When Dave was eighteen, he bought a second-hand car for ￡200 so that he could travel to and from work more 1 than by bus. It worked quite well for a few years, but then it got so old, and it was costing him2 much in repairs that he decided that he had better3 it.

    He asked among his friends to see if anyone was particularly4 to buy a cheap car, but they all knew that it was falling to pieces, so 5_of them had any desire to buy it.

    Dave's friend Sam saw that he was 6 when they met one evening, and said, “What's 7, Dave?” Dave told him and Sam answered, “Well, what about advertising it in the paper? You may8 more for it that way than the cost of the advertisement!” Thinking that Sam's 9was sensible, he put an advertisement in an evening paper, which read: “For sale: small car,10very little petrol, only two owners. Bargain at ￡50.”

    For two days after the advertisement first appeared, there was no 11. But then on Saturday evening a man rang up and said he would like to 12 him about the car. “All right,” Dave said, feeling happy. He asked the man whether ten o'clock the next morning would be 13or not. “Fine,” the man said. “And I'll 14 my wife. We intend to go for a ride in it to 15 it.”

    The next morning, at ten quarter, Dave parked the car in the square outside his front door,16 to wait there for the person who had 17 his advertisement. Even Dave had to 18 that the car really looked like a wreck (残骸). Then soon after he had got the car as 19 as it could be, a police car stopped just behind him and a policeman got out. He looked at Dave's car and then said, “Have you reported this 20 to us yet, sir?”

    While my father was an officer of the British army in South Africa, we lived in a two-storeyed house. One evening my father and sister and I were sitting together. He was1the window. I suddenly2that he was turning very pale. I sat3, for I didn't want to4my sick sister. Soon father said in a5voice, “Kate and Joan, a friend of mine6here to see me this evening, and I wish to be7him. Will you go up to your own room?” We obeyed, went to our room and closed the door.

    Soon I heard a8like that of a door burst in, and then a climb of feet. They were hurrying9the narrow stairs. Fearing that there was10near, I seized the pistol (手枪) on the table. Then I heard my father cry out, “For God's sake, child, 11the door.” I did so. To my scare, I saw,12my father's shoulder; a gorilla (大猩猩), the worst enemy of the soldier in Europe, he was13my father. I raised the pistol and fired. The animal fell backwards with an/a 14loud cry. Father took the still 15pistol from my hand, and fired another shot, which killed the gorilla.

    It happened when father 16us upstairs because he thought he would be able to 17the door—which was twenty feet away 18the animal reached it. However, the gorilla was too 19 and this was the cause of the 20flight (=escape) up the stairs.

    A lot happened to me while I lived on Thirteenth Street. I 1 school at Miss Marie Purkins' School for Little Folks kindergarten which I loved until I broke my leg one day 2  rope. And it wasn't3  a moving rope. One of the rope ends in the playground was tied to a tree, the other end to a swing set. The kids would  4  on one side and take turns running and jumping over it. All the other kids5 the rope.

    But I had no6I was a little short and fat anyway, and I was so slow that I was once the only kid at an Easter egg hunt who didn't get a7egg, not because I couldn't find them but because I couldn't get to them 8enough. On the day I tried to jump rope but I was wearing cowboy boots to school. Like a fool I didn't9the boots to jump. My heel 10  on the rope, so I turned, fell and hurt my leg. I lay in11on the ground for several minutes while Daddy12over from his company to get me.

    I had broken my leg above the knee, and13I was growing so fast, the doctor was 14to put me in a cast up to my hip.  15  he made a hole through my ankle, pushed a stainless steel bar through it. And then he 16 it to a stainless steel horseshoe, and 17 my leg up in the air over my hospital bed. For two months, I had been lying on my 18 feeling both foolish, waiting to return to my19 . I missed my playmates so much.

    After I got out of the hospital, my folks bought me a bicycle,20I never lost my fear of riding without the training wheels. No wonder people say, "Once bitten, twice shy."

    I woke up the other day to a phone call from a taxi driver. He had my friend's cell phone, and told me that my friend had1it in the cab the night before.

    It was a rainy2, which for cab drivers is a very busy time. The cab driver asked where he could3the cell phone off. I told him the cross4where I lived. I quickly got dressed and told him that I'd5him on the comer of the street.

    The driver drove all the 6from Queens to deliver the phone without 7. When I met up with him, I 8 and blessed him for having such a kind and beautiful9. I was so happy for my10because of this man's kindness! My friend had11 moved here and I could only imagine how 12 his cell phone was to him! I further asked the taxi driver if I could get his 13, so that my friend can thank him as well. He said my 14 and gratitude were all that he needed and drove off.

    I emailed my friend telling him I had his15and later that day I met up with him to tell him how I had16it. My friend said he couldn't believe such kindness should17in this big city. He told me he could not18to pay it forward.

    I was so 19 to see the kindness that happened early that morning. It just made my20!

    A heart-warming story tells of a woman who finally decided to ask her boss for a raise in salary. All day she felt 1. Late in the afternoon she gathered the 2to approach her employer. To her 3, the boss agreed to a raise.

    The woman arrived home that 4 and saw a beautiful table set with their best dishes. Candles were softly glowing. Her husband had come home early and prepared a festive 5. She wondered if someone from the 6 had told it to him, or... did he just somehow know that she would not get 7?

    She found him in the kitchen and told him the good 8. They hugged and kissed, then sat down to the wonderful meal. Next to her plate the woman 9 a beautifully lettered note. It read, "Congratulations, darling! I knew you'd get the 10! These things will tell you how much I love you."

    Following the supper, her husband went into the kitchen to 11 up. She noticed that a second card had 12 from his pocket. Picking it off the floor, she read, "Don't 13 not getting the raise! You deserve it 14! These things will tell you how much I love you."

    Someone has said that the 15of love is when you love without measure. What this man feels for his wife is total 16 and love, whether she succeeds or 17. His love celebrates her victories and calms her 18. He stands with her, no matter what 19 throws in their direction.

    Upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa said, "What can you do to 20world peace? Go home and love your family." And love your friends. Love them without measure.

    Growing up in the 1960s, I was taught from an early age to send a handwritten thank-you note expressing 1 for kindness. My mother used to buy me a box of paper and 2 me in the art and value of saying “thank you”. She 3 to be right.

    A study showed that it took most volunteers less than 5 minutes to write the thank-you notes. Just 5 minutes to make 4 person feel “overjoyed”! 5, in our “instant” world, the idea of getting an actual pen and writing an actual note seems to never come to mind. We tend to do what is 6 for us — a quick text or an email.

    It's easy to use the 7 of being busy, but even very busy and 8 businessmen find time to 9 thank-you notes. For example, when Doug Conant became CEO of Campbell's Soup, the company had 10 half of its market value and morale(士气) was at an all-time low. He 11fixing that by doing some simple things that are probably not 12 in any MBA class. For one thing, Conant wrote to every 13. He gained their confidence and 14, turned the company 15.

    In his ten years as CEO, Conant wrote over 30,000 notes to employees. It's 16 not to ask how he did it. 17, he had many other things to do 18 writing a thank-you note. Conant made time for 19 because he knew the impact(影响) each one would have. An expression of 20 in this crazy world still makes a difference.