阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从1—20各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

    I was required to read one of Bernie Siegel's books in college and was hooked on his positivity from that moment on．The stories of his unconventional1 and the exceptional patients he wrote about were so2 to me and had such a big3 on how I saw life from then on．

    Who knew that so many years later I would look to Dr．Bernie and his CDs again to4 my own Cancer experience ？

    I'm an ambitious5 , and when I started going through chemo( 化疗 )，even though I'm a very6 person, I lost my drive to write．I was just too tired and not in the7 ．One day, while waiting to go in for 8, I had one of Dr．Bernie's books in hand．Another patient 9 what I was reading and struck up a conversation with me10 he had one of his books with me as well．It11that among other things, he was an eighty-year-old writer．He was12a published author, and he was currently13on a new book．

    We would see each other at various times and14friends．Sometimes he wore a duck hat, and I would  tell myself, he was definitely a ( n ) 15 of Dr．Berline．He really put a16 on my face．He unfortunately17last year due to his cancer,18 he left a deep impression on me and gave me the19 to pick up my pen again．I20 to myself, “If he can do it, then so can I．”

    My first lesson is at a meeting. As we settle around the table I hear Meg, who is1a recent operation, talking to Judith, the manager of our project. “Thank you so much for2 my daughters to their dance lessons last week.” “Don't mention it,” Judith says, “It was nothing.”

    Knowing how 3Judith's schedule is, with her work, kids and aging parents, I find her driving Meg's children to lessons unbelievably 4. I am about to say more about this when Donna, another colleague, enters the room5. She apologizes for being late, saying she just hosted a lunch for her friends who are over seventy. “That is so nice of you,” I say, 6 how busy she is, how she doesn't like to cook and clean. “Oh,” she says, waving her hand, “It was nothing.”7, I can still tell the 8in her voice. She did gain a sense of satisfaction from the entertainment offered to her friends.

    Seeing their 9 to help others selflessly, I start thinking about the concept of “nothing”, this way of living—had it really been nothing or are they simply saying that? It 10to me that once I spent a whole afternoon after work helping a friend 11a speech she was going to deliver. I12 her to rearrange the sequence of the stories in the lecture to make it sound more 13. After the fifth try, she finally 14it . She hugged me with15, saying thanks to me. I smiled and said it was nothing.

    Suddenly, I realized that helping someone was really something to me. I learned that giving from the heart doesn't 16 mean sacrifice and hard work. The 17is finding something we love to do and finding someone who18 that something. Our generosity can benefit others19 ourselves. Once you have a good 20of it, it's nothing. And it's really something.

    Jenna, a popular girl from Westwood Middle School, had graduated first in her class and was ready for new1in high school.

    2, high school was different. In the first week, Jenna went to tryouts(选拔赛) for cheerleaders(拉拉队队员). She was competing against very talented girls, and she knew it would be3for her to be selected. Two hours later, the4read a list of the girls for a second tryout. Her heart5as the list ended without her name. Feeling6, she walked home carrying her schoolbag full of homework.

    Arriving home, she started with math. She had always been a good math student, but now she was7. She moved on to English and history, and was8to find that she didn't have any trouble with those subjects. Feeling better, she decided not to9math for the time being.

    The next day Jenna went to see Mrs. Biden about being on the school10Mrs. Biden wasn't as11as Jenna. “I'm sorry, but we have enough12for the newspaper already. Come back next year and we'll talk then.” Jenna smiled13and left. “Why is high school so14?” she sighed.

    Later in15class, Jenna devoted herself to figuring out the problems that had given her so much16. By the end of class, she understood how to get them right. As she gathered her books, Jenna decided she'd continue to try to17at her new school. She wasn't sure if she'd succeed, but she knew she had to18High school was just as her mom had said: “You will feel like a small fish in a big pond19a big fish in a small pond. The challenge is to become the20fish you can be.”

    Two brothers, Ruby and Harry lived in Spain. They 1 for years to buy their mom a very special Christmas present this year: a BWM 3 Series.

    “Showing 2 to our beautiful Mum who's worked so hard to 3 us everything in life,” Ruby, 30, told the media. “Compared to the 4 she has made for us over the years, this is nothing.” He said the 5 had been in the works for years.

    “My mother wanted a BMW ten years ago, which we never 6,” he said. “We said that one day we would get her one and we 7 a little each week knowing one day we would be able to get her 8 car.”

    Ruby and his brother Harry saved for about five years 9 they bought the car. Their mother appears 10, saying “no” over and over again as the two brothers 11 her to the garage to have a look at a silver BMW.

    “She was just very surprised and couldn't 12it,” he said. “We were sure she 13 loved it.”

    They gave her the car as an early Christmas gift, but also as a 14 to say thank you. It will 15 their mom's current one.

    “She 16us two brothers and worked two jobs for most of her life to 17 us in school and give us everything we 18,” Ruby said. “We watched her go from her 19 job on Friday, get changed and 20 the weekend at a restaurant.”

    He added, “Maternal love is the most selfless love under the sun and we just thought it would be nice to show how grateful we are for everything and remind ourselves that thankfulness is a virtue.”

    Two-year-old Nancy is deaf. However, that hasn't stopped her from being a(n)  1 little girl trying to "chat" to anyone she meets. As soon as she goes out into town with her parents, she starts 2 in the hope that the person she is talking to 3 sign language too.

    Normally, hearing loss is a social 4 for those who don't know how to use sign language. Anyone Nancy tried to talk to 5 this and felt so sorry they couldn't 6. They wished they could 7 her and say something back, but they found themselves completely 8.

    Then, something amazing happened. Instead of causing a 9, this barrier brought the community together. Determined to 10 sign language so that they could talk to Nancy, her 11 hired an instructor on their own, and now they are 12 to taking classes together. The teacher 13 that this is really remarkable because, quite often, even the parents of deaf children don't 14 to learn the language. But here Nancy has a full community that is signing and communicating with her, and it is a 15story.

    The teacher also says that this level of inclusion will make a huge difference in Nancy's 16. It almost certainly guarantees that she will be a happier and more 17 individual in the future. Nancy's parents are already noticing a 18 in their daughter and they have no words to express how 19 they are to their neighbors.

    With a little girl and a lot of love, the neighbors 20 make the neighborhood a community.

While conquering the world's swimming pools in the late 1990s and the 2000s, Amanda Beard had already included breathing exercises in her training. Several years after the end of her athletic career, she discovered walking meditation. Today the seven-time US Olympic medalist practices walking meditation in nature, around the house, or while walking the dog. It's a daily practice with the focused mindfulness of meditation that contributes positively to every aspect of her life, she says. 

You don't need equipment or a designated space to start. The idea of a walking meditation is to pay attention to the way your body feels, noticing things like the sky, trees, tuning into all of your senses. This means you can meditate "on the go" in the countryside, in the city, in your backyard, and virtually anywhere. A simple, 10-minute walking meditation for beginners requires that you just start at ease. Consider what you hear, smell and see. Think about how your feet touch the ground. Fully focus on these feelings. 

A report in Health Promotion Perspectives also found that walking meditation can improve your balance, adjust your heart rate, boost your mental focus, and help you battle anxiety and depression. "The benefits of meditation are many," says Dr. Schramm, a board-certified family physician and meditation teacher. "When we do this over and over again, we train the brain to focus on only one thing at a time and this increases both our blood flow and actual neuronal (神经元) changes within our brains. "

"The magic of meditation is to be able to help you connect with yourself; meditation shouldn't feel a certain way," says Tara Stiles, a yoga and wellness expert. It's a common mistake in meditation: People fear a wandering mind. "A wandering mind is completely normal," Stiles says. "Even experienced meditators aren't sitting there never having a thought, but when they have the thought they choose to guide themselves back to their breath instead of getting frustrated.