I had just picked up my new car, a very beautiful automobile if you're into cars. A few months later, I was involved in an1. That new and very beautiful car was destroyed.

    It was clearly not my2. The other guy was so busy on his cell phone that he went right through a red light and knocked into the passenger side of my car. It was even 3because my niece was asleep on the back seat and her father, my brother, was in the front passenger seat. He was not4, to say the least.

    The police arrived and began taking statements. I 5that my speed had been up to about 55kmph. “So you were going about 50kmph…” he said.

    “No, I said I was doing about 55kmph,” I said.

    “Right, so you were doing about 50kmph…” again he6.

    In a slightly 7tone because I felt I wasn't being heard, I said: “No! I was doing about 55kmph!”

    “OK, if that's 8you want it,” this time the officer simply replied.

    I didn't9 it at the time, but I was shooting myself in the foot. My insurance company paid me for the damages to my car. 10, I totally missed the boat on the other driver's insurance company.

    The city speed limit is 50km. I11 getting 50 percent less than I would have from the other guy's insurance company because I had12 I was doing 55km.

    It suddenly 13me that the traffic policeman had been trying to help me out. He hadn't14 about the 5kmph; he had known15about the insurance that I had not.

    I thought about what had16over and over again. I might have carried on insisting that I told the17, but I could at least have said “Thank you” to him 18 acting so rudely. After all, he had been trying to help me out.

    Sometimes the 19 thing to do is to let other people talk while you simply shut up and listen. Never forget— to20, you have to be able to listen.

    “Daily Star, sir,” called Jason, carrying some news-papers under his arm. The little boy had been running up and down the street, but there were still twenty 1left. His voice was almost gone and his heart was 2. The shops would soon close, and all the people would go home. He would have to go home too, carrying the papers 3 money. He had hoped to sell more papers tonight to make more money to buy a 4for his mother and some seeds for his bird. That was why he had bought the papers with all his money. He 5 as he thought of his failure to sell all his papers.

    “You don't know the 6 of selling papers. You must shout, 'Hot news! Bomb bursting!'” another newsboy Chad told Jason. “7 it's not in the paper at all,” replied Jason. “Just run away quickly 8 they have time to see, and you'll 9out and get your money,” Chad said.

    It was a new 10 to Jason. He thought of his bird with no11and the cake he wanted to buy for his mother, but was12 that he would not tell a lie. Though he was 13 a poor newsboy, he had been 14 some good things.

    The next afternoon Jason went to the office for his papers15. Several boys were crowding around Chad, who declared with a 16 smile that he sold six dozen the day before. He added that Jason 17 money because he would not tell a lie. The boys 18 at Jason. “You wouldn't tell a lie yesterday, my boy?” A gentleman at the office came up and patted Jason's shoulder 19, “You're just the boy I am looking for.” A week later Jason started his new 20. He lost the sale of twenty papers because he would not tell a lie, but got a well-paid job because he told the truth.

    Before I came to China, I had been somewhat unlucky in love. Days before my 1for Shanghai in 2016, my cousin made a 2without the slightest bit of irony（讽刺）,“You'll fall in love in China.”

    I met my husband at a Chinese 3. It was an embarrassing place to meet him approaching me 4I attempted to lift free weights. He spoke English poorly, trying to correct my form. I more or less 5him, figuring such a relationship was 6as we had little means to communicate. But I was very much 7. He ran after me for the next couple weeks and his persistence（坚持不懈）8won me over, and I was head over heels in love with him.

    The challenges we faced were 9—deciding where to live, 10over visas, dealing with my parents' doubts. In time, these problems got settled without too much work on our part. When others would 11on how tough it must be to marry someone from a foreign country, I quickly made my 12, trying to convince my questioner that marrying cross-culturally is really no different from 13within one's own circle.

    Our son was born in the spring of 2018. He was a very easy baby to care for—he cried little and slept well at night. My struggles in caring for a newborn were unimportant 14the other pressures I faced. By Chinese tradition, I was 15from taking the baby outside until he was 100 days old, for reasons I still don't fully understand.

    Since giving birth, I've learned that compromise（妥协）is more 16than it seems. If you give up too much of yourself, you may 17resentful（怨恨的）. If you compromise too little, you may be 18in a frequent battle. In a relationship, our values or beliefs often 19with our partner's, but with patience, most difficulties can be overcome. For that reason, I keep on working to better understand his background and beliefs while 20forgetting my own.

    A boy lost his arms in an accident. He had to1 the arms of his younger brother. 2 writing with his toes, he was completely 3 to do anything in his life. But when the two brothers both grew up, his younger brother wanted to 4 from him, living his own life. 5 he was heart-broken and didn't know what to do.

    A 6  disaster befell (降临) a girl, too. One night her mother who suffered from mental illness 7. So her father went out looking for her mother, 8 her alone at home. She tried to 9 meals for her parents, only to overturn the kerosene light(煤油灯)on the stove, resulting in a 10 which took her hands away. Though her elder sister showed her willingness to take care of her, she decided to be completely 11. At school, she always studied hard. Once she wrote the following in her composition, "I am 12. Though I lost my arms, I still have legs. I am lucky. Though my wings are 13, my heart can still fly."

    One day, the boy and the girl were both invited to appear on a 14 interview program. The boy told the TV host about his 15 future at being left on his own. However, the girl was full of 16 for her life. They both were asked to write something on a piece of paper with their 17.  The boy wrote "My younger brother's arms are my arms" 18 the girl wrote "Broken wings, flying heart".

    It is true that disasters can strike19. But if we decided to be 20, the hardship will turn out to be a fortune on which new hopes will arise.

The Sweetest Thing

    When I was ten, I was crazy about candy. Whenever in our small-town store with my mom, I would 1 my fingers through my favorite candy on the shelf.

    Once there, thinking about all things sweet, I noticed a man a few feet away pressing buttons on the ATM machine. Dressed in a suit, he seemed to be late for something, 2 waiting for his cash to appear. The machine made a noise, and he immediately 3 a pile of bills and headed out. Curiously, I walked over to the ATM, where I started pressing the buttons as if knowing the 4. Then I looked into the bottom of the machine. There I saw it: a beautiful, crisp $ 20 bill! 5 I wanted to believe my magic made the cash appear, I knew the man in the suit must have left it behind.

    I held the money in my hand, staring at the number "20" and feeling 6 than I ever had. I thought about slipping the money into my pocket. No one would know, but I just didn't feel it was 7. I knew it didn't belong to me. I had to find its owner and give it back! So I told my mom what had happened. "We'll look for him." she said kindly. We rushed out and found him stepping into his car in the parking lot! We 8 him and asked whether he had left money at the cash machine.

    "Let me 9" he said, pulling out his wallet and bills. "Twenty, forty, eighty...Oh! You're right," he said with surprise, "I'm 10 a $20 bill."

    "Here you go," I said, smiling with pride, as if I was a(n) 11 who had solved a mystery. "Thank you so much," he said, bending down and shaking my hand. My heart swelled. Before saying goodbye, he asked my mom for my name and 12. "I want to send your daughter a thank-you card," he said.

    On my way home, my 13 was racing. Twenty dollars. What could I have done with it? I bet I could have bought a puppy or every single candy bar in town! But now 14 of that would happen. Yet I knew I had done the right thing.

    A few weeks later, I got a box with a note. I ripped it open to find packages of candy. "Dear Felice, thank you very much for 15 my $20. You are a great girl, and I appreciate your 16. I hope you enjoy this candy. Best wishes, Tom." Tom included his business card. It 17 that he was vice-president for the candy company. The candy tasted sweet, each 18 reminding me that what I had done mattered. Although my honesty wouldn't always be 19 with candy, it would make a difference to someone. And that was the 20 part of all.

    Martin Henfield talks about some of his 1 as a twin: when we were small, my mother dressed us 2 the same clothes. That was bad enough and we didn't like it. But we went on our first camping trip, it was even 3. We were only ten years old, and while 4 went into their sleeping bags for the 5, we were not happy to snuggle inside a double sleeping bag my mother made for us.

    At school our classmates 6 us Henfield One and Henfield Two, so people 7 even see our difference according to our initials because 8 of us were M.H. It was only when I went to college and began to have my own friends that I started to feel my own freedom of identity(身份).

    Before I went to college, during my secondary school 9, I 10 a job on a building site. My twin brother, Mike Henfield, didn't work. One day I asked my boss, "Can I have a week 11?" "Certainly," he said, "but you won't have the job when you 12 back." I didn't want to 13 the job. So on Monday morning, Mike went there in my 14 , jacket and hat and he worked for me for one week. 15 of them knew the difference.