My husband Jeff and I moved into our new home in Scottsbluff last year just before Christmas. I did not have the1or energy to carry out my traditional Christmas decorating and baking activities. What was the point, anyway? It was going to be a 2istmas after all.

   3, the neighborly nature of west Nebraska residents started to trickle (陆续来临) in.

    There was a4on the door one evening. It was Jeff's new colleague, John Smith, and his wife, Phyllis. The Smiths had stopped by to5us to town with a loaf of homemade bread. They pointed out a6on the porch (门廊). Apparently the doorbell wasn't working in the cold snowy weather and we had7a visit from the Browns, our across-the-street neighbors, who brought us a Christmas card and more Christmas cookies.

  The8feelings brought by these thoughtful gestures lasted longer than the food.

  As Jeff and I were clearing pre-Christmas9from our driveway, Ernie Guzman came over from next door to 10us to dig out.

  Then, we received an invitation to11 a Christmas Eve meal with our neighbors, Ernie and Nancy Sommer, and their12 —a 90-year-old lady, who also had no family in the immediate area with whom to spend the holiday.

  Our Christmas Eve was quite merry, thanks to our13. Our Christmas morning14 was special, thanks to the Smiths' gift of bread. I was so15for these gestures of welcome, especially during the holidays.

  This year, we were again unable to be with our families for Christmas. The 16and work schedules just made things too difficult.17  that sense of Christmas isolation (孤立) all too well, we decided to try to round up some other folks who were18in the holidays.

  Lonely people are all around us, but most of us 19notice them. Just take a look around you. Sometimes, the smallest20gesture can make a world of difference.

    Dale Carnegie rose from the unknown of a Missouri farm to international fame because he found away to fill a universal human need.

    It was a need that he first 1 back in 1906 when young Dale was a junior at State Teachers College in Warrensburg. To get an 2, he was struggling against many difficulties. His family was poor. His Dad couldn't afford the3 at college, so Dale had to ride horseback 12 miles to attend classes. Study had to be done 4 his farm-work routines. He withdrew from many school activities5he didn't have the time or the 6. He had only one good suit. He tried 7 the football team, but the coach turned him down for being too8 . During this period Dale was slowly 9 an inferiority complex (自卑感), which his mother knew could 10 him from achieving his real potential. She 11that Dale join the debating team, believing that12 in speaking could give him the confidence and recognition that he needed.

    Dale took his mother's advice, tried desperately and after several attempts 13 made it. This proved to be a14 point in his life. Speaking before groups did help him gain the15 he needed. By the time Dale was a senior, he had won every top honor in 16. Now other students were coming to him for coaching and they, 17, were winning contests.

    Out of this early struggle to 18 his feelings of inferiority, Dale came to understand that the ability to 19 an idea to an audience builds a person's confidence. And, 20 it, Dale knew he could do anything he wanted to do—and so could others.

    I was hungry, so I took my 8-year-old Shih Tzu, ”Jack”, on a walk to my favorite cafe, about a quarter-mile from my home. They have a nice outside patio（天井）area which* in the late afternoon, is usually1 I ordered a burger and iced tea and went outside to await my 2.

    While waiting for my meal, a homeless man on a bicycle 3 to ask if there was a grocery store in the neighborhood. After I gave him 4 he asked if I had graduated from Santa Clara University. I was wearing a SCU T-shirt at the time. I told him that I graduated from the university some time ago5 did I know that this simple response would 6a 90-minute conversation.

    The man, Michael, told me he was 50 years old. He was intelligent and very intelligent.7 drug use had derailed （使出轨）both his formal 8 and his pursuit of success in the world of work. He drifted from one topic to another,9 the fact that my lunch had been brought to me. He10 had more of a need to11than I did. I made every effort to give him my full attention, never expecting that our conversation would go on and on and on……

    Eventually, I did eat my meal, bite by bite 12 responses in our conversation. Michael was a bit “out there” in terms of his interests and 13. We had little in common, but he was14 talking with, as he 15 it, “intelligent people. “I consider myself fairly well-educated, but I don't think of myself as being overly 16. Rather, my “gift" is common sense.

    I have to admit that I wished our conversation had been17 ten or fifteen minutes, but 18 Michael finally rode off on his bike, he thanked me for listening so attentively to him and for my 19 to talk with him for so long. It was then that I realized that, just maybe, that was my20 in life for today—to be there, in that place, at that time, to engage in that conversation.

    In our discussion with people on how education can help them succeed in life, a woman remembered the first meeting of an introductory1 course about 20 years ago.

    The professor 2the lecture hall, placed upon his desk a large jar filled with dried beans, and invited the students to 3how many beans the jar contained. After 4 shouts of wildly wrong guesses the professor smiled a thin, dry smile, announced the 5 answer, and went on saying," You have just 6 an important lesson about science. That is: Never 7 your own senses."

    Twenty years later, the 8could guess what the professor had in mind. He 9himself, perhaps, as inviting his students to start an exciting 10 into an unknown world invisible to the 11,which can be discovered only through scientific 12.But the seventeen-year-old girl could not accept or even 13 the invitation. She was just 14 to understand the world. And she 15 that her firsthand experience could be the 16.The professor, however, said that it was 17.He was taking away her only18 for knowing and was providing her with no substitute." I remember feeling small and 19"The woman says," and I did the only thing I could do. I 20 the course that afternoon, and I haven't gone near science since."

    Yuan Longping, a great Chinese agriculturalist, was born in a poor farmer's family in Qianyang, Hunan Province in 1930. He 1 from Southwest Agriculture College in 1953 and has since devoted himself to agricultural education and research. Since his graduation, 2 ways to grow more rice has been his life goal. As a young man, he saw the great need for 3 the rice output. At that time, hunger was a 4 problem in many parts of the countryside. Yuan Longping searched for a way to increase rice harvests without expanding the area of the fields. 5 his help, Chinese farmers now produce more rice and these increased harvests mean that 22% of the world's people 6 from just 7% of the farmland in the world. Yuan Longping, 7 considers himself a farmer, is now circulating his knowledge in some less developed countries to increase 8 rice harvests. Thanks to his research, the UN has more tools in the battle to rid the world of hunger. 9 his hybrid rice, farmers are producing harvests twice as large as before. Dr Yuan 10 5-million-yuan State Supreme Science and Technology Prize for his high hybrid rice species. This award is viewed as "Chinese Nobel Prize".

    About rice, he always has a dream…

    Today I went on an outing with my best friend. However, I1her in a very large mall for some four hours. I went2searching all over from one end to the other. Finally, I had to3to my pride and ask for help. I spoke with the kindest4! He promised me that everything would be5, and walked with me one more time all around the mall but6again. I thought it was so strange and wondered how a(n)7woman could lose her best friend in the mall.

    I drove home in8and thought of what a great trouble I had made. Nobody around could9me for such a mistake. I thought about how special my best friend is to me and those who know her.

    When I arrived home, I was10to find my best friend was just there: my Mother! My mother was fine. She11said, "I looked all over for you and for an hour of12, without any luck. Therefore, I13to take the bus home myself, I did not have my cell phone. Why are you crying? " Needless to say, I was so overjoyed to see my mother was in one14.

    Nothing in this world happens without a(n)15. What happened that day lets me realize how much my mother16to me. At the same time, the 17of the security guard, a complete stranger, also18me deeply. This19is a great reminder for me to show kindness to people I see daily. Never20the presence and friendship of them for granted, Value what we have today.