When Marcus, a homeless man, walked into a small cafe, begging for spare change, he didn't get 1. Instead, Cesia, the owner, kindly asked why he didn't have a job. 2 his head to avoid eye contact, he replied, "I used to be in prison and no one wants to 3 me." Although Cesia had hit some hard times of her own at the cafe, she was short of hands that day and 4 Marcus a position, washing dishes for two hours.

With a big smile, Marcus 5 accepted it. While Marcus was busy with the dishes, Cesia made him a sandwich. Marcus immediately walked out to the street and 6 it with a homeless woman. "Do you know the lady over there?" she asked out of 7. "No, but I know she is hungry." That really 8 Cesia.

Since business was not good, Cesia couldn't 9 to employ him. So at the end of that day, they said their goodbyes. 10, much to her surprise, Marcus continued to 11 on time for work every day. When he got 12, he bought food from the cafe, refusing to take it for free. When asked why, he said, "It makes me feel 13." Marcus was showing that he was really a nice person. For Cesia who was going through a dark period, Marcus became a 14 in her life.

"People need someone who 15 them and even lends a helping hand." Cesia wrote on Facebook, "Just like Marcus, I had my 16 when in trouble. I had many people to help make it to where I am today. Do something 17 for someone else and don't 18 them just because they're out there asking for money, for we don't know their real 19. Some deserve another 20."

    When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my 1. Week by week her list grew: I was very thin; I wasn't a 2student; I talked too much; I was too3 , always feeling superior to（胜过）others, and so on. I tried to hear all this as long as I could. 4, I became very angry. I ran to my father with 5in my eyes.

    He6 to me quietly, and then he asked. “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn't you ever 7what you're really like? Well, you now have that girl's8. Go and9a list of everything she said and mark the points that are10. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

    I did11 he told me. To my great12, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't 13 (like being very thin), but a good number I could – and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I went to a fairly 14picture of myself.

    I brought the list back to Daddy. He15to take it. “That's just for you,” he said. “You know16than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to17, not just close your ears in 18, feeling hurt when something said about you is true, you'll find it of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your affairs. Don't 19your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”

    Daddy's advice has always 20 me at many important moments. In my life, I've never had a better piece of advice.

    There was a businessman who was deep in debt and could see no way out.

    He sat on the park bench, head in hands,1if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.

    Suddenly an old man appeared before him. “I can see that something is2you.” he said.

    After listening to the executive, the old man said: “I believe I can help you.”

    He asked the man his name, wrote out a3, and pushed it into his hand saying: “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.”

    Then he turned and disappeared as4as he had come.

    The businessman saw in his hand a check for $500,000,5by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!

    “I can6my money worries in an instant!” he realized. But7, he decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the8to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    With renewed9, he negotiated better deals. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

    Exactly one year later, he returned to the10with the uncashed check. At the11time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to12the check and share his success story, a13came running up and grabbed the old man.

    “I'm so delighted I14him!” she cried. “I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's15escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller.”

    And she led the old man away16the arm.

    The businessman just stood there,17.All year long he'd been buying and selling.18he had half a million dollars behind him.

    Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or19, that had turned his life around. It was his20self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

    William Butler Yeats, a most famous Irish writer, was born in Dublin on June 13, 1865. His childhood1the harmony that was2of a happy family. Later, Yeats shocked his family by saying that he remembered "little of childhood but its pain". In fact, he3excellent taste in art from his family — both his father and his brother were painters. But he finally4literature,5drama and poetry.

Yeats had strong6in the coming of new artistic movements. He set himself the7task in founding an Irish national theatre in the late 1890s. His early theatrical experiments,8, were not received9at the beginning. He didn't lose heart, and finally enjoyed 10in his poetical drama.

    11with his dramatic works, Yeats's poems attract much12notice. The subject matter includes love, nature, history, time and aging. Though Yeats generally relied on very traditional forms, he brought modern13to them. As his literary life14, his poetry grew finer and richer, which led him to worldwide15.

    He had not16a major public life17winning the Nobel Prize in 1923. Yet, he continued writing almost to the end of his life. Had Yeats stopped writing at age 40, he would probably now be18as a minor poet, for there is no other example in literary history of a poet who19his greatest works between the ages of 50 and 75. After Yeats's death in 1939, W. H. Auden wrote, among others, the following lines:

    Earth, receive an20guest:

    William Yeats is laid to rest.

    Let the Irish vessel (船) lie.

    Emptied of its poetry.

    With his leg lame and his teeth uneven, the boy thought of himself as the most unfortunate child in the world. He 1played with his classmates, and when asked to answer questions, he always 2his head without a word.

    One spring, his father brought home some saplings (树苗).3of his children would plant a sapling and he promised, "Whoever 4 his sapling best shall get a gift." The boy certainly wanted to get the gift.5seeing his brothers and sisters watering the trees, he6 an idea: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So watering it once or twice, he never7 it.

    Several days later, he was 8 to find it not only didn't die, but also grew so many fresh 9. Compared with those of his brothers and sisters, his appeared greener. His father kept his 10, bought the boy a gift and said he would become an outstanding11 after growing up.

    From then on, the boy slowly became12 and confident. One evening, he suddenly13 his biology teacher once said that plants 14 grow at night. Why not go to see the tree?

    When he came to the courtyard, he found his father working near the tree! Immediately he15: Father had been secretly 16 his tree! He returned to his room, tears in his eyes.

    Decades passed. The boy didn't become a botanist. 17, he became the U.S.18. His name was Franklin Roosevelt.

    19 is the best nourishment (滋养品) of life. 20 it is just a bucket of water, it can make the tree of life grow well!

    Clara Daly was seated on an Alaska Airlines flight when a flight attendant asked a(n) 1question over the loudspeaker, "Does anyone on board know American Sign Language?"

    Clara, 15 at the time 2 the call button. The flight attendant came by and 3 the situation. "We have a passenger on the plane who's 4 and deaf." she said. The passenger seemed to want something, but he couldn't 5 his message.

    Clara 6 to have been studying ASL for the past year and knew she'd be able to finger spell into the man's palm. So she 7 her seat belt and walked toward the seat of Tim Cook, then 64.

    8 taking his hand  she 9, "Are you OK?" Cook asked for some water.

    When it arrived, Clara returned to her seat. She came by again a bit later because he wanted to know the time. On her third 10, she stopped and stayed a while.

    "He didn't need anything. He was lonely and wanted to 11." Clara says.

    So for the next hour, that's what they did. She talked about her plans for the future. Cook told Clara12 he had gradually become blind over time and 13 stories of his days as a traveling salesman. Even though he couldn't see her, she "looked 14 at his face with such kindness," a passenger reported, "We can see she smiled with happiness, 15 she made a difference in someone's life."

    "Clara was amazing." a flight attendant told Alaska Airlines in a blog interview. "You could tell Tim was very 16 to have someone he could speak to, and she was such a(n) 17."

    Cook's 18, "Best trip I've ever had."

    Learned a lot. The best thing for 19 is to learn something. Learning is the only thing that never 20.