Every day on the way to work I drive down a street lined with pine trees. One tree in particular1 my attention. It must have suffered some 2Part of its trunk grew nearly parallel to the ground, and then in an effort to 3its own course of life. The trunk took a 90-degree turn 4 to stand tall and stretch toward the sun.

    This tree became a5for me. Each day as I drove by, I saw this bent but determined tree and I would be 6. It was a reminder to me that 7I may not have had the best start in life, I could change8 in the parts of my life at any time.

    I was planning to stop one day to get a perfect 9of my kindred-spirit (志趣相同) tree. But that week I was10. After that busy week, I still didn't take any action. Every time I drove by the tree I would11 myself, “Tomorrow, I'll stop tomorrow to take one.” Then one day, as I 12by “my” tree, I glanced over, and much to my13 I found a sawed-off stump (树桩) where that symbolic tree had stood. Gone. I had14my plan until “tomorrow” and tomorrow proved to be too15.

    A picture of a tree is not of great 16. But my lesson rang through clearly17I found out one of my colleagues had been18 with stage-four cancer. He may no longer have many19.

    What have you been putting off? What would you do today if you knew you would 20 have the opportunity to do it again? Why not do those things that you have been putting off until tomorrow?

    “I just think a year ago, at 54 years of age, I couldn't swim. I was terrified at the thought of going into the water. Now, I have just1my 200 meters. It feels like a2 and it is all thanks to Everyday Swim.”

    It's never too late to learn swimming. Angela King, 55, is a perfect3of it .For years, she had to4sting on the side of a pool watching her family splash(拍水)around. Then in August 2016, the family went to an attraction they hadn't5for 15 years. Angela thought, “All this time, I still can't6When I get back home tomorrow, I'm going to find out more about swimming7”

    In the cold light of day, she felt a little8but her husband David searched the Inter-net for swimming classes. He found Everyday Swim at the local Hadleigh pool and9Angela to sign up. When she turned up for her first training, she says, “I felt a bit sick and10but this soon passed. The instructor11put me at ease, as did the other people in the class. They were all shapes and sizes12they were all feeling like me.”

    As the lessons13she learned to become more14in the water. At first, it was a simple15of learning she wasn't going to sink. Then during the third lesson, the Olympic gold medal winner Duncan Goodhew turned up to offer16“I couldn't believe it. He held my hand and we all held hands in a circle and splashed under the water. What he did made me believe that I could17it.

    When the 10 lessons for £100 offer finished at the pool, she18to sign up for lessons. In fact, from initially(开始) being19of the water, Angela was now becoming a regular swimmer and20some certificates along the way.

    At my heaviest I weighed 370 pounds. I had a very poor relationship with food: I used it to1 bad feelings, to make myself feel better, and to celebrate. Worried about my health, I tried many different kinds of 2 but nothing worked. I came to believe that I could do nothing about my 3 .When I was 50, my weight problem began to affect me4I didn't want to live the rest of my life with this5weight any more.

    That year, I 6 a seminar where we were asked to create a project that would touch the world. A seminar leader shared her 7 story — she had not only 125 lost pounds, but also raised $25,000 for homeless children.

    8 by her story, I created the As We Heal(痊愈), the World Heals 9 My goal was to lose 150 pounds in one year and raise $50,00010 a movement founded 30 years ago to end hunger. This combination of healing myself and healing the world 11 me as the perfect solution.

    12I began my own personal weight program, I was filled with the fear that I would 13 the same difficulties that beat me before. While the 14 hung over my head, there were also signs that I was headed down the right15 I sent letters to everyone I knew, telling them about my project. It worked perfectly. Donations began 16in from hundreds of people.

    Of course, I also took some practical steps to lose weight. I consulted with a physician（内科医生）, I hired a fitness coach, and I began to eat small and 17 meals. My fund-raising focus also gave me new motivation to exercise 18.

    A year later, I19 my goal: I lost 150 pounds and raised $50,000! I feel that I've been given a second life to devote to something that is 20 and enormous.

    It was 1933. I had been laid off my part-time job and could no longer make my1to the family larder(食品贮藏柜). Our only income was what Mother could make by doing dressmaking for others.

    Then Mother was2for a few weeks and unable to work. The electric company cut off the power3we couldn't pay the bill. Then the gas company cut off the gas. Then the4company. But the Health Department made them5the water back on for reasons of sanitation(卫生设备) The cupboard got very bare. 6we had vegetable garden and were able to cook some of its7in a campfire in the backyard.

    Then one day my younger sister came tripping8 from school, saying: "We're supposed to 9something to school tomorrow to give to the poor."

    Mother started to blurt out, "I don't know of anyone who is10poorer than we are," when her mother, who was living with us at the time, shushed (嘘) her with hand on her arm and11.

    "Eva," she said, "if you12that child the idea that she is one of the poor folks'13 her age, she will be one of the poor folks' for the rest of her14. There is one jar of that homemade jelly15.She can take that.

    Grandmother16our last jar of jelly with some tissue paper and a little bit of pink ribbon, and Sis17to school the next day18 carrying her" gift to the poor”.

    And, 19if there was a problem in the community, Sis just naturally assumed that she was supposed to be part of the20.

    Zigfried, a little mouse, blew his breath on the frosty window of the farmhouse and rubbed it to see the outside. Still nobody came. Maybe today, he thought 1. It was only a few days before Christmas and he was watching for a miracle (奇迹).

    This farmhouse had been 2 too long. It needed a family. Zigfried's3 made a noise. He realized that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. He jumped from the windowsill (窗沿), grabbed a4  from his home, and went next door to Farmer Mike's.

    Farmer Mike's house had been a great place for the little mouse5the farmer married a wife who had a cat. Zigfried6when he thought of it. He looked around cautiously as he7  into the room where grain was stored and was quite8as he filled his bag with wheat. He was turning to leave when suddenly he9 a hot breath about his ear. His heart beat10 , and without thinking he started to run and luckily11 the cat's paws (爪子).

    The next afternoon Zigfried heard some good news: a 12family would be moving into the farmhouse soon. Zigfried's granny would arrive on Christmas Eve to13with him. He hoped that the family would come before his granny came. Before long, a car came14 the road leading to the house, with butter sandwiches, cheese and chocolate.

    Zigfried's Christmas miracle did arrive!

    The house came15 the next few days. Zigfried16 every single hour of them.17 the day before Christmas when he was drinking hot chocolate with a 18 smile at the door of his home, he heard the19of the children of the family about what they might get for Christmas. What? A cat? The20 froze on his face; his mouth fell wide open. After a long while, he at last found his voice: "Hey! Whose Christmas miracle is this?"

The Gift of Forgiveness

    The summer I turned 16, my father gave me his old 69 Chevy Malibu convertible. What did I know about classic cars? For me, the important thing was that Hannah and I could1around Tucson with the top down.

    Hannah was my best friend, a year younger but much2. That summer she3with a modeling agency, doing catalog and runway work.

    A month after my birthday, Hannah and I went to the movies. On the way home, we4at the McDonald's drive-through, putting the fries in the space between us to5. "Let's ride around awhile," I said. It was a clear night, hot, full moon hanging low over the desert. Taking a curve (弯) too6, I ran over some dirt and fishtailed. I then moved quickly through a neighbor's landscape wall and drove into a full-grown palm tree. The front wheel came to rest halfway7the tree trunk.

    There were French fries on the floor, the dash (仪表盘) and my lap. An impossible amount of8was on Hannah's face, pieces of skin hanging around her eyes. We were taken in separate ambulances. In the emergency room, my parents spoke quietly: "Best plastic surgeon (整容医生) in the city…but it is more likely the9of her modeling career…"

    We'd been wearing lap belts,10the car didn't have shoulder belts. I'd broken my cheekbone on the steering wheel; Hannah's11had split wide open on the dash. What would I say to her?

    When her mother, Sharon, came into my hospital room, I started to cry, preparing myself for her12. She sat beside me and took my hand. "I drove into the back of the car of my best friend when I was your age," she said. "I completely13her car and mine."

    "I'm so sorry," I said.

    "You're both14," she said. "Everything else doesn't matter." I started to explain, and Sharon stopped me. "I15you. Hannah will too."

    Sharon's forgiveness allowed Hannah and me to get back in the car together that summer, to stay16throughout high school and college, to be in each other's weddings. I think of her gift of forgiveness every time I tend to feel angry about someone for a perceived(可感知到的)17, and whenever I see Hannah. The scars (伤疤) are now18and no one else would notice, but in the sunlight I can still19the faint, shiny skin just below her hairline—for20, a sign of forgiveness.