Evelyn Glennie was the first lady of solo percussion in Scotland. In an interview, she talked about how she became a percussion soloist (打击乐器独奏演员) in spite of her disability.

    “Early on I decided not to allow the 1  of others to stop me from becoming a musician. I grew up on a farm in northeast Scotland and began 2  piano lessons when I was eight. The older I got, the more my passion (酷爱) for music grew. But I also began to gradually lose my 3  . Doctors concluded that the nerve damage was the 4  and by age twelve, I was completely deaf. But my love for music never 5  me.

    “My 6  was to become a percussion soloist, even though there were none at that time. To perform, I 7  to hear music differently from others. I play in my stocking feet and can 8  the pitch of a note (音调高低) by the vibrations (振动). I feel through my body and through my 9  . My entire sound world exists by making use of almost every 10  that I have.

    “I was 11  to be assessed as a musician, not as a deaf musician, and I applied to the famous Royal Academy of Music in London. No other deaf student had 12  this before and some teachers 13  my admission. Based on my performance, I was 14 admitted and went to 15  with the academy's highest honors.

    “After that, I established(使立足) myself as the first full-time solo percussionist. I 16  and arranged a lot of musical compositions since 17  had been written specially for solo percussionists.

    “I have been a soloist for over ten years. 18  the doctor thought I was totally deaf, it didn't 19  that my passion couldn't be realized. I would encourage people not to allow themselves to be 20  by others. Follow your passion; follow your heart, they will lead you to the place you want to go.”

    It was a cold winter's afternoon, Robert stopped for a moment as he crossed the bridge and looked down at the river below. There were hardly any 1 on the river. Near the bridge, however, almost  2  below, there was a small canoe（独木舟）, with a boy in it. He was not wearing many clothes, Robert 3 . He shivered（打了个寒颤）and walked on.

     4  he heard a cry. “Help! Help!” The cry came from the river. Robert looked down. The boy was  5   the water and his canoe was floating away, “Help! Help!” he called again.

    Robert was a good  6 . Taking off his clothes, he dived into the river. The 7  water made him tremble all over,  8 in a few seconds he reached the9. “Don't be afraid,” he said and started to swim towards the river bank,10 the boy with him. But at that 11 he noticed a large motor boat under the bridge. There were several people on the boat, all 12   in his direction. Robert 13 to swim towards the boat.

    “Give me a hand,” he shouted 14he got near the boat. He15  into a row of faces. “It's funny,” he thought. “They look so 16 .” Silently they helped the boy into the boat and 17  him in a blanket. But they did not move to 18  Robert.

    “Aren't you going to pull me 19  too?” Robert asked.

    “You!” said one of the men. Robert noticed that he was standing next to a large 20 . “You! Why, we were making a film and you spoiled a whole afternoon's work! You can stay in the water.”

    On some special occasions in your life,you may find yourself faced with various choices.You've probably been asked what you would do if you found a leather1full of cash.Would you keep it,turn it in to the police or ask for a 2?Woralop,a tramp from Thailand,only had 9 baht（铢）to his name when he found it with 20,000 baht and several credit3in it.

    It was more than4to buy him food and even a place to stay for weeks.5he didn't think about keeping it. He ran after the owner to6it,after seeing him7it by mistake.He wasn't able to run fast enough to8the man, so he went straight to the nearest police station to9it over.

    The owner,Nity,hadn't even10he had lost things of his own when the police called to tell him they had it. When he learned that a11man had turned it in and saw that all the money and the cards were still inside,he was more than12The owner admitted that if he had no money he probably would have kept it.What a(n)13person Woralop was!

    Although he14gave Woralop a 2,000 baht,Nity later decided to also15the man a job at his factory in Bangkok.As a matter of fact,Woralop was more than happy to16it.It comes with a 11,000 baht17and good accommodation.

    The social media has already started posting18of Woralop at his new job.Woralop is such a good example that being friendly really does19When you're20to others,others have the same way that you treat them.

    One day I was taking a bus. The driver didn't    1to start the bus soon because it was not yet 2.A middle-aged woman got on. Tired and sad, she told her story   3, not to anyone particular. On her way to the station, half of her    4was stole n. The other half was hidden under her blouse, so she 5still had some left. A few minutes later, she stopped crying, but still looked 6.

    When all the seats were taken, the driver started the engine. The conductor began to collect the fares. When  she came to an old man in worn-out clothes,  he    7that he had spent all his money as he accidentally got on a wrong bus and now was trying to g o home. On hearing this, she ordered the old man to 8the bus. The old man was almost in tears as he    9her to let him take the bus home. The driver took the conductor's side and repeated the conductor's 10.

    The woman was watching the incident. 11the driver and the conductor raised their voices at the old man, she interfered.

    “Stop 12him! Can't you see he's only trying to get home” “He doesn't have any money!” the driver 13.“Well, that's no 14to throw him off the bus.” She insisted.

    Then she reached inside her blouse, took out her15money, and handed it to the conductor. “Here's his fare and mine. Just stop giving him a16time.

    All heads turned to the woman. “It's only money,” she shrugged.

   She rode the rest of her way home 17a happy smile, with the money she'd lost earlier18. On the road of life, the help of strangers can 19our loads and lift our spirits. How much sweeter the 20will be when we make it a little smoother for others!

    Draper, the owner of a secondhand bookstore, was sorting through a pile of old books when an envelope fell from one. Inside was an undated 1 and a faded photo of a woman holding a little girl on her lap. The letter said if Bethany was 2 it, it meant the author had died.

    Tears were welling up in Draper's eyes. These were a 3 woman's last words to her child. He had to 4 Bethany. “Whoever it is will 5 this,” he thought. “You wouldn't 6 a letter like that.”

    He supposed if the 7 ended up in his shop then Bethany was likely from around Bishop Auckland. And he thought he 8 recognized the little girl's face. Even if she'd since left the area, there might be someone in town who would recognize the 9.

    He started with the local newspaper. The Northern Echo ran the story of the 10 letter.

    11, Bethany Gash, now 21 and a(n) 12 herself, was on Facebook about 10 miles away when a close friend messaged her to check out the 13. As she read her mother's 14, words she thought had been lost forever, she said she thought she must be 15.

    Gash was only 4 when her mother 16. Five years later, her family moved to a new home and the letter, put away in the pages of a book for safe keeping, was unintentionally 17.

    She remembers unpacking and looking for the letter, and then 18 searching through everything in hopes that it was there. “That's when I realized it was 19 gone by now and I'd never see it again,” she said.

    Draper 20 the letter in person. He also brought her a children's book for her son. Gash was greatly moved to have the letter back, and also touched by the stranger's kindness.

    I often go to France to visit my grandmother who is very dear to me. She's now 76 years old, 1 every time I go to visit, the two of us are very 2 that it might be the last time we see each other for she has cancer.

    Last time I visited her in December of 2012. I did a series of short video interviews about her 3. I asked her about her greatest 4 and life learning so far, her favorite books, food and stories. I learned a large quantity of amazing 5 things about her I never knew before.

    This year, I did not really have questions, only a strong 6 for her to know how much she is loved. I cooked for her and 7 her stories.

    8 leaving, I was looking for a way to leave something special behind 9 the memory of our time together. So I wrote her five different love and gratitude 10 to let her know how much she means to me, and hid them in 11 places where I knew she would finally 12 them. One under her pillow. Another one hanging from the lamp cover by which she reads in the evening. Another one by her toothbrush. One in her mailbox which she eagerly 13 every day. And the last one on her car's steering wheel (方向盘).

    I left joyfully 14 that these cards would surely cheer her up after I left She 15 me as I was departing for Paris to catch my plane back to the US and said, "I found your three cards! By the time I discovered the third card, I was 16 out loud! Obviously, they did me so much 17. Thank you so much!" I smiled to myself, knowing she still has two more to 18! It was Sunday, so my guess was that she had not checked her 19 and had not yet 20 her car!