I was having a period of bad health. I had one operation after another. I was falling 1 faster than the doctors could put me back together. But I just couldn't bear the operation, the hospital stay, the long recovery and the physical therapy（康复治疗）. I told my doctor I was going to try 2 else.

    I'd discovered that walking gave me a little 3. So I started walking. The first day, my wife 4 off our steep Silver Lake hill to a flat street. She got me out of the car, and I walked about two blocks 5 asking to be taken home. The next day, I walked about four 6.

    Slowly, feeling a little 7 every day, I began to walk a mile or more. I even 8some hills to my route. I became interested in the network of public stairways around Silver Lake I made a 9 of it and walked every public staircase in Silver Lake. That went pretty well, so I 10 onto Echo Park. I was feeling better, so I kept going. The search finally 11 “Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles' a book 12 in the spring of 2010. By then, I had 13. I'd been walking at least an hour a day for three years. My life 14 returned to normal.

    In three years of walks, I've met dozens of people who'd had 15 experiences of rebirth or recovery. One man told me he'd lost 80 pounds walking the secret stairs and was dating for the first time in a decade. One woman told me she'd 16 knee operation. Another told me she'd been 17 to start ballroom dancing again.

    All I'd 18 from the walks was relief from pain. What I got was 19, community and a whole new experience of my city. Out of the car, on my feet and moving at walking pace, I 20 Los Angeles for the first time.

    Once there was a girl, named Kate. She was very polite and ready to help everybody. One day she found a pink paper bag on the way to school. She opened it and saw there was a lot of 1 in it. She thought she should hand it in to the teacher, so she 2 it in her schoolbag.

    When she went to the teacher's office, her teacher wasn't 3. As it was time for class, she hurried to the classroom. After class, she told her friend, Mary, about the money that she 4. Then, her greedy (贪婪的) friend took away the bag. After school, Kate wanted to go to the 5 office again, but she found the money was missing.

    The next day when the children were playing a game, Mary fell down and was hurt very badly. The other children stood around her and didn't know 6 to do. Kate kept calm and did something to stop bleeding. She told the others to go to teachers for 7. Soon a teacher took Mary to the 8 and the doctor examined her carefully. Within a week she was all right again. Kate became very popular in the school.

    Two weeks later Mary came to Kate's house. Her eyes were red. She was crying. She gave Kate the 9 paper bag with the money in it and said. “Kate, I have taken the money away. That day when you helped me, I felt very sad and now I decide to tell you the 10, you are such a nice friend! 11 Please don't tell the school about this please!” Then Kate said, “You are now 12, but you have done a bad thing. Though I will not tell anyone, I want you not to be greedy and 13 to do anything wrong.” The girl thanked Kate and 14.

    At the end of the term, Kate was given a 15 for being a very helpful girl in the school. Mary became an honest girl and was never greedy again.

Once wrong, never be wrong forever.

    A boy guarded the barrel(桶) in his father's winery. Every morning he1up every barrel with a piece of cloth, and then put them in2row upon row. To his 3, the wind blew the barrels here and there4. The boy was so angry that he wrote a letter to the wind, "Please don't blow down my barrels." After5that, his father asked the boy with a smile, "Can the wind read your6?" The little boy said, "I don't know, but I have no way of dealing with the wind."

    The next morning, when the little boy ran to look at the barrels, he found that the wind had7his request, still blowing the barrels here and there. The little boy felt8and burst into tears. His father stroked his head gently and said, "Son, don't be sad. We can't deal with the wind, but we can think of our own methods to 9the barrels.

    Then the little boy10his tears and sat near the barrels to think over and over. After thinking half a day, he finally11a way. He12some water from the well and poured it into those13barrels. At14, the little boy got up in a rush, ran out and saw the barrels still15in good order. He smiled happily and told his father, "We do have a way to16the barrels from blowing down. It's a very17way, that is, to add weights to the barrels." The little boy's father smiled 18.

    We can't change many things, but we can add the weight of our own19, so that we can stand20in the world not to be knocked over.

    Terry Fox never thought he'd live a great life. He liked sports, but no one thought he was talented. However, Terry was 1 for one reason he had determination.

    Terry was too short for basketball, but he worked harder at it. He also practiced cross-country running 2 he didn't like it. Finally he made the 3 team and even won the Athlete of the Year Award later.

    During his first year at university, he had a pain 4 his right knee, which was so bad that he 5 stand up. He went to the doctor for 6. They showed that he had cancer. He was going to lose one of his 7 and be given an artificial one.

    Terry's family and friends all gave him support. "Knowing that all those people cared really helped me," Terry said. He decided to face it with courage and 8.

    One night Terry was 9 through an article. It was about Dick Traum, who also had an artificial leg and had 10 the New York Marathon. "If he can do it," thought Terry, "I can, too. I'll run across Canada and 11 money for cancer research. It will be a Marathon of 12!"

    Terry did just that. He began to run a little every day. It is 5,300 miles across Canada. Terry hoped to run thirty to forty miles a day so that it would 13 him six months. Most of all, he hoped to raise $1 million for cancer research. Because Terry had an artificial leg, running wasn't 14. People supported Terry. As he ran, they 15 and cheered. However, he had to give up the Marathon after 3,339 miles, with a 16 pain in his chest. He told the people before he left, "I won't 17. I just hope people will 18 to give money." And they did. Just under $25 million was given.

    Terry 19 a lot of awards all his life. He passed away on June 28, 1981, almost a year after his Marathon of Hope. He was considered a 20 in all areas of his life.

    Susie Coodall finally was discovered and rescued. She was a volunteer in the 1 Golden Globe Race accompanying sailors through the 2 every June. On Wednesday morning, Goodall was 2, 000 miles west of South America when her boat was like a drunken man in a strong wind and a broken bar knocked her 3 unconscious. But soon after that she 4 and at once rang the alarm through her emergency system and a series of troubling 5which had recorded her happenings during the journey, were 6 on her Facebook at once.

    Chile's Maritime Center received her 7 and soon ordered a ship to change is 8 to rescue Goodall. Meanwhile, all Goodall could do was wait-trying to keep her boat 9in the waving South Pacific and pumping out water that was 10 into the damaged cabin(船舱), which made her 11 her present situation

    When the Chilean ship finally 12 Goodall, lowering down a small boat to save her seemed13because up to 13 feet waves will 14 the boat at any time. 15 , crew members on board 16 another way-lowered a long thick rope from the ship, and 17 Goodall from her ship to safety. As luck would have it, the chosen method 18 worked.

    Goodall arrived at the Chilean port without any delay. On her Facebook, Goodall wrote: "They were the hardest and loneliest days I've ever had. Actually, all I wanted was a break with to 19 to the busy daily life. But I might as well 20 home instead of giving up."

    There was once a bridge which crossed a large river. During most of the1the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to2through freely on both sides of the bridge. But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river, allowing a train to cross it.

    A switchman sat in a small house on one side of the river where he3the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed. One evening4the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance and5sight of the trainlights. He stepped to the control and6until the train was within a prescribed(规定的) distance to turn the bridge into7,but, to his horror, he found the locking control did not8. If the bridge was not securely in position it would wobble(摇晃) back and forth at the ends, causing the train to jump the9and go crashing into the river. This would be a passenger train with many people aboard. He10across the bridge to the other side of the river where he would have to hold the lever(控制杆) back11as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble(隆隆声) of the train now, and he took hold of the lever and12backward to apply his13to it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man's strength.

    Then, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. "Daddy, where are you?" His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to14him. The man almost left his lever to run and seize his son and carry him to15. But he realized that he could not get back to the lever. Either the people on the train or his little son must die. He took a16to make his decision.

    The train sped safely and swiftly on its way, and no one aboard was even17of the tiny broken body, thrown mercilessly into the river by the onrushing train. Nor did they notice the18figure of the sobbing man, still holding tightly the locking lever19after the train had passed. They did not see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked: to tell his wife20their son had brutally died.