A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a pit（深坑）.When the other frogs saw how 1 the pit was, they told the two frogs that they2as well wait to die. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump3 the pit with all their4 The other frogs kept telling them to5,and that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the two frogs listened to what the other frogs said and6.He fell down and died.

    The other frog continued to jump 7 and try his best. Once again, the crowd of frogs shouted at him to stop the8and just die. He jumped even harder and finally9 it. When he got out, the other frog said," Didn't you 10us?" The frog explained to them that he was a little 11.He thought they were 12 him the entire time rather than advising him to stop the pain of struggle.

    This story teaches us two13: First, there is the power of life and14 in words. An encouraging word to someone who is15 can lift him up and help him make it through. Second, a(n) 16 word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill him.

Be careful of 17 you say. Speak positively to those who cross your path.The power of words is so great; it is18 hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a(n) 19 way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob（掠夺）another of the20 to continue in difficult times.The individual who will take the time to encourage another is special.

    Fifteen years ago, I took a summer vacation in Lecce in Italy. After climbing up a hill for a full view of the blue sea, I paused to catch my 1 and then positioned myself to take a photo.

    Unfortunately, just as I took out my camera, a woman approached from behind and 2 herself right in front of my 3. Like me, she was here to stop, sigh and appreciate the scenery.

    4as I was, after about 15 minutes, my camera scanning the sun and reviewing the shot I would 5 take, I was upset. Should I ask her to 6 so that I could take just one picture of the landscape? Sure, I could have asked her, but something7 me doing so. She seemed so8in her observation. I didn't want to mess with that.

    Another 15 minutes passed and I grew more 9. The woman was still there. I decided to take the photo10. And now when I look at it, I think her11in the photo is what makes the image12 The landscape, beautiful on its own, somehow comes to life and breathes13 this woman is engaging with it. This photo, with the 14beauty that unfolded before me and the woman who 15 it, now hangs on the wall in my bedroom. What would she think if she knew that her figure is captured (捕捉) and16 on a strangers bedroom wall? A bedroom, after all, is a very private space, in which a woman I don't even know has been kept forever. In some ways, she has been 17in my house.

    Perhaps we all live in each other's space. Perhaps this is what photos are for: to 18 us that we all appreciate beauty, and that we all share a common 19 for pleasure and connection.

    This photo is a reminder, a captured moment, an unspoken20 between two women, separated only by a thin square of glass.

    There is something graceful about a well-made hurricane lamp, especially the antique ones. Mom had affection for them.

    I can remember 1 through countless flea markets for hurricane lamps, which are 2 to keep their light lit through the 3 of moments. Mom tried hard to buy the lamps in 4, as her favorite of all the lamps had no mate.

    The spring after Mom's first 5 with cancer, we went to a local craft fair to pass the time, to keep 6. We were still waiting to hear from the doctors on the 7 of her follow-up tests.8 to search something for my mom, I bounded ahead of her and baby brother as they 9 along the tables. I didn't 10 far before something caught my eye. Standing proud on the display table sat a lamp.

I was excited, as I 11 back through the crowd to my mom. "Mom! You have to see something!" I shouted. "12. I think I'm going to get these lamps. What do you think?" She 13 so I could see them but I didn't even look at them. "You've got to see what I found first," I 14 her through the fair. When she saw the lamp, she picked up the lamp 15, running her fingers over the bowl, over the hurricane glass, and 16 it closely. "See this?" She pointed at a very small mark in the glass. "The one at home has the same mark." She smiled. It was the first time I had seen her 17 smile since the doctors first found the cancer.

    When the lamp 18 in our house, next to its mate, she cried. She went to light the lamps and sit on their glow until she could sleep. Years later, I understood her 19 for those lamps, through the darkest moments of her life. Mom was my hurricane lamp. She was inextinguishable (永不熄灭的) — through the darkest moments. She lit my way without 20. She still does.

    Once there was a girl, named Kate. She was very polite and ready to help everybody. One day she found a pink paper bag on the way to school. She opened it and saw there was a lot of 1 in it. She thought she should hand it in to the teacher, so she 2 it in her schoolbag.

    When she went to the teacher's office, her teacher wasn't 3. As it was time for class, she hurried to the classroom. After class, she told her friend, Mary, about the money that she 4. Then, her greedy (贪婪的) friend took away the bag. After school, Kate wanted to go to the 5 office again, but she found the money was missing.

    The next day when the children were playing a game, Mary fell down and was hurt very badly. The other children stood around her and didn't know 6 to do. Kate kept calm and did something to stop bleeding. She told the others to go to teachers for 7. Soon a teacher took Mary to the 8 and the doctor examined her carefully. Within a week she was all right again. Kate became very popular in the school.

    Two weeks later Mary came to Kate's house. Her eyes were red. She was crying. She gave Kate the 9 paper bag with the money in it and said. “Kate, I have taken the money away. That day when you helped me, I felt very sad and now I decide to tell you the 10, you are such a nice friend! 11 Please don't tell the school about this please!” Then Kate said, “You are now 12, but you have done a bad thing. Though I will not tell anyone, I want you not to be greedy and 13 to do anything wrong.” The girl thanked Kate and 14.

    At the end of the term, Kate was given a 15 for being a very helpful girl in the school. Mary became an honest girl and was never greedy again.

Once wrong, never be wrong forever.

    My car needed some mechanical work that I could not do myself. Since the garage I had been taking my car to had 1, my friend Dave gave me a recommendation: D's Auto Repair.

    I was pleasantly 2 to discover that the owner of D's was a mechanic who had worked on my car several years earlier. 3 he was an employee at a gas station near my house. I knew that his work was good.

    I 4 the paperwork for the repair and 5 while D took a phone call from another customer. As I sat there, I looked around the small office to keep myself 6 A framed newspaper article caught my attention. The headline 7: "Local Dairy Farmer Kills Whole Herd.” The article was about the 8 of a fifth-generation dairy farmer during the polluted milk scare in Michigan several years earlier. Dairy cows were becoming 9 a disease that was affecting the milk supply. The fifth-generation dairy farmer paid to have all of his cows 10. It was found that out of the entire herd, only a few were were infected. Because no one could 11 that the other cows were totally 12, he had the herd killed and buried to make consumers feel rest assured(放心). The farmer's insurance did not cover his 13 because the state had not issued a(n) 14 for him to get rid of the herd. Asked why he did it, the farmer replied "Because it was the right thing to do.

    I asked D why he 15 the article on the wall. I thought that he might be related to or 16 knew the farmer. He said he had never met the man, but that the farmer was a(n) 17 to him and set a standard for integrity(正直), trust and honesty. He said that is how he 18 his auto Repair business.

    I was now doubly 19 by both the farmer and D. The next year, 20 my recommendation, my son started a nine-month mechanics apprenticeship(学徒) at D's Auto repair.

    I don't remember the day my mother saved my life. But for her, the 1 of that day is vivid. When she 2 those events, she's thirty five years old again and I am a tiny baby in her arms.

    It was early March, but the3 wind bit like it was the depths of December. My mother 4 the blanket even tighter around me as she hurried to the 5 door. I was two months old, and that was our third 6 to the doctor that week. Each time a different face said the same words. "It's 7. Just a simple cold, ma'am." That day was no different. My mother left, feeling 8, convinced there must be something wrong with my breathing. At home, she kept me closer than normal, 9 monitoring my breathing.

    When I woke up the next day, fighting for breath, her 10 were around me with quick sureness, and I was rushed to the 11. We flew past red 12. "Breathe, Alana! Breathe!" she cried out. We reached the hospital, and her arms were around me again. "This baby can't 13!" my mother shouted. Even as doctors 14 me, her arms never let me go.

    I have grown up in Mum's arms. Today I'm seventeen, and for most people that means the times for 15 are over. But when I'm applying for colleges, I 16 at the computer screen for hours. Suddenly, I feel 17, not knowing what to do. I realize that dependence is not a(n) 18. Instead, with someone by my side, I am much stronger than I will ever be 19. I may not remember the moment my mother saved my life so long ago. 20, looking back, I see that my mother saves my life every day.