When I spent the summer with my Grandpa in Warwick, he sent me to Miss Bee's store. 1 the counter was Miss Bee. A pair of glasses teetered(摇摇欲坠) on the 2 of her nose, gray hair was 3 on her head.

    “Excuse me. I need to get these.” I said. “So?” She pushed her glasses 4 her nose. “There's no one here except you and me and I'm not your 5. Go get them. If you're lucky you'll finish shopping by sundown.” Sundown was five hours 6. I wasn't sure l would 7 it.

    How could I hope to find anything on the packed, jumbled(乱堆的) shelves around me?

    I visited Miss Bee several times a week. Sometimes she short-charged me. Other times she overcharged. 8 she sold me a/an 9 newspaper instead of one that was current. Going to the store was more like going into battle.

    “That bread is only twenty-nine cents!” I corrected her one afternoon. I had watched the numbers change on the cash register(收款机) closely, and Miss Bee had added 35 cents. She didn't seem 10 that I had caught her 11. She just looked at me and 12 the price.

    All summer I learned the hard way to 13 my list. But she still found ways to 14. me into making mistakes. No sooner had I memorized the items' location on the shelf than Miss Bee 15 the shelves and made me hunt for 16 all over again. The morning I was to 17 to Brooklyn, I stopped in to get a packet of gum.

    “All right,” she said. “What did you learn this summer?” She was mean! I pressed my lips together. To my 18, Miss Bee laughed. “I know what you think of me,” she said. “ but when you get older you'll be glad our paths 19!” Glad I met Miss Bee? The idea was 20.

    Now I grow up and I finally understand I really learned a lot from Miss Bee.

    Tim, my seven-year-old son, is learning to play the drums. It is an 1 that has always caught his attention 2 he hears them played. Before I3 his first lessons, drums were all he wanted. At the age of 3 he 4 his mini drum set during a show. Using that same drum set he perfected the timing and rhythm of a popular church song 5enough for his mom to sing along to. My son had found his passion at a young age and Had a natural 6 to catch on quickly. Wanting to act quickly to 7 his talent, I immediately signed him up for drum lessons. No sooner had my first payment cleared than his passion 8. He did not want to take instructions. He wanted to play the drums 9. To him the drums were a way of 10. Ian wanted to "play the beat of his own drum."

    The challenge was that music has more than one 11. Rock doesn't sound like smooth jazz and smooth jazz doesn't sound like 12 You can't play every 13 that exists to the same beat .If14 were a series of songs, the melodies 15could be calming and peaceful, or violent and chaotic, Each event we face has its16own sound, so we have to learn 17 to play the tune of the moment. You should understand that even with all the natural talent in the world there is always 18for improvement. You can't do it all without 19'You won't know how to play every beat life throws at you without practice. You can't 20talent forever.

    When Thomas Moore, 11, stepped up to the plate (棒球比赛中的本垒板) at Oriole Park at Camden Yard in Baltimore, the crowd went wild. It was the biggest applause（掌声） the park had ever heard for a 1 baseball player.

    "I was very 2. I didn't know that was going to happen," says Moore.

    What happened was that the Baltimore Orioles (金莺队) and their fans were recognizing Moore 3 a hero for something he did that nobody in the city ever 4. After seeing a picture of a young cancer 5 on social media, Moore let his hair grow for two and a half years. Then he donated his hair and helped provide wigs (假发) for three kids 6 cancer through having chemotherapy.

    This7boy had no idea what was waiting to happen to him 8 he decided on his act of kindness. "I just thought I got 9 to an Orioles game," he says.

    Moore is one of just 50 heroes recognized by the team-and the one 10has so far inspired the biggest reaction. He waved and smiled when he was 11 on the big screen, and he enjoyed being 12by strangers. Just as exciting: before the game, he had the 13 to talk to Orioles star Adam Jones.

    "We talked about my hair 14," Moore says. "I felt even more proud of myself. And I was already proud."

    Jones said that Moore was a role 15 for other kids.

    Besides meeting one of his heroes, Moore got to meet someone who 16 him as a hero, Mo Gaba, an 11-year-old who is fighting cancer and 17 from one of Moore's wigs. Baltimore's radio listening community has helped 18 more than US$33,000 on the Internet to help with Gaba's medical care. His cancer 19haven't broken his spirit or affected his 20 for the game.

    I used to believe in the American Dream, which meant a job, a mortgage (按揭), credit cards, and success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us 1 chasing the same thing.

    One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell 2. I found myself homeless and 3. I had my truck and $ 56. I 4 the countryside for some place I could rent for the 5 possible amount. I came upon a shabby house four miles up a winding mountain road over the Potomac River in West Virginia. It was 6, full of broken glass and rubbish. I found the owner, rented it, and 7 a corner to camp in.

    The locals knew nothing about me, 8 slowly, they started teaching me the 9 of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, and tools, and began sticking around to 10. They started to teach me a belief in a 11 American Dream – not the one of individual achievement but of 12 .

    What I had believed in, all those things I thought were 13for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place. Up on the 14 , my most valuable possessions were my 15 with my neighbors.

    Four years later, I moved back into 16. I saw many people were having a really hard time, 17 their jobs and homes. I managed to rent a big enough house to 18 a handful of people. There are four of us now in the house, but over time I've had nine people come in and move on to other places. We'd all be in 19 if we hadn't banded together.

    The American Dream I believe in now is a shared one. It's not so much about what I can get for myself; it's about 20 we can all survive together.

    My dad came to America from Greece at the very young age of fourteen. He 1 an average of fourteen hours per day, six to seven days a week, for over thirty-five years.

    Because of his 2 work, he owned many restaurants in New Jersey. He was 3 his achievements and what he could 4 for his family.

    When I was graduating from college, Dad told me he decided to 5 the restaurants and retire (退休). "If you are graduating, my 6 is over. I have 7 my children and provided for all of you. I am going to 8."

    "Great, but what will you do? I 9 know you cooking in the kitchen and serving customers. I can't imagine you doing anything else," I said.

    "I am going to play golf!" he 10.

    "Golf? You have never played golf. I never heard you mention golf," I was 11.

    And then Dad 12 to play golf. He taught my brother and me the 13 and shared his interest with us. Dad would look at us and say, "If you live your life as you play the game of golf, you will be 14."

    He repeated often, "When you get to the green, stay focused (集中精力的) and hit straight down the fairway (平坦球道). Don't 15 anything else, and just know where you want to put the ball. Do this and you will 16 your goals."

    Dad wanted us to have 17 and to stay focused on them to achieve 18. He also wanted us to 19 ourselves and take time to have fun with friends and family.

    Dad retired at the age of fifty-six and played golf every day until his death at the age of eighty-six. What a 20 role model!

    Two-year-old Samantha Savitz has a hearing problem. Living within a community where there are no other 1 people around, her neighbors found a way to make her feel 2 and included.

    Samantha lives in Islington Road in Newton, Massachusetts. She loves to talk to anyone who knows 3 language, but not everyone in the neighborhood knows how to communicate with her.

    "She's easy-going. She wants to talk with anybody." said her father, Raphael.

    "Her whole personality changes when people can 4 with her," said her mother, Glenda. It makes Samantha a little 5 when people can't interact with her.

    6, Samantha wanted to play with her neighbors badly. Whenever they see her on a walk or in her yard，the little girl tries to be 7. But they are frustrated because they don't know how to talk to her.

    "All of us would 8 to talk to her, but we don't know what to say." said one neighbor. "Basic conversation that one would have with a 9 ," said another.

    "Asking her about her day," said a third.

    "And make her feel that she is part of the neighborhood," said another neighbor.

    "Just be her friend," another neighbor added.

    It is clear that the neighbors all 10 to be there for Samantha as her friend. But they would need to 11 American Sign Language. It might be hard to believe for some—that a whole neighborhood would learn ASL just 12 a little 2-year-old girl — but this particular community did just that.

    On their own, Samantha's neighbors gathered and 13 an instructor. Now, they all participate in an American Sign Language class.

    The 14 says that this is a remarkable thing because some parents of deaf children don't even bother to learn sign language. "But here Samantha has a full 15 that are signing in my class and communicating with her, and it is a beautiful story," he said.

    Her parents have no words to express their 16 for what the community did for Samantha. Glenda finds the act "shocking and beautiful", 17 Raphael feels "so fortunate" that their daughter is receiving so much love.

    In fact, the couple is already seeing some 18 in their daughter. During ASL classes, the first thing that Samantha says to her neighbors is "friend". "We are sure that this energetic girl is 19 , now that she has friends around who 20 the same language as her. Thank this neighborhood in Islington Road for showing us the most important part of being a community." The instructor said.