It was a very cold evening. The old man's beard was almost icy. He was waiting for a 1 across the river. The wait seemed 2. The old man sat on the ground waiting for quite a long time.

    3, he saw several horsemen coming. He watched them silently and let the first one pass by without even asking. Another passed by, and then another, till the last rider came near the old man. The old man caught the rider's 4 and said, “Sir, would you 5 giving me a ride to the other side?”

    6 his horse, the rider replied, “Of course not.” But it was so cold that the old man's body was almost 7. He could not get 8the ground. The horseman helped the old man onto his horse. He took the old man not just across the river, 9to the old man's home.

    As they 10 the old man's house, the horseman asked, “Sir, you let several other riders pass by without even asking. Then I 11 and you asked me for a ride at once. Why? 12 I had said 'no' and left you there?”

    The old man looked the rider straight in the eye, and said, “I looked 13 the eyes of the other riders. I quickly saw that they didn't 14. It would be 15 even asking them for a ride. But in your eye I saw 16. I knew that you would help me.”

    The words 17 the rider deeply. “Thank you for what you've said,” he told the old man. “I hope I will never leave others 18 simply because I'm busy, and every American citizen does 19 in my heart.”

    With that, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the US, turned his horse around and made his 20back to the White House.

    Last year I broke the record for the oldest person in the world to ride a rollercoaster. I'm 105, but the doctor agrees I'm in good 1

    The rollercoaster I rode 2 you round quite fast. It was, however, a bit too 3for me. I'd have preferred a really fast one that went upside down. But I was told I couldn't ride it, because my blood pressure could drop and I might have 4

    I wasn't nervous. I was securely 5 in, so I knew I wouldn't fall out. The rollercoaster ride went on for three or four minutes, and I 6 every second. Later, someone came to 7 me with the Guinness World Records Certificate.

    My 8 ways really began a couple of years ago, with the ice-bucket challenge. My great-granddaughter recommended me to have a bucket of 9 water poured on my head. I was 102 then. It 10 that I was the oldest person in the world to do it, and the video clip of me was very 11 After that, I started to think about what else I could do for different 12My family say I'm crazy, but they always go along with me. I do get people 13I take it easy, but I'm not taking any14.

    If someone now broke my world record, I'd say, “Good luck to you.” But the real15 is not what I've done; it's how hard I've always worked. I'm taking it easy now, so I have found a new challenge. I was suspended on a rope from a crane about 25 feet high and 16myself down. It was fun.

    I've got a few ideas for the next charity challenge on my 106th birthday, but nothing has been 17yet. All I can say is that it will be 18 good, if not better than the rollercoaster.

    I'm not sure if anyone is19 of all the fun I'm having. They just say I'm silly and that's about it. On 20I've had many good days. I've had a really good life.

    My father sold everything we owned, took all the money and disappeared from our lives. My mother suddenly found herself 1 to care for five boys. I worried about the situation, but my mother stayed2 ， and assured us that she would keep us together as a 3and safe from harm. Although small in size, she could 4heavy horse ­ drawn plows. Besides, she 5found time to help us with homework.

    As Christmas approaching, my mother didn't seem to smile as much. I 6she had no money to buy us presents. Considering myself practically grown, I hid my7.

    One day, my mother took a saw (锯) into the forest and 8with some tree branches. She left them in the barn (畜棚) and didn't tell her 9children what they were for. She worked on her project10I was in school, but I looked 11into the barn when I had a chance. Several days later, I still couldn't 12her purpose. When later I saw she used nails and paint, I 13that she must be making presents.

    By Christmas week, my mother was her 14happy self again. Her project was apparently 15 ， and she obviously kept it secret because I'd looked everywhere without16.

    On Christmas Eve, I lay awake for a long time,17 Christmas morning.

    The next morning, my mother handed out the handmade presents happily in front of her delighted kids. Many difficult years would follow that particular Christmas, but I never again doubted my mother's 18to care for us. We were never hungry, and she made sure we got a(n)19 in school. She taught us to have faith in our own abilities. That faith still 20me.

    It was a Friday afternoon. An elderly lady was doing the 1 in a supermarket. When she returned to her2, she found four men in the act of 3 her car. So she 4 her shopping bags and took out her 5, screaming at the top of her voice, "I have a gun, and I know how to use it! 6 the car!"

    The four men didn't 7 for a second threat. They all got out immediately and 8 like mad.

    After she got into the 9 seat and prepared to drive away, she was 10 that she could not get her key into the ignition (点火开关). She 11 over and over again, and then she suddenly realized why, 12 she found that there was a football, a jacket and two packs of cigarettes in the front seat.

    A few minutes later, she saw her own car 13 four or five spaces farther down. She put her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her 14.

    The police officer to whom she told the story couldn't stop 15. He pointed to the other end of the corner, where four 16 men were reporting that their car was 17 by a mad, elderly woman 18 as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and 19 a large handgun. Not surprisingly, the elderly lady felt very sorry for what she had done, and 20to the four men.

    I had never known a Christmas when we could ask for a special gift and actually expect to get it. The Great Depression (大萧条) of the 1930s really1 our farming community of Belleville, Michigan. Then came 1940; I was 7 years old and my brother, David, was 8. That year my father got a(n)2 job, and David and I were asked to choose the one 3we most wanted to get that year. I 4 a teddy bear. David asked for a bicycle.

    5, Christmas morning arrived. There under the tree, with a big red bow around his neck, was my teddy bear. David's6 , however, was not there. I7 how my parents could make my wish come true but not my brother's.

    “I8something,” my father said, as he went into the other room. When he came back he was9a bicycle.

    On David's face was a look of both delight and10. The bike was secondhand, which David didn't11, but it was a girls' bike. Boys did not ride girls' bikes. Personally, I wouldn't have 12if it had come with pink bows on it – it was still a bicycle.

    David and I had been learning to ride on bicycles13from friends in the neighborhood. I was not as14a rider as he was, but I could15to get from point A to point B.

    David was very16, letting me ride his new wheels often. He even17out a way to tie our Radio Flyer wagon to the bike so he could pull me and other kids up and down our road.

    Now we could18 places that were once beyond convenient walking distance. That winter we took many long rides down the snowy back roads, with me on the handlebars or19behind in the wagon. That bicycle was the Christmas present and truly gave us an exciting new 20.

    It was a warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon some fifteen or sixteen years ago. I took my two kids to the local playground. As soon as we got there my daughter headed for the swings(秋千) and asked for a 1. I noticed another little girl 2 to get her own swing going high as I was 3 my daughter to go higher and higher.

    I walked over to the little girl and asked 4 she need help. She smiled and said "Yes!" and I soon had her feet flying towards the  5 while she laughed happily. For the next two hours I found myself pushing swings and playing games with my daughter and the little girl. By the time we headed home, I was 6tired, but my spirits was still flying 7than those swings.

    Two years later I was 8again after a long day's work. Still, I needed to9 my kids from their school before heading home. I stood in the 10 waiting area waiting for my children. Suddenly, I felt two 11arms wrapped around my legs. I looked down and there was the little girl I met 3 years before in the 12smiling up at me. She gave me a big hug before running away to 13 the school bus. As I watched her 14, I didn't feel tired any more and my spirits were once again 15with that swing.

    The love we 16 with others will find its way back to us. It will travel from heart to heart, it may take seconds or it may take17. The law of love, 18, is never broken. We will get back what we give. We will harvest what we19. The kindness we give and the joy we create will always come back to 20 us.