In the middle of a beautiful day, I was feeling lost, as if the world was crashing on me. didn't know which way to go, except to head out to the countryside. I went to the spot where I used to take my kids-when I still had kids. Now they had  1and were leaving.

I was sitting alone in my car when I saw a man in his seventies, whose problem appeared bigger than mine. He stood near the edge of the road,2a kite spindle(风筝线锭) in his hands. Apparently, lost in thought, he stared skyward. I 3my neck to see how successful he had been in 4 the clouds. Following his string with my eyes, I almost lost5 of the other end. Finally, the kite rested on what seemed to be the highest branch of the 6tree in the park.  Obviously,  that was his grandson's kite!  The kite was a replica (复制品) of a beautiful bald eagle, and its wings spread 70pen. Grandpa had only one 8to his problem: cut the string.

"You wanted it to fly as high as it could. Bill. didn't you?" "Yes, Grandpa,9 wanted to keep it forever. " "There just comes a time when the only thing you can do is to cut the string and let it go. Perhaps by doing that, when it flies very high like real eagles do, it will come back to us. " Grandpa said.

    I 10 how the old man cut the string to let fly the kite. As the two walked away, looked to the 11. There I saw my answer, too. Today I have to cut the final strings that kept my two boys 12my reach. Though I want to keep them forever, I have taught them to fly like an eagle. Maybe by doing this, when it's time to soar like real eagles do. one day they would come back to me.

    From the first week of high school,my best friend,Trisha,was always going out with the popular girls.1I thought,“It's okay;she's just making new friends.”But soon I realized that Trisha wasn't interested in me anymore.I'd 2my best friend.It really hurt.

    One day,I told Trisha that we should3pretending（假装）to be friends when we really weren't anymore.I wasn't trying to make her mad,4she was.After that,Trisha started talking about me behind my back,telling people that I was5.Some of our friends6with her.I felt like she was taking them away from me.

    The more I thought about it,the7I got.Finally,I8a picture of Trisha and drew lines on her face.I wrote,“I 9this person”across the bottom.And then I did something I'll always10: I put it on a website I thought was11. I thought people would see it,and it felt good to vent（发泄）.

    A week later,Trisha's mom saw the12.She called my mom,who made me take it off the website right away. However,it was already too13.Lots of people had seen it,and I was in a lot of14.

    That whole day,I felt15.I had to say sorry to Trisha face to face.She said she accepted my apology（道歉）,but I felt she was16angry with me.

    Posting that picture was one of the worst17I've ever made.I realize now I could have found a much better way to deal with my18.If I'd just told Trisha how much I19her,maybe things would have turned out20.It's too late for me to change things,but I hope you'll learn from my mistake.

    Were you happy and a little worried at the time? I thought so. Soon it would be the holidays, but before that, there were year exams. All the1had been working hard for some time, reviewing their lessons for the exams. If they didn't 2, they would have to retake them in September. There were usually a few who 3, but Jane didn't want to be one of them. She had worked hard all year, 4 just before the exams she was working so hard that her sister Barbara was 5about her. She went to bed too 6. The night before the first exam, Barbara 7 that she have an early night and take a 8pill. She promised to wake 9 up in the morning.

    She was not relaxed. As she was falling asleep, Jane was afraid that she might oversleep. Her 10 kept jumping from subject to subject. At last, with the help of 11, she went to sleep. In no time（不久）at all, she was sitting in the examination hall, looking at the examination 12 , but she couldn't answer any of the questions. 13 around her was writing pages and gages. 14she thought hard, she couldn't find anything to write 15. She kept looking at her 16. Time was running out. There was only an hour to go. She started one question, wrote two sentences, 17 and tried another one. With only half an hour left she wrote another two sentences. By this time she was so worried that she started 18. Her whole body shook. It shook so much that she 19 up. She was still in bed and it had all been a 20 dream. A minute later, Barbara called her name.

    Herman Travis, 55, lives in Holly Courts, a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco. Every Tuesday, Travis 1a shopping cart with groceries from a local food bank (食品赈济站). Then he makes home 2 to his elderly and disabled 3. He started doing it in 2007 and when he first 4, people were doubtful. They didn't welcome it as he had 5. "At first people were 6. They didn't let me in. However, 7 they got to really know me they would just be 8 to see me," Travis once told me.

    I am one of Travis' neighbors who 9deliveries from him. Like everyone else, I 10 appreciate his help, and love to see the joy Travis gets out of making his rounds. I'm 11 with the way he handled himself with the people here. He's so very kind and warm, always smiling, as if he's 12 a favor for his own family. 13 , people are happy when they see him coming, knowing they are treated with 14.

    There are people in nearby15that have been trying to steal Travis for years. They suggest 16 him to go and deliver food for them. But he simply wouldn't do it for money.

    What Travis does for us might be 17 things, but he does them with big love. It's 18 rewarding for himself. And for those of us who receive his 19every week, it is truly20. He's a modern-day hero.

    Christmas 1940 makes me misty-eyed every time I think about it. In the hard times, people1one another. We2food, clothing, bedding and household items and gave them to the needy.

    That Christmas we students found ourselves3toys we collected and loading packages for4.As we presented the gifts, we saw5in many faces, especially those of the children. We had a few more6to make on Christmas morning. The air was heavy and frozen to the bone. For several hours, we knocked on doors. But as the cold hours passed, our7gradually faded. When we8headed home, someone9a small house down a canal bank. None of us knew who lived there,10we wondered if there were11.We still had a doll, two trucks, some small toys, chocolate Santas and a box of groceries. We decided to make one last visit. When we knocked on the door, a young woman answered it, looking at us12.Three small children watched from behind her skirt—a little girl of about 2, and boys perhaps 4 and 5 years old. “Merry Christmas,” we13as we bent down and handed the gift-wrapped packages to the children and the box of groceries to the 14, whose eyes widened15.She slowly smiled, then quickly said, “Come in.” The room was16as the children looked at their mother, wondering if the gifts were really for them. The little girl17her doll, and the boys grasped the trucks as they sought a(an)18.She put her arms19them and said in a20voice, “I told you Santa Claus would come.”

    Two brothers, Ruby and Harry lived in Spain. They 1 for years to buy their mom a very special Christmas present this year: a BWM 3 Series.

    “Showing 2 to our beautiful Mum who's worked so hard to 3 us everything in life,” Ruby, 30, told the media. “Compared to the 4 she has made for us over the years, this is nothing.” He said the 5 had been in the works for years.

    “My mother wanted a BMW ten years ago, which we never 6,” he said. “We said that one day we would get her one and we 7 a little each week knowing one day we would be able to get her 8 car.”

    Ruby and his brother Harry saved for about five years 9 they bought the car. Their mother appears 10, saying “no” over and over again as the two brothers 11 her to the garage to have a look at a silver BMW.

    “She was just very surprised and couldn't 12it,” he said. “We were sure she 13 loved it.”

    They gave her the car as an early Christmas gift, but also as a 14 to say thank you. It will 15 their mom's current one.

    “She 16us two brothers and worked two jobs for most of her life to 17 us in school and give us everything we 18,” Ruby said. “We watched her go from her 19 job on Friday, get changed and 20 the weekend at a restaurant.”

    He added, “Maternal love is the most selfless love under the sun and we just thought it would be nice to show how grateful we are for everything and remind ourselves that thankfulness is a virtue.”