A ship was wrecked (失事) and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two 1 agreed that they had no 2 but to pray to God.

    3, to find out whose prayers were more 4, they agreed to divide the territory (领地) between them. What the first man 5 for was food. The next morning, he saw a fruit bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its 6 But the other man's side of land remained 7.

    After a week, the first man became 8 and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, a woman swam to his side of the island. But on the other side of the island, there was 9. Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more 10. The next day, like magic, all of these things were 11 to him. However, the other man still had nothing.

    12, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could 13 the island, and in the next morning he found a ship at his side of the island. The first man 14 the ship with his wife and decided to leave the other man on the island, considering him unworthy to receive God's blessings 15 none of his prayers had been answered. As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your 16on the island?”

    “My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he doesn't 17 anything.”

    “You are mistaken!” the voice 18 him. “He had only one prayer, which I 19. He prayed that all your prayers would be answered. Had it not been for that, you would not have 20 any of my blessings.”

    Years ago, I lost my sight completely. I would do anything for a 1 . In fact, desperate and 2 , I tried every supplement, experimental trial, diet and anything anyone 3 . All for nothing.

    But now, after 25 years in physical darkness, my life is 4 than ever. The change began one day, many years ago, when I drank my tea 5 , swallowing gulps(一大口) of “poor me” and wondering what my future would 6 . Then, the doorbell rang. Janet came in and brought an idea. “Have you ever thought about working as a(n) 7 ? ” she said, “You speak Spanish. Go for it.”

    Her idea 8 me to make a phone call. And the interpreting company I contacted invited me to take a test. Thank goodness it was 9 .

    “We're so 10 with the results,” the receptionist said the next day, “that we want to send you on your first 11 tomorrow. It's in the Immigration and Naturalization Court.”

    That was the beginning. That was when I began to 12 possibilities when my blindness wouldn't get 13 . The view of my world had changed. Blindness didn't have to label me as

    14 . On the contrary, the blindness improved my ability to 15 information and present a quicker and more 16 interpretation.

    The letters from judges, praising me for my work, 17 me for the hours I'd spent studying, memorizing, and 18 .

    Blindness? Not a barrier any more. 19 , it became a handy 20 to sharpen my creativity. Not only in the courtroom, but at home, in my relationships and in the way I viewed myself.

    Kindness is a key value that God desires us to have. When you give kindness to others, it will be returned to you. Finally, we 1 having the whole house 2 today. It was hard to work in this situation. But I 3 good coffee and beautiful biscuits, which made our work easier. We didn't complain and moved the 4 each night, so the painting could be completed 5.

    I became friends with this young 6 over the two weeks while he painted. We weren't going to paint the bathroom area 7 painting there possibly made it inconvenient to use the bathroom. Instead, we 8 to paint it later. But he 9 a suggestion about getting it 10 quickly for me and also painted the front door in this shiny paint.

    When we went to 11 him, he refused my money. He said the bathroom and the door were free of 12, which was a gift to me. Because I had never experienced such things before, I felt 13. He explained that I had made him so 14 that he wanted to do this.

    On the last day, I also bought him a 15 to go to the entertainment center in the city in order to 16 himself. We went there. A meal was part of it and the seats lay back, which were very safe and 17 to sit on. He was thankful and satisfied. I told him that I wanted to show my 18on how well he had been working in my 19. I said I would really like to thank him. He loved my treat. We did have a good 20 there.

    My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse (松鸡). It's 1for a grouse to have any contact (接触)with people. In fact, they're hard to spot, 2they usually fly off when they hear humans approaching

    This grouse came into our lives in 3Tom was working out in the field when he 4her walking around at the edge of the field. She was 5unafraid and seemed to be 6about what he was doing,

    Tom saw the 7bird several times, and site got more comfortable around him. We quickly grew 8of the bird and decided to call her Mildred.

    One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch. Tom 9he didn't see her and kept working to see what she would do next.

    Apparently, she didn't like to be 10. She'd run up and peck (啄) at Tom's hands, then 11off to see what he would do. This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the 12and left.

    As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to 13more and more often. 14Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom's leg and stay long enough for me to get a 15of the two of them together. This friendly grouse soon felt 16no just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by.

    When hunting season opened, we put a 17at the end of our driveway asking 18not to shoot our pet grouse. My father, who lived down the road, 19warned people not to shoot her. 20, hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.

    During the war, my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California. I went to live there in order to be 1 him. I hated the place. I had never 2 been so unhappy. My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty, and I was left in a tiny shack(棚屋) alone. The heat was 3almost 125 ⁰F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌). 4 a soul to talk to. The wind blew non-stop, and all the food I ate, and the very air I breathed, were 5 with sand, sand, sand!

I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was 6 and coming back home. I said I couldn't stand it one minute longer. I 7 be in prison! My father answered my 8with just two lines — two lines that will always sing in my 9— 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 lines 10. I 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 had 13 to sell to tourists. I studied the delightful forms of the cactus. I watched for the desert sunsets, and 14 for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the desert had been an ocean 15.

    What brought about this 16 change in me? The desert hadn't changed, 17 I had. I had changed my 18. And by doing so, I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing 19of my life. I was excited by this new world that I had discovered. I had looked out of my self-created prison and 20 the stars.

Sandra was a businesswoman in Orlando. Approaching her 50th birthday, she decided to1 her love of cats and her work experience to start the Orlando Cat Cafe.

As a lifelong cat fan, Sandra's main goal in opening the cafe was to help 2 cats up for adoption with proper pet parents. What she didn't 3at the time was that her café would help human visitors as much as the cats!

"The most4thing in the cafe is that they always have new cats and cats need socialization, so both sides 5!" says Laurie, who is one6guest. She, like many other cat lovers, who 7have pets at home because of allergies (过敏反应) in the family, often comes to the cafe to experience the benefits of 8with cute animals whenever she likes.

Plus, Sandra's cat-adoption 9aren't the only charitable initiative happening at the cafe! The coffee and food10for visitors are made by Axum Coffee, a company that was also started to11others. Axum is a city in Ethiopia where fresh water is 12and even poverty is widely visible. In fact, the coffee and food are sold at a low price at the cafe, some of whose13go to the people of Axum, Ethiopia, to help improve their14 of life.

"My cafe and Axum Coffee have a(n)15 mission to reach out to others. We hit it off and became partners," says Sandra.

Maybe the next time you visit Orlando, you'll16Sandra's cafe, and hit it off with one of the cats up for17 ! Adoption specialists are always on-site to help match the personalities of potential 18 with those of the cats in the play area. And it 19 ! More than 80 cats have been adopted since Sandra20 her business in 2016.