During the war, my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California. I went to live there in order to be1him. I hated the place. I had never2been so unhappy. My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty, and I was left in a tiny shack alone. The heat was3-almost 125 ^°F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌).4a soul to talk to. The wind blew non-stop, and all the food I ate, and the every air I breathed, were5with sand, sand, sand!

    I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was6 and coming back home. I said I couldn't stand it one minute longer. I 7be in prison! My father answered my 8with just two lines-two lines that will always sing in my9 two lines that completely changed my life:

    Two men looked out from prison bars

    One saw the mud, the other saw the stars

    I read those two lines10I was ashamed of myself. I made up my mind I would find out what was good in my present 11 I would look for the stars.

    I made friends with the natives, and their 12 amazed me. They gave me presents of their favorite artworks which they had13to sell to tourists. I studied the delightful forms of the cactus. I watched for the desert sunsets, and14for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the desert had been an ocean15.

    What brought about this16change in me? The desert hadn't changed,17I had. I had changed my 18. And by doing so, I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing19of my life. I was excited by this new world that I had discovered I had looked out of my self-created prison and20the stars.

    A little boy almost considered himself as the most unfortunate child in the world because a terrible illness made his leg lame（癖的）. He 1 played with his classmates; and when the teacher asked him to answer questions, he always 2 his head without a word.

    One spring, the boy's father got some saplings （树苗）3 the neighbor and told his 4 to plant one each person. The father also 5 to buy a favorite gift for whoever grew best. The boy also wanted to get his father's 6. But seeing his brothers and sisters carry water actively, he lost 7. So after watering it once or twice, he never8 it.

    A few days later, when the little boy went to see his tree again, he was 9 to find that it appeared greener and 10 than his sisters' and brothers'. His father 11 his promise, and said that he would surely become an outstanding botanist（植物学家）when he 12 up.

    From then on, the little boy slowly became 13. One night, looking at the bright moonlight outside, he suddenly recalled what the 14 teacher once said: plants generally grow at night. Then he came to the courtyard and unexpectedly found his father 15 under his tree with a big spoon. 16, he understood: his father had been secretly watering his small tree! He 17 to his room, tears running down out of control.

    Decades passed. The little boy didn't become a botanist, 18 he was elected President of the United States. His name was Franklin Roosevelt.

    19 is the best nutrition （营养）of life; even if it is just one spoonful of clear 20, it can make the tree of life lively.

    Every day Jack met me at the beach of the River Yenisei. The1is 5,539 kilometers long. It is frozen almost half the year. When the water was 2enough to go in, we played with his shark toy. "Mr. Shark," he called it. Mr. Shark was very 3, but after it got filled with water, it became heavy enough to throw.

    We had long talks about our 4. Jack worked as a lawyer but was5with his job. He had to work long hours. His bosses were not always kind. He 6 of travel, or working a different job. Why don't you 7? I asked him. But quitting is not so 8 . Attending university for so many years 9him a lot of money. Working as a lawyer 10  well. But he thought about doing different work, 11would help poor countries and poor people, volunteer work perhaps. That's 12we were both doing in Siberia, volunteering our time.

    But if we were just 13 here, we'd never get the 14to know so many local people. The students did almost anything the teachers asked. They wrote and 15plays, did dances and sang songs. Siberian kids were certainly not 16. Well, the students were not all kids. The youngest was about ten years old; the 17was 40!

    Each day throughout the two weeks had a  18. One day the theme of our class was the world 19 day. As an American, it was interesting to talk to young Russians about peace because when I was growing up, the United States and Russia did not 20. Wouldn't it be great that we were now talking about peace?

One afternoon, I was walking with Evan on the second floor. I talked on and on and Evan walked 1in front of me. As we turned a corner, Evan 2me and said the ten words. "Why are you talking to me? I'm not your friend." Those were the exact words he said to me that day. I stood there 3. He kept walking and never looked back. I4 to my next class with tears coming up in my eyes.

    We 5 spoke to each other after that. I 6 into a shell, like a turtle, to hide from the world. For the rest of my time in middle school, I didn't 7 myself to get close to anyone. I push away most of my friends8 being hurt again. I avoided unnecessary9.

    It wasn't until high school that I was able to 10my head out of my shell and begin 11people again. But even today, I am still 12 in choosing who I open up to. It takes me a very long time to warm up to 13.

    I was twelve then. I was too trusting and I took what Evan said 14. Maybe he was having a bad day15 maybe I was talking too much. In my view, what he said to me that day 16 the course of my life, but if weren't for that 17, I wouldn't have met my best friends in high school.

    I understand that, in middle school, we were all young. I've been able to 18 all the people who bullied me, but for some 19 I can't seem to forgive Evan. Those words that day hurt me more than anything. I believe that one day I'll be 20enough to forgive Evan too. But right now I'm still that twelve-year-old running down the hall with tears filled with his eyes.

    "Mom, stop. STOP!" yelled my mom outside my bedroom. At 7 am, I 1 to her yells. It was the weekend and I wanted to sleep. 2 a loud knock on the door 3 my chance of sleeping. "Maggie, get up quickly and help with your grandmother," my mother 4 me eagerly.

    I quickly entered my grandmother's room and 5 her when we were going downstairs as she walked slowly. We 6 made it to the living room. Now, I had to get her to sit down to watch TV quietly. " I have to go to work!" she argued, 7 toward the front door. " I have to go and meet with Fran!" she 8, referring to her daughter, who lives nearly one hundred-twenty miles from here. This argument continued 9 I convinced her to sit down.

    I poured out a 10 from a medicine bottle. She hesitated, and then swallowed it down with a glass of water. We returned our 11 to the TV and soon she fell asleep. 15 minutes later, she woke from her nap, becoming 12. The rest of the family came in to greet her. She smiled at everyone, and made jokes, like a 13 person.

    My grandmother is14Alzheimer's（阿尔茨海默症）.One out of five people develops the15by age 80. Symptoms include forgetting words. They also16 to recognize friends and family members or perform17tasks like dressing themselves. As of today, Alzheimer's is too 18 to defeat, but there are treatments to alleviate（减轻）the symptoms.

    The disease affects both the19and the family members. It's20. But it's someone in love. We are willing to fight it with love, which is just as powerful.

    My father was born in a small town in the US. He wasn't sure what he wanted from1, but something told him to 2 and begin a new adventure.

    He began that adventure traveling to cities in the US before going on to Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. He took my mother and us three daughters with him and went wherever the road 3 him.

    It's easy to feel 4 when you're on the road. We made lots of new friends on our trip — most of them are mechanics, since we often 5 hours in repair shops. But that was a way much 6 than sitting by the roadside while waiting for the engine to 7 when it was 40℃ outside.

    Getting along well sometimes seemed 8. There were always a lot of 9, especially among us back-seat passengers about who had to 10 in the middle. But even if it was hard, we learned a lot about 11. When we were traveling in the Philippines, we drove to Quezon City one day. It should have been an hour's drive but was nearly three thanks to bad roads and 12 traffic. "Did you put our suitcases in the car?" my father asked my mother as we arrived there. From the back seat, we saw her 13 turn toward my father. "No," she said. "I thought you did." That was how a seven-hour car trip turned into a 16-hour one, which was mostly spent in 14.

    On occasions like that, we had to learn to let go of our anger because we were 15 in a rolling box with the same people for the rest of the 16. Even if I sometimes felt like opening the car door and 17 one of my sisters out, I kept my feelings to myself.

    This is why road trips were like 18 universities to us. We 19 our PHDs(博士学位) in how to get along with other people just by traveling in our old car.

    If we were 20 given a second chance at life, we would do it all over again. Only this time would I put the suitcases in the car myself.