One day when I was 13, my family was working in the fields to clear away old brush when somehow the electric fence sparked(冒火星) and1a fire. We didn't see the fire2it had blocked the way to the only gate. I3to jump over the fence to safety but the fire was all around us. I could only watch in4as the flames continued to rise. Little did I know that my father had once been a(an)5and knew what to do.6with only a pump sprayer, buckets, and his boots, he7down to the nearby pond, filled the buckets and the sprayer, and began spraying the8while my older brother threw water with the buckets. Soon the wind9 however, and with the Fire Department too far away to arrive in time, my father began to stomp(踩灭) out the flames as he moved to the10 so that my family was able to move inch by inch toward the gate.11he arrived at the gate, he jumped into the truck, rolled up the windows, and drove12the fire. Then the fire was put out, and my mother was looking at my father with her13eyes.

    After that, my father began telling us about his days as a firelighter, and my brother and I became14 asking him what other jobs he had done before he15 Well, it turned out that he had done just about16except brain surgery!

    He had been in the military as a carpenter, carpet layer, and electrician, and had built B2 bombers before being poisoned in an accident that had17him to retire. My father has a blood disorder as a result of that18 but that hasn't stopped him from being a full-time electrician.

    To all those people whose fathers have worked in the military and in other dangerous jobs, be19of them, and remember that some day their20might save your life.

    Yesterday, I posted a photo of a pile of cross stitch kits (十字绣) on my blog. To my1many readers say I do well in them. 1 couldn't use them all,2 finally I decided to 3the rest to ladies in my neighbourhood who like to 4a project with their own hands.

    I 5them all up into a box and decided to start with the lady who 6a pub. She's perfectly7and she served me with a cup of coffee. I took her out to my car and showed her the 8I was holding it in my arms beside my car when another car 9up next to us with two other10in it. Within moments I was pushed against the 11behind the weight of three elderly ladies and I had to 12my way to pick up the empty box. The three ladies had taken every single item in that box with13expressions on their faces and lots of thanks. One of the ladies has a son who is a firefighter. She decided to give some cross stitch kits to the14station. Her decision did make me 15I had in my mind a wonderful picture of all these 16and strong firemen sitting around all working on their cute cross stitch Christmas stockings while they17for fire alarms to be called in.

    Finally,18 and laughter all went around, and then I e-mailed another 19who often visits me and also likes cross stitch kits. She promised to send me her extra cross stitch kits, too. I just know kindness will finally 20on to others.

    Paen Long has had a dream ever since he saw a plane for the first time at the age of six. His dream was to 1 a plane. Last year, the 30-year-old man started building his plane 2. “I was afraid that people would 3 me, so sometimes I worked at night,” he said. It was a long time 4 he put his dream into practice. Paen Long tried to build his own plane, using the money he had 5 from running his own garage. He has spent three years 6 YouTube videos in order to 7 how to make a plane.

    It took him a year to build his plane, using mostly recycled materials. The plane's first 8 came at 3 pm on 8th, March. Local villagers gathered excitedly to watch the plane fly. 9, the plane only got 50 m in the air before crashing (撞击) to the 10. “When all people were looking at me, I felt very 11,” he said.

    Although the first try 12, Paen Long remains 13. His next project is to build a seaplane. Paen Long thinks the plane will cost over $10,000. “I never feel 14 for spending all my money building a plane,” he said.

    His wife, Hing Muoyheng, 15 about her husband, especially as they have two young sons. However, she has no 16. “I don't know how planes work and he doesn't have any 17 to help him. He can only search for information himself,” she said. “I tried to ask him to 18 a few times because I was afraid, but he said he wouldn't 19, so I have to support his 20.”

    When I was a kid, Dad and I would go for long walks together. Sometimes we'd spy 1along the way-a penny here, a dime there. 2 I picked up a penny, he would ask, “Is it a wheat?" It always thrilled him when we found one of those 3 coins produced from 1909 to 1958, the year of my birth. On one of these walks, he told me he often 4 of finding coins. I was amazed. "I always have that dream too!" I told him. It was our secret connection.

    One gray winter day in 2002, not long after his 5, I was walking down Fifth Avenue, feeling 6 and lonely, and I suddenly found myself in front of a church, where Dad had been working there, but I hadn't 7 for a long time. When I walked into it, I heard the hymn (赞美诗) was A Mighty Fortress is Our God.

    That's Dad's 8, one we'd sung at his funeral. Hearing this again, I burst into 9. After the service, I stepped onto the sidewalk--and there was a penny. I 10 to pick it up and turned it over, and 11 enough, it was a wheat!

    That started it. Suddenly wheat pennies began 12 on the sidewalks of New York everywhere. I got most of the 13 years: his birth year, the year he graduated from college, the year he 14 my mom, the year they got married…

    One Sunday, when I was walking up Fifth Avenue, I 15 a penny in the middle of a crossing. It was a 16 street; taxis were speeding by--should I 17 it? I just had to get it. A wheat! But the penny was 18, and I couldn't read the date. When I took out my magnifying glass lo see it clearly, there was my birthday. As a journalist, I'm in a profession where doubting is a necessary 19. But I found 21 wheat pennies in the year after my father died, and I don't think that's a(n) 20.

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

    Though the accident brought her bright career to a 2, she didn't give up. In the 3 months that followed, Sudha met a doctor who developed an artificial 4 made from rubber filled with sponge (海绵). So 5 she wanted to go back to 6 after she had been fitted with an artificial leg. Sudha knew that she believed in 7 and could realize her dream, and 8 she began her courageous journey back to the world of dancing — 9 to balance, bend, stretch, walk, turn, twist and twirl.

    After every public recital (个人表演), she 10 ask her dad about her performance. "You 11 have a long way to go" was the answer she used to get 12. In January 1984, Sudha made a historic 13 by giving a public recital in Bombay. She performed in such a great manner that it 14 everyone to tears and this 15 pushed her to the number one position again. That evening when she asked her dad the 16 question, he didn't say anything. He just touched her feet as a praise.

    Sudha's comeback was 17 moving an event that a film producer 18 to make the story into a hit film. When someone asked Sudha how she had 19 to dance again, she said quite simply, "YOU DON'T NEED FEET TO DANCE."20 is impossible in this world. If you have the will to win, you can achieve anything.

    While I was waiting to enter university, I saw in a newspaper a teaching job1at a school about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short of2and wanting to do something3I applied (申请), 4as I did so, that without a degree and with no5of teaching my chances of getting the job were6.

    However, three days later, a letter arrived, calling me to Croydon for a meeting with the headmaster. It proved to be a 7journey: a train to Croydon station, a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at8a quarter of a mile. As a result I arrived there, feeling too hot to be nervous. It was clearly the9 himself that10the door. He was short and round.

    "The school," he said, "is made up of one11of twenty-four boys between seven and thirteen." I should have to teach all the subjects except art, 12 he taught himself. I should have to divide the class into13groups and teach them in turn at three different14, and I was15at the thought of teaching maths—a subject at which I wasn't very16at school. Worse perhaps was the idea of17 to teach them on Saturday afternoon because most of my friends would be18 themselves at that time.

    Before I had time to ask about my salary, he got up to his19 . "Now" he said, you'd better meet my wife. She is the one who really20this school.