“I have a letter for you,” my friend Kirsten told me on the phone. “I think it's from your mother.” I was 1 since my mother had been 2 for seven years.

    A few weeks later Kirsten handed me the 3 dated Aug. 30, 2002. Around then I was preparing for my pilot course's final exam at the 4 school. The students finished the training on5 days.

    I was the first to6. My mother's letter 7after I left. Kirsten picked it up from my mail-box, to keep8 she next saw me9 a few days later, when it was her turn to leave, she 10the letter among the piles of papers she11 packed into boxes. It12there for a decade, during which my mother died. In 2013, when Kirsten 13 some dusty belongings from her flying school days, she 14the letter.

    It's been two years since Kirsten gave me the letter which I've carried on my long flights. But I haven't15 it yet. When I told some friends this, they 16their heads. They said they wouldn't have been able to wait a second. Of course, I17How could I not? -about her 18 in the envelope. Surely, I think, she had written to wish me luck, ask about my life and tell me the news from 19to make me at ease. However, for now it's20 to look at her handwriting on the envelope, and to remember that until I open it, I know I'll hear from her once more.

    Judging people by what he or she looks like has become a common practice in our daily life. Is it wise to do so? The 1 is "no".

    One day, a(n) 2lady and her husband, both 3in old but tidy clothes, walked into the 40ffice of Harvard University without being 5 The president could6in a moment that they had no business at Harvard, and probably didn't deserve(值得)to stay here. For hours, the president 7 them, hoping that they would 8become discouraged and go away. 9, they didn't. Then the lady said with great care, "We had a son that 10Harvard University, he loved Harvard. Unfortunately, he was killed 11. We would like to donate(捐钱)a building to Harvard University in memory of our son." The president was 12at what he heard. He stared at the ordinary woman, "Donate a building? Do you have an 13 how much a building costs? We 14more than seven million dollars setting up a chemistry lab, can you 15 to set up a building?"

    The lady was 16 for a moment. The president was pleased: He could 17them now. The lady turned to her 18and said quietly, "Is that all costs to start a 19?" her husband nodded. The couple walked away, travelling back to Palo Alto, California 20 they built a university named after their son-Stanford University, which turned out to be a famous university in America.

    The LEGO story started in a Danish woodworking shop. At the time, Ole Kirk Christiansen was just a(n)1 carpenter working in a local shop. But he always had big dreams. As a young man, Christiansen turned　his love of playing with wood into a 2 and, in 1916, he opened his own shop.

    At first, his shop produced furniture like ladders, stools and ironing boards. But in 1924, his sons 3set a pile of wood chips in the shop on fire, 4 the entire building and the family's home.

    Despite a total 5, Christiansen saw the fire as an excuse to simply 6 a larger workshop. Tragedy (悲剧) continued to 7, however. In 1929, the American economic depression broke out, and his wife died in 1932. Affected by 8 and financial disaster, Christiansen unemployed many of his workers　and 9 to make ends meet. 10 did he know that those tragedies would be of importance for his business to 11.

    Since times were so 12, Christiansen made the hard decision to use his wood to create 13goods that might actually sell. The decision didn't pay off at first. But his love of toys pushed the company ahead, even when it was 14 the toughest times.

    It turned out he was a brilliant toymaker. Soon, his wonderful models of cars and animals and his adorable pull toys gained a national popularity. His bestseller, a wooden duck15 mouth opens and closes when pulled, is now still a hot hit. By 1949, his company created a plastic product called the Automatic Binding Brick. And their toys became more and more popular as the years passed.

    Do birds have a favorite color? It's probably not a question you've ever 1 but a project designed to answer that question led to two British schoolboys 2 the Young Scientist Award of the year after presenting their 3 to a group of judges.

    The boys' 4 to find out whether birds have a(n) 5 for a particular color came purely from scientific curiosity. Both of them are very 6 about nature and the power of colors in things, 7 they worked as a perfect combination and 8 a citizen science project that didn't require fancy equipment.

    The boys 9 bird feeders in their back gardens. Each garden had five feeders, colored blue, green, red, yellow and transparent. They made sure to change the position of the feeders regularly, 10 it affected the results and then placed a 11 for an hour each morning, afternoon and evening across all four seasons to 12 birds visiting each feeder. They collected 13 covering a total period of 400 hours.

    When the experiment finished, they had recorded the birds' 14 to the gardens added up to 3,205, with over a third being to the 15 feeders. It was a conclusive win for blue. The pair believe that blue is 16 to birds because of its familiarity, while red and yellow are often 17 of poison in nature.

    Later, the boys considered 18 for their findings, such as using the less popular colors of red and yellow to 19 bird strikes on planes. There seems to be quite a strong connection between the 20 of planes and the number of bird strikes.

You Did More Than Carry My books

    Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with a baseball bat and several other things. Mark 1 down and helped the boy pick up these articles. 2 they were going the same way, he helped to carry some of them for him. As they walked Mark 3 the boy's name was Bill, that he 4 computer games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of 5 with his other subjects and that he had just broken 6 with his girlfriend.

    They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was 7 in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed 8 with a few laughs and some shared small talk, and then Mark went home. They 9 to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, and then both ended up from the same high school. Just three weeks before 10, Bill asked Mark if they 11 talk.

    Bill 12 him of the day years ago when they had first met. "Do you 13 wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I 14 out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess(脏乱) 15 anyone else. I had planned to run away and I was going home to 16 my things. But after we spent some time together 17 and laughing, I realized that 18 I had done that, I would have 19 a new friend and missed all the fun we would have together. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You20 my life."

It was 1:30 at night in an Alaskan village. Ida Nelson was staying in bed with her sister when she heard the sound of a small airplane 1 the nearby airport. Nelson and her sister jumped to their feet, ran to the window, and saw the 2 : The airport's runway lights were out.

Nelson3 some clothes, jumped into her ATV, and4 it to the airport, where she found a local pilot 5 to turn on the lights, but in vain. Meanwhile she and the pilot learned of the plane's6 : It was a medevac (救伤直升机)，there to 7a seriously ill local girl to the nearest hospital, 280 miles away in Anchorage.

Nelson had a 8. Diving her ATV to the end of the runway. she shone her headlights on the tarmac (飞机跑道) for the plane to 9 . Great idea, but it wasn't enough. More light was needed, so a 10 neighbor called nearly every home in the village—32 of them.

Within 20 minutes, 20 vehicles 11on one side of the runway. The medevac,12 by the headlights landed safely. The young patient was loaded onto the aircraft, and the plane 13took off again. Her illness was never publicly14 but she has been released from the hospital.

In a world filled with uncertainty, as Nelson told CNN, coming together is kind of15