There is a workman in America who earns as much as a company director. He is Max Quarterman, a thirty-year-old plasterer (泥瓦匠).

    Max lives in an upper middle-class housing estate. His 1 are mostly bank managers, business executives, airline pilots and the 2, but Max's seven-bedroom house — 3 $ 80,000 — is the largest in the area. 4 outside the house are Max's $ 7000 sports car and his wife's Morris Mini. Indoors is a 150 colour TV set and the family's 5 — a circular bath with gold-plated taps. There are also many labour－saving 6 and luxury furniture.

    How can a plasterer 7 all this? The answer, says Max, is hard work. In 8 with another plasterer, Max 9 contract plastering jobs for a firm. The owner of the firm 10 them as human machines, the best and quickest in the 11, who can do as much in two days as 12 two-man team can in two weeks.

    How do they manage it? Not by working overtime. They work a(n) 13 eight-hour day, five days a week. The secret 14 in Max's hod (桶) in which he carries the plaster to the site of the job. Max's is a superhod — it contains double the usual 15 of plaster, and Max, a strong fellow, runs when he carries it. More time is thus 16 to get on with the plastering. Besides, 17 man wastes time smoking, and they 18 their lunch break to a 19 of an hour a day. Now Max earns over $ 800 a week which is four times the average weekly pay in Britain today, and if he gets as 20 as $ 15, it's a disaster.

    Were you happy and a little worried at the time? I thought so. Soon it would be the holidays, but before that, there were year exams. All the 1 had been working hard for some time, reviewing their lessons for the exams. If they didn't 2, they would have to retake them in September. There were usually a few who 3, but Jane didn't want to be one of them. She had worked hard all year, 4 just before the exams she was working so hard that her sister Barbara was 5about her. She went to bed too 6. The night before the first exam, Barbara 7 that she have an early night and take a 8 pill. She promised to wake 9 up in the morning.

    She was not relaxed. As she was falling asleep, Jane was afraid that she might oversleep. Her 10 kept jumping from subject to subject. At last, with the help of 11, she went to sleep. In no time（不久）at all, she was sitting in the examination hall, looking at the examination 12 , but she couldn't answer any of the questions. 13 around her was writing pages and gages. 14she thought hard, she couldn't find anything to write 15. She kept looking at her 16. Time was running out. There was only an hour to go. She started one question, wrote two sentences, 17 and tried another one. With only half an hour left she wrote another two sentences. By this time she was so worried that she started 18. Her whole body shook. It shook so much that she 19 up. She was still in bed and it had all been a 20 dream. A minute later, Barbara called her name.

    One morning last December, Bill McDonald read in the newspaper that a local man, Joe Day, was sick with lung cancer. That meant Day couldn't offer the splendidly lit, handmade Christmas displays which had1as many as 95,000 people to his house to admire them every2.

    It wouldn't be Christmas3Day's lights, thought McDonald. We must try to4him, McDonald decided.

    33 years ago when Day came home one afternoon from work, he found his five-year-old son Nicholas5for him, asking him to build a reindeer(驯鹿). Then they made it on the lawn together and 6up its cherry-red nose for the holidays.

    Each year, Day7 to his handmade works, placing the reindeer above his

    8and hanging so many lights9they were electric vines(藤) around his windows and doors. Finally thousands of lights, figures and models10his yard and extended to next door.

    Then11December 2009 when Day's cancer had spread to his liver(肝). After 19 rounds of chemotherapy(化疗) and 43 radiation treatments, he was12tired and depressed to celebrate Christmas.

    13McDonald called. “You don't know me,” McDonald said, “but I want to help you get your lights14.” McDonald gathered many people,15strangers, to set up Day's displays. For two days, more than 100 volunteers16in.

    On the evening of December 12, with crowds of volunteers cheering him on, Day17the switch(开关) and lit up the spectacle(壮观景象).

    Day's cancer is under18, and he looks forward to this year's Christmas. “In their hearts,” Day says, “people love to give.” He is19that his brilliant displays will continue to light up the darkness for many years to come20Bill McDonald has promise that he'll get the job done.

    Susan, a classical dancer from India, had to have her right leg cut after a car accident. She was also 1on her career（事业）road.

    Though the accident brought her bright career to a 2 , she didn't give up. In the  3 months that followed, Susan met a doctor who developed an artificial (人造的)4made from rubber filled with sponge (海绵). So5she wanted to go back to 6after she had been fitted with an artificial leg. Susan knew that she believed in  7and could realize her dream, 8she began her courageous journey back to the world of dancing — 9to balance, bend, stretch, walk, turn, twist and twirl.

    After every public performance (表演), she 10ask her dad about her performance. “You 11have a long way to go” was the answer she used to get12. In January 1984, Susan made an important13by giving a public performance in Bombay. She performed so greatly that it14everyone to tears and this15pushed her to the number one position again. That evening when she asked her dad the16question, he didn't say anything. He just touched her feet as a praise.

    Susan's comeback was 17moving that a film producer18to make the story into a hit film. When someone asked Susan how she had19to dance again, she said quite simply, “YOU DON'T NEED FEET TO DANCE.” 20is impossible in this world. If you have the will to win, you can achieve(实现) anything.

    Three months had passed since I lost my husband Willianm. I was extremely sad. My six-month-old daughter, Sienna, had lost her father before she'd even got to1him. I had no idea how I was going to raise her2. I spent six months hanging out with great3before I knew I had to4. I just had to work out how to start5my life.

    Then my mind wandered back to a few years earlier, when I'd6boxing at my local gym. I'd really7the exercise and it had given me something to focus on. So I picked up8and called my old boxing coach, Ken. "I want to get back to the boxing ring(拳击赛场)," I told him.

    I was9when I turned up for my first training. But my fears soon died down once I started hitting the pads (软垫). "You've still got it," Ken said10.

As I built my strength over the following months, I felt the weight of the world slowly lifting off my11. I found myself enjoying my time with Sienna more and I really looked forward to seeing my friends at the gym. I'd been12for five months when Ken scheduled my first boxing match.

    Jumping around the ring, I felt as though William and Sienna were13me on. I was really excited when I was announced as the14. That encouraged me to study to become a fitness trainer myself.

    When I15a job at a Maori health and well-being organization, I wanted to introduce boxing16so I could help others lift their spirits.

    17, my classes have been a huge success and I now hold nine classes every week. More than three years have passed since we lost William and I18miss him every day. I often talk to Sienna about him. She'll always know who her father was and how much he19her.

    I have no doubt that boxing saved my life and made me a better mother. If teaching other people boxing can help them on their journey from darkness to light, it's well worth the20.

Night fell. Loug Falter returned home, teary-eyed and1. The 33-year-old professional photographer had just run from one end of Hawaii's Waimea Bay to the other, scanning the water2his "baby", a custom-made blue surfboard.

When back home, Falter took his search on line. "Was surfing tonight and 3my baby," he wrote on Facebook. He hoped it would wash ashore in the coming days and that whoever4it would have also seen his Facebook post. But instead of pushing Falter's surfboard to shore, the currents of Waimea Bay swept it out to sea, 5Oahu.

Weeks passed with no 6of the surfboard. Then months. Lyle Carlson, who had customized the board, comforted Falter with the possible reunion but nobody knew when.

Falter never completely forgot about the board. It 7on the remote island of Sarangani in the southern Philippines—six months after and over 5,000 miles away. The local fisherman sold the unusual8to Giovanne Branzuela, a 36-year-old elementary school teacher for $ 40. For Branzuela, 9the big waves had been his dream.

The once-blue board had turned pale during its journey, with its10markings still there: the elephant logo and the words "Lyle Carlson Surfboards, Oahu, Hawaii."

On realizing how far the surfboard had traveled, he11 Carlson online, who, in turn, contacted Falter. Falter confirmed the board was his with extra shots and was12to learn his "baby" had floated across the World's largest ocean and13.

He was thrilled, but not only for himself. Seeing interest in the sport grow14a lot to Falter and he couldn't imagine a better15to the story.