A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip to Toronto with my granddaughter who just turned three years old. The two of us were on our way to  1   her parents, and my wife—her  2    who had been gone for over a week. We were all anxious to  3    again and as I pulled out of Mamere and Papere's driveway in Chelmsford, Hailee and I were both  4    about the trip and couldn't wait to arrive at our   5.

When we completed the “SEVEN”-hour trip to Toronto later that day, the reunion was absolutely  6 and I can sincerely say I enjoyed every single minute of that   7     journey.

      Hailee is at that “I want to  8  it myself” stage of her life. And if you can just get over the “hurry-up syndrome” we acquire as  9, it is wonderful to witness. Who knew that putting a straw into the  10  in a juice box for the very first time could be such an earth-shattering (惊天动地的) event? Or being  11  enough to actually open the fridge door for the first time? Or putting on your own  12  on the right feet would be so  13?

      I'll never forget the look on her face the day she was able to  14 into my truck by herself. She finally  15 on my seat, holding onto the steering wheel (方向盘) and declared 16, “I did it!” And when she could actually put her own seat belt on—what a(n)  17!

    Have you ever watched a three-year-old 18 to sip a McDonald's milkshake through a straw? It is hard enough for an adult, too. And 19 every time the icy solution (溶液) touched her lips, you could see the 20 in her eyes. I learned that you can't hurry a child through a milkshake.

    It was Christmas evening. I just 1home from the nearby grocery store with all kinds of things. The kitchen was2with brown bags and boxes. On seeing me coming back, my youngest son, Isaiah, reached me and 3 if I would play a game with him.

    I took Isaiah's  4 . He stood there and his green eyes were5. “Here is a Christmas6 for you. Please find it. You can see something silver.” he said. I began to look for it. I 7 the table in the corner and some other places.

    After a few seconds, I saw there was a  8 snow globe on the top of the piano. It was silvery and beautiful. I held the cool 9 in my hands. Isaiah said to me that it was to 10 the one that he had broken the year before.. I was puzzled completely. So I bent my 11 beside him. He added12aved enough money and asked his elder brother, Logan to help him buy this one to13 the broken one. They just wanted to give me a (n)14 .

    Logan nodded and smiled. When I15 the key on the bottom of the globe, the quiet room was full of elegant music. Isaiah said, “Mum, do you remember how I by accident 16 your snow globe? It broke on the ground17 the music was still going on. I was so, so sad.”His face turned a little18 . But the truth was that I did not quite 19the broken snow globe after a long time. But Isaiah had been sorry for his 20 all the time. I was sure I would keep this snow globe in my mind forever.

    A talented actor, producer, and singer, Will Smith is a success. In fact, his huge success can1back to some valuable lessons life taught him early on.

    Once Will's father2him an outdoor project. He had to rebuild a long 3wall in the yard. He had to4concrete and place one brick at a time, eventually covering the entire wall. Will felt surprised at their father's demand5 he couldn't even think of completing a project as big as this. However, with the 6of "one brick more", he completed it in six months. Will who7was so pessimistic about the job, felt a sense of 8 , and so did his father. Even today when Will thinks that he won't be able to do 9, he looks back to it and10himself, "one brick at a time."

    As a refrigeration engineer, Will's father often11stores to install freezers. Will mostly12his father. During one such visit, both Will and his father were installing a freezer in a supermarket basement and the employees had 13a rat killing solution across the floor. Both Will and his dad went in 14the place for the compressor(压缩机), and they found a dead rat. Will's dad had to 15the exact place where the rat had died; his dad, 16 even the slightest hesitation held the dead rat with his bare hands. He removed the17and fixed the compressor. This taught Will that one should never 18 about life. this made him realize the value of 19and hard work.

    Every successful man is shaped right from his 20. To achieve dreams, one should be disciplined and determined.

    At the age of 60, my father was hit by a car when he walked to a nearby supermarket to buy vegetables. After 1 for two months in hospital, he finally woke up. His waking up 2all our family. 3, he didn't know any of us. Doctors said his brain was hurt so 4 that he had lost all his memory. And his mental age(心理年龄) was only five. We were sorry to hear about the bad news.

    Since I was his only child, it was my 5 to look after him. He forgot6 everything, but he did remember he liked sweets. I used the sweets as a way of 7 bad behaviors. I would gave him one sweet 8he didn't sit on the ground, a second for stopping painting on the wall, and another for not trying to put clothes on the dog.

Dad became the 9 child in town. He climbed up the tree to catch a bird and couldn't get down after it 10 away. He broke my window with a ball and 11 our telephone in water like washing clothes. When I told him he was doing 12 things, he would answer smilingly, "I like that!" My son, then aged five, and two eight-year-old daughters, welcomed their 13 playmate. He would happily make them real cigarettes, 14 his sweets with them, and carry them high in the apple tree to15 apples.

    It is eight years since the 16. Dad has accepted the fact that he is the 17 of his three playmates but not a brother. He has also accepted that they grow taller but his 18 stays the same. Though it is still 19 to take care of him, he brings us a lot of fun. In some way I think it is a(n) 20 thing to look after dad like looking after a child. How many people can have the chance to care for a child-like parent?

    I was a single parent of four small children, working at a low-paid job. Money was always tight, but I 1 to make ends meet (收支平衡), and if not a lot, 2 we had enough. Not knowing we were poor, my kids just thought I was 3. I've always been glad about that.

    It was Christmas time, and although there wasn't 4 for a lot of gifts, we planned to celebrate with a family party. But the big 5 for the kids was the fun of Christmas 6. They planned weeks ahead of time, asking 7 what they wanted for Christmas. 8, I had saved $ 120 for gifts to be shared by all five of us.

    The big day 9. I gave each kid a twenty-dollar bill and 10 them to look for 11 of about four dollars each. Then everyone went away excitedly. We had two hours to shop and 12 back at the “Santa's Workshop”.

    Driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits, 13 my youngest daughter, Ginger, who was unusually 14. She had only one small, flat bag with a few candies—fifty-cent candies! I was very doubtful but I didn't say anything 15 we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door. This is what she told me:

    “I was looking 16 thinking of what to buy when I 17 to read the little cards on the “Giving Trees”. One was for a little girl, four years old, and all she 18 for Christmas was a doll. So I took the card off the tree and 19 the doll for her. We have so much and she doesn't have anything.”

    I never felt so 20 as I did that day.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. My husband was taking care of our baby girl so that my six-year-old and I could do some yard work, just the two of us. It was sure to be 1 . But soon, the clouds of mosquitos seemed 2 to our bug spray (喷雾). I was sweating, itchy (痒的), and arguing with my son about how to 3 weeds. I had told him the "right" way—getting those weeds out from the bottom, by the roots, 4 them entirely.

However, my son went about things in his own way. He pulled the 5 of the weeds off, moving quickly down the line as he left the remaining part still in the soil. Somehow, I found this to be incredibly 6 . Why couldn't he do it in my way and save me the time of having to 7 his share? Why did he do it at all if he wasn't going to do it properly?

"If you would do as told, we'd be done earlier and promised a longer period 8 we would have to return and pull weeds next time," I said, trying to keep my tone 9 .

"But people do things…10 , Mom," he said innocently.

My fire soon faded, replaced by the 11 realization that I'd just received a valuable 12 from the person that I was supposed to be teaching. While trying to 13 my baby girl, my kindergartener, and the yard work, 14 was a lifeline for me. But my way was, perhaps, not the best way after all. His time shouldn't be 15 . His job was to be a kid and take his time, for as long as he was able.