A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package: "This," he said, "isn't any1package." He unwrapped the box and2both the silk paper and the box .

"She got it 3 we went to New York 8 or 9 years ago. She has 4put it on. And she was5 it for a special occasion(场合)", he told me.

    He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other6 he was taking to the funeral home(殡仪馆); his wife had just died. Then he turned to me and 7:

"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a8occasion".

    I still think those words 9my life.

Now I spend more time with my10, and less at work. I"ll wear 11clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like my new clothes. I don't save my special perfume(香水)for special occasions; I use it 12I want to. The words "Some day ..." and "One day ..."13 gradually from my dictionary. If it's worth seeing, listening or doing , I want to see, listen or do it now.

    I don't know what my friend's wife would have14if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning, and this 15can tell. I think she might16her relatives and closest friends. She might call old friends to make peace over past17. She might go out for a Chinese, maybe her18food. It's these small things that I would regret(后悔) not doing, if I knew my19had come. I would regret it because I would no longer see the relatives and the friends, even the delicious food.

    Now, I try not to20anything that could bring laughter and joy into my life. And on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

    Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!

    When I was a senior in high school, I 1 knew I wanted to pursue writing as a career.

    Writing had basically 2 me when I was only 7 years old, 3 since that time, I'd been bombarded(轰炸) by guidance counselors and career planners who all 4 me to have " a back-up-plan" in case writing didn't work out.

    I'd never even 5 a different career path, so I was very 6 and worried. After much thought, I decided 7 would be my "back-up-plan", and I signed up for a class through my high school.

    This8that every morning, I would serve as a teacher's helper for my favorite 6th grade teacher, Mr. Ralston. Morning after morning, I showed up in Mr. Ralston's classroom and9 papers for him.

    Sometimes, I even 10 a lesson or two. It was fun, and the students seemed to like me, so I was surprised when it came time for my 11.Mr. Ralston looked me right in the eyes and asked, "Do you really want to teach?"

    "Had I really been that 12?" I thought.

    "Don't misunderstand. You'll do fine in teaching," he continued. "But, is your 13 really in it?"

    "Not really," I14 "I want to write. I want to write new stories and fiction and poetry and so much more... but I've been told it's tough to make it as a writer 15 I thought maybe I would teach and then use my summers 16 to pursue writing."

    As I shared with Mr. Ralston my hopes, dreams and carefully plotted-out back-up plan, he smiled and said, "Why are you preparing to 17 with this back-up plan? If you want to be a writer, go for it! Pursue writing!"

    Mr. Ralston's 18 to follow my dreams was the little nudge(推动) I decided to help me push past my 19 of not making it as a writer and simply "Go for it!"

    That's what an encouraging word will do when spoken in love in 20 season. So, let's try and be like Mr. Ralston and speak that word of encouragement at just the right time and make a difference in someone's life today.

    After my brother died in an accident, my mother was very sad. I was only 4 years old at the time, but I still understood the 1 in my mom's attitude toward safety.2, everything around us was potentially 3.

    I grew up with a lot of 4 and rules that were meant to 5 me. For example, I was not 6 to walk home from school by myself, even though everyone I knew already did. I couldn't 7 evening parties or go to summer camp,8 what if something happened to me?

    As I got older, the list of things to 9 got longer. I became a natural 10. I was concerned about things like getting cancer, losing my wallet, being caught in car accidents and earthquakes —11 big and small, real and 12.The funny part is that you'd never know it by looking at my life, because I'm constantly 13 myself to do the things that frighten or worry me. In fact, I've developed a 14 for myself: If it scares me, then I have to do it 15 once. I've done lots of things that would have 16 my mom: I've ridden a motorcycle, I've traveled alone, and I've performed stand-up comedy.

    Courage isn't a natural attribute (品质) of human beings. I believe that we have to practice being courageous. The more 17 I do things that scare me or that make me 18, the more I realize that I can do a lot more than I originally thought I could do.

    Even though I inherited (经遗传获得) my mother's cautious19, I've also come to believe that fear can be a good thing, if we 20 it. Believing that has made my world a less scary place.

    “It's nice having a friend,” said Mole (鼹鼠) to Rabbit as they sat talking in the sun one day.

    “Oh, it is!” said Rabbit. “Very useful, too, 1 if you need help. 2, I think I'd like Bull (公牛) to be my friend.” said Mole.

    “But I'm your friend!” said Mole, feeling 3.

    “Oh, yes,” said Rabbit. “You are good for talking to and laughing with, 4 you are too small. When I need help, I 5 someone big and strong like Bull. He would be a very good friend to have. It would be 6 shouting for him when I need help.”

    Mole went off in anger.

    “Oh, well, I need to 7 something,” Rabbit thought.

    He moved along 8 he found a tiny garden. He had just started on his first leaf when there was a big 9. People were shouting and dogs were barking (吠叫). Rabbit was so afraid and in such a10 to get away that he ran into the wrong hole. The hole was too 11 and Rabbit got stuck. He could not 12 at all.

    “Help!” cried Rabbit.

    Mole 13 him. He ran up to see what was the matter.

    “Help!” cried Rabbit. “I'm stuck in this hole.”

    “If you want help,” said Mole, “I'd better 14 Bull.”

    “No!” cried Rabbit. “He's no good! He's too big to get into this 15. You're just the right 16! Please help me, Mole!”

    So Mole began digging around Rabbit. He 17 so fast that Rabbit was 18 in no time.

    “I'm sorry, Mole. I was  19,” Rabbit said. “I'm 20 I have you for a friend.”

    And so the two good friends set off for home together.

    It's about 250 miles from the hills of west-central lowa to Ehlers' home in Minnesota. During the long trip home, following a weekend of hunting, Ehlers 1about the small dog he had seen 2 alongside the road. He had 3 to coax（哄）the dog to him but, frightened, it had 4.

    Back home, Ehlers was troubled by that 5 dog. So, four days later, he called his friend Greg, and the two drove 6. After a long and careful 7. Greg saw, across a field, the dog moving 8 away. Ehlers eventually succeeded in coaxing the animal to him. Nervousness and fear were replaced with 9. It just started licking（舔）Ehlers' face.

    A local farmer told them the dog sounded like one 10 as lost in the local paper. The ad had a 11 number for a town in southern Michigan. Ehlers 12 the number of Jeff and Lisa to tell them he had 13 their dog.

    Jeff had 14 in lowa before Thanksgiving with his dog, Rosie, but the gun shots had scared the dog off. Jeff searched 15 for Rosie in the next four days.

    Ehlers returned to Minnesotan, and then drove 100 miles to Minneapolis to put Rosie on a flight to Michigan. “It's good to know there's still someone out there who  16 enough to go to that kind of 17," says Lisa of Ehlers' rescue 18.

    I figured whoever lost the dog was probably just as  19 to it as I am to my dogs,” says Ehlers. “If it had been my dog, I'd hope that somebody would be 20 to go that extra mile.”

    One day, when I was a teenager, I was home along doing two of my favourite things: I was eating a huge plate of spaghetti and mealbails and I was 1.

    At the time, my family pet bird - a big white cockatoo named Luke was free from his 2 and flying around inside the house. Luke, which wasn't3 to use real words, was chucking (咯咯地叫) away, 4 me, but I wasn't paying attention to him. I was 5 on reading my detective book. 6 Luke decided to get closer and before I 7 it, he'd landed right on top of my spaghetti and meatbails! I was so surprised - my mind went8. My reaction was the same as yours would be: I shooed (用"嘘"声吓唬)him off my food! This wouldn't have been so bad 9 one thing: Luke had 10 my spaghetti. So when he 11 again, the spaghetti still winded in his12 went flying everywhere. He landed on my shirt. He hit me in the 13. As I pulled noodles out of my hair, Luke 14 spaghetti sauce all the way. He wasn't15, except for his16the sauce in his beautiful white 17 turned him splotchy (油渍斑斑的)orange for several weeks.

    See how funny spaghetti can be? And see how 18 reading can be? So go ahead and enjoy a good book. But if you like to read while you eat, you'd better keep an eye on your food. And if you find a19 novel at the 20 with red, splotchy (油渍斑斑的)spots on two pages near the middle, you'll know that I've read that book, too!