle to16 something like some of the empty gestures. He said that I would surely succeed some day.

    While I didn't earn 17 in the competition, I did gain a new viewpoint. I discovered that I could fail successfully. I think I'll 18  to work hard and enter the next competition. Now, whenever I'm faced with a defeat, I 19  myself of what a famous person said, "The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself that it's a slip and not a20 ."

James Charles is the manager of Kiplin Automotive Group. For about two months, he has been 1 people to use the company's parking lot as a safe place to sleep at night.

Charles was first 2 to pursue (从事)his labor of love after he found there was a woman 3 in a car. Knowing the woman was 4, Charles tried to get her into a shelter. However, he was 5 to find that every shelter in the city was full. 6 he paid for her to stay in a hotel for a few nights, he knew there were other people experiencing the same situation. "That was really the 7 I got at that time and I realized I needed to do something for those people without delay (耽搁)," he said.

Then Charles 8 made a post online asking community members to 9 the word about his plan, so that people in need could know his good 10. "For those going through 11 times, we would like to 12 a safe place for you. We can't put everyone in a hotel, but13 we can get you a parking lot, a safe place for the night," wrote Charles.

Since more and more people have 14 his social media post, more and more people joined Charles in reaching a hand. "Any 15, no matter how small, will go towards helping the homeless," Charles said, "One hand washes the other; two hands wash the face."