For a few years，I have been wearing a ring on my right hand．It's not always the same ring，but it's always a ring that has 1 on it so that when I look at it，I'm2 or reminded of something important．I have made a 3 of buying rings like this whenever I 4 one in a store．Sometimes I give them away as 5to someone like Jennie .

    I first met Jennie in the 6 waiting room and we had talked several times．One night I sat down beside her and 7 how her son was doing because I knew that he was in very8 condition．She told me that she didn't know what to do any more because it seemed none of the9 from the doctors was good．They weren't at all sure her son was going to 10the accident that had hurt him so badly．With 11in her eyes，she said，“They're 12 my hope.” I knew then that it was 13 just a coincidence that 1 was wearing the ring that I had on that day．As she 14to talk ,I quietly slipped the ring off my finger and 15 it in Jennie's hand. I told her to wear it to 16 that God loved her and he would be with her through all of this . 17 Jennie looked down at the ring，she got excited and then held it tightly, 18 the word written on the ring was “HOPE”．

    The last day 1 was at the hospital，I saw Jennie in the distance as I got on the lift．She19 and held up the hand with the ring on it as she called out to me saying，“Look，I 20 have Hope!”

    As a child, I started learning to play the piano, my favorite musical 1,but I was forced to give up when I started my middle school 2 I could concentrate more on my studies.

    It's one of my biggest 3 to stop practicing the piano when I recall sadly today. During the following years, I kept telling my piano teacher that I would 4. However, I didn't keep my promise because I was 5 with my study. 6 I lost touch with my teacher. Some years later, my teacher died. I was very sad because I lost such a good teacher. She was a very warm and gentle person. It hurts me to think she may have been 7 that I never returned. I haven't taken lessons since then but to be honest, I 8 to. Sitting at the piano, I couldn't help recalling many 9—times of my practising at home and playing before my teacher and one time my teacher 10 me after I played entire pieces of music wrong in front of her colleagues. I was so 11 that I could hardly say anything. But her 12 helped ease my shame. These memories, 13, good or bad, never caused my 14 for playing the piano again.

      This thought then led me to think that 15 is like music, and that we all try to play different 16 in the instrument of our life. Sometimes the pitch(音高) is 17 when we play it well, but sometimes we are out of tone. However, we all continue to create our own 18 style of music. No matter what style our music is, it is 19 that we sing the songs of joy, quietness and love. Though I may never make it back to piano lessons, it doesn't 20 that I've stopped making music.

    As we passed the Eaton's Department store's window, we stopped as usual to gaze and do our bit of dreaming. My mother set her eyes on a red dress1 it long.

    As we continued down the street, mother turned2for one more look. “My goodness! They'd display something a person could use!”

    Christmas was3and the red dress was soon forgotten. Mother was not the one who4items that were not practical. Father5liked to splurge(放纵)whenever the budget(预算)allowed. He'd get blamed for his occasional splurging, but it was all done with the best6.

    On our last trip to town before Christmas, mother suddenly said in surprise, “Would you just look at that!” She pointed7as Dad drove past Eaton's.

    “That big red dress is gone,” she said in8“It's actually gone.” I was certain to feel a bit of yearning(渴望)in her9.

    I'll never forget that Christmas morning. I watched Mother tearing the paper off a large box that read, “Eaton's Finest Enamel Dishpan”. “Oh Frank,” she10in surprise, “just what I wanted!” Dad was sitting in his chair with a huge11on his face.

    “Only a12wouldn't give a priceless wife like mine exactly what she wants for Christmas, “Dad laughed and winked(递眼色)at me, confirming his 13and my heart filled with more love for my father than it could hold!

    Mother opened the14 With trembling hands she touched the elegant material of Big Red.

    “Oh my goodness!” her eyes were15tears. “Oh Frank. You shouldn't have” came her weak attempt at16

    “Oh, never mind that! Let's see if it17he laughed, helping her put on the wonderful dress. Mother completely 18into another person.

I watched surprisedly19by the happiness in my parents I had 20noticed before. “You look beautiful,” my dad whispered to my mom—and she surely did!

    Saying thank you can have positive effects on your health and the well-being of others.

    I once witnessed kindness from complete1 last year and it really impressed me. It was a sunny afternoon. It 2 me at first that my partner fall unconscious on the ground suddenly on our way to the office. Soon I realized that I had to calm down and call3 services. Within minutes, a police car and ambulance arrived4 with police and nursing staff. My partner was rushed to the5 where he received the care that he 6.

    Few days later, my partner got better, and I wrote thank-you notes to those 7police and nursing staff and baked for them. When I 8 the cakes to them the next day, they thanked me for the gifts. Thanked me? All I'd done was baking, but they'd 9 a life. I drove away feeling relaxed and 10 partly because I'd done a good deed, but11because I was amazed that there are so many12people. They do a lot of great things13they expect nothing in return.

    Research has shown that sharing thoughts of gratitude (感恩) and performing acts of kindness can 14 your mood and health condition. I think it is probably 15 I felt happier than usual then.

    “We know from studies in the literature that gratitude does have a good 16on how you feel, and that it17 life satisfaction.” says Willibald Ruch, a psychology professor at the University of Zurich who researches the effects of character strengths 18gratitude and humour. “It's 19 the top five causes of happiness.” he adds.

    You can20 positive changes in your own life by choosing to embrace gratitude.

    He really did look like a tourist, with a camera around his neck and a bottle of sunscreen sticking out of his bag. The fat man sat on the terrace (草坪), drinking lemonade, a little bit each time, and 1 to look at a smooth and shiny cruise brochure. His sunglasses2 his eyes, but I knew he wasn't looking at the brochure: he hadn't turned a 3 for the last ten minutes.

    As I brought him what he had ordered, he coughed up a “thank you” and looked at me 4. I tried not to stare at the tiny scar across his left eyebrow.

I walked back inside with my 5 tray (托盘), shaking my head. He looked 6 but I couldn't quite place him.

    Then it 7 me. The car accident. The 8 stranger who helped me out of my smashed car, 9 before it exploded. I 10 back to his table.

    He was gone.

    I moved his saucer and found his tip, along with a 11.

    I am deeply 12 to you. The night of your car accident, I was on my way to 13 a jewelry store. Saving your 14 brought things back in perspective (看法).I now live an honest life, thanks to you. God bless you! Mr. D.

    I trembled. The night of my car accident, I was 15 for an interview in a shady dance club. Seeing human kindness through his 16 gesture turned my life around and brought17 back into my life.

    I 18 the tip he left. Among the one-dollar notes was a 100-dollar note with a pen mark 19 “In God We Trust”, which first appeared on paper money in 1957.

    I said a silent 20 for him and got back to work, smiling.

    Pamela Malhotra and her husband Anil K. Malhotra have spent the last 25 years buying abandoned agricultural land and reforesting it. They want to 1 the land to a bio-diverse rainforest for elephants, birds and other 2

    Now the couple 3 300 acres of land in Brahmagiri, India. They've spotted more than 300 kinds of birds as well as many 4 and threatened(受到威胁的)animal species. But, this was not the 5 in 1991 when Anil and Pamela came to this part of the country. "When I came here, it was a 6. The owner wanted to sell because he couldn't grow coffee 7 anything else here," says Anil who worked in the real estate(房地产)and restaurant business in the US before moving to India. "For me and Pamela, this was what we were 8 all our life."

    The couple had a love for 9 from their childhood. When the Malhotras came to India, the pollution 10 them. "That was when we decided to 11 something to reclaim (开垦) the forests in India," says Anil. "We were not looking for money. Early on, we 12 that shortage of fresh water will be a 13 for India and the rest of the world. Acquisition, protection and reclamation of forested lands and wildlife habitat, where vital water sources have their origin, is the only way to 14 ourselves," explains Anil.

    They sold property (财产) they owned in America, bought the first 55 acres and began to grow a 15. Soon, they bought the land nearby as well. "Many of the 16 considered their holdings 'wasteland' as very little grew on it and were 17 to get money," says Anil.

    Stopping poaching (偷猎) was a 18 and often the locals did not understand what this couple was doing, so it required a lot of talking to create 19. They worked with the forest department to set up camera traps and keep poachers away. "There are times I have 20 with poachers. I was even in great danger once, "says Pamela. "I hope what we are doing now will make a difference to animals."