Several decades of years ago, I ran a service station and roadhouse on the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide. One very cold, wet night at about 3∶30 a.m., there was a 1on the front door of our house. A young man, wet from2 to toe, explained that he had3 out of petrol about 30 km up the road. He had left his pregnant wife and his two children 4 at the car and said that he would hitchhike(搭便车) back.

    Once I had 5 a can with petrol, I took him back to his car where his two-year-old and four-year-old children were both6  , saying that they were cold. Once the car had started, I suggested that he  7 me back.

Before leaving, I had turned the heater 8in the roadhouse, so that when we went in, it was nice and9.While the little ones played and ran 10 , I prepared bread and butter for the children, and hot chocolate for the _11_ .

    It was about 5 a.m. before they  12.The young fellow asked me how much he  13 me and I told him that the petrol pump(加油泵)had  14 $15.He offered to pay “call-out fee”, but I wouldn't accept it.

    About a month later, I received a  15from Interstate, a large bus company that we had been trying to 16 to stop off at our roadhouse for a long time. It  17 out that the young fellow I had helped was its general manager, the most  _18 person in the company.

    In his letter, he thanked me again and 19me that, from then on, all their buses would stop at my service station. In this  20 , a little bit of kindness was rewarded with a huge amount of benefits.

The spirits of giving

    Two weeks before Christmas, two girls were walking down the street, laughing on some ice that remained from a recent snow. Merrily they shared what they hoped to 1from Christmas.

    They stopped to talk to an old man named Harry, who was on his knees2weeds around a large oak tree. He wore a pair of 3garden gloves. His fingers were sticking out of the ends, blue from the4.

    Harry told them he was getting the yard in 5as a Christmas gift for his mother, who had died several years before. He said with his eyes 6with tears,"My mother was all I had. She loved her7and her trees, so I do this for her at Christmas."

    His words8the girls and soon they were down on their hands and knees helping him 9around the trees. When they were finished, Harry pressed a quarter into each of their hands and said, "I wish I could 10 you more, but it's all I've got right now."

    The girls had often passed his house, and as they 11 on they remembered that the house was always12. No decorations to add cheerfulness were anywhere in sight. Harry sat behind curtain windows, looking 13.

    The quarter in one little girl's palm(手心) seemed to burn a hole of guilt 14 they walked on. The next day she called her friend and they 15 to put their quarters in a jar marked "Harry's Christmas Present". Then they began to seek out small jobs to16more. Every nickel, dime and quarter they earned went into the jar.

    Two days before Christmas, they had enough money to buy new 17and a card. Christmas Eve found them18Harry's doorstep singing carols(圣诞颂歌). When Harry opened the door, they presented him with the gloves wrapped in pretty paper and a19pumpkin pie a mother had just baked. With 20hands he tore open the paper from the gloves, and then to their surprise, he held them to his face and wept.

    There was once a boy called Joseph Webb who always loved to show off how many friends he had at school. One day his 1 said to him, “Joseph, I 2 you a big bag of popcorn that you don't have as many friends as you think. I'm sure many of them are nothing more than companions.”

    Joseph 3 the bet at once. However, he wasn't sure how to 4 whether his schoolmates were real friends or not, so he asked his grandfather. The old man answered, “Wait a minute.” Then he left and 5 soon as though carrying something in his hands, but Joseph could see 6 there.

    “Take it. It's a very 7 chair because it's invisible (看不见). It's rather 8 to sit on, but if you take it to school and 9 to sit on it, you'll activate (激活) its 10 and it'll be able to tell who your real friends are.”

    Joseph, brave and determined, set off for 11 with the strange and invisible chair. At break time he asked everyone to form a(n) 12, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair. Having difficulty seeing it, Joseph tried to sit on it but he 13 the seat and fell straight onto his backside. Everyone around him had a pretty good 14.

    Wait! Let me try again, Joseph said. But again, he missed the seat, 15 more surprised looks and a few catcalls (尖叫,喝倒彩). Joseph didn't 16 and kept trying to sit on the magic chair. But he kept falling to the ground…until, suddenly he tried again but didn't 17. Looking around, Joseph saw three of his best friends holding him up. 18, many others he had thought of as friends had done nothing but make fun of him. And there, the show came to an end. Joseph understood that 19 friends were those who care for him, and not just the 20 that happened to be passing by. And someone who took joy in his misfortunes (不幸) was even less of a friend.

    Hunter Shamatt lost his wallet while he was on a flight from Omaha to Denver earlier this month. Upon realizing that his wallet was lost, he 1 the airline to see if anyone had turned it in — but fruitlessly. 2the wallet contained his ID, a signed paycheck, $60 in cash, etc, he feared the worst.

    Two days after the flight, however, Hunter was 3 to receive a package in the mail from an anonymous (匿名的) sender. Inside was his wallet — 4 an additional $40 in cash. "I rounded your cash up to an even $100 so you could celebrate the 5 of your wallet.", read a letter that was enclosed with the package.

    Hunter's mother, Jeannie, posted a photo of the 6 to social media in hopes that they would be able to track down the sender. All they had to go on was that the letter was 7 from Applied Underwriters in Omaha and the sender's initials were signed "T.B". The sender was later 8 as Todd Brown, who was delighted to "have a little fun" with helping out a hard­working stranger.

    "I saw he was just a kid, 20 years old. He had a paycheck in there, so I 9, 'Well, he's doing his best to make ends meet.' " said Brown. "Hunter was very 10. He told me he has some student loans to pay within two days so the 11 was right," Brown added, "He 12 it was gone forever. So when he opened it, he just started screaming, 'No way! No way!'"

    Brown says that he often tries to do good things without any recognition; that's why he didn't sign his 13on the letter, but Jeannie later insisted on 14 him on social media. Jeannie wrote on Facebook, "This story is more about rebuilding 15 in people than anything."

    I was touched so much. A while back, my three-year-old son and I settled back for his goodnight1. We lay down in his little bed and he said, "Daddy, when I get big can I live with you?" I assured him he could live with me2he wanted to.

    A moment later he said, "When you die you're going to feel3on your face and it will be me touching you." Then he4,"I will kiss you." He moved over, kissed me. I was aware of tears suddenly welling up in my eyes. I didn't want to explain5I was crying; as I opened my eyes to look at him, he was already6.

    I spent some time looking at him,7the minute and wondering about the depth of the8I'd had. It occurred to me that I didn't remember having much of this kind of9time with my father, and that this was a time that would be10short-lived. This time of11that forms a three-year-old's life, would soon be12. What will remain, however, will be the13of this short while reoccurring in my mind non-stop. It made all of the difficult14of being a father worthwhile.

    Sometimes, being a committed (承担义务的) father can feel like you're15the doorkeeper, driver, and16in the house. Then you will have "a17", one like this in which your child expresses18, pure, and unconditional love for you.

    When your kids have19home and you look back at these years, all of these will be strung (绑) together to20the memories of their lives with you.

I recently read Pablo Picasso's quote, "I'm always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." It reminded me of myself—and how I do, learn, and improve. I recalled one of my earliest memories of doing before learning: baking scones(烤饼) when I was 10 years old. I wanted to bake scones for my mom.

I always sat at the kitchen table when my mom baked, and I had observed her process numerous times. She always used a recipe book and followed the process carefully. As I started to try, I didn't know I shouldn't handle the dough (面团) with my hands too much once I had added the baking powder(发酵粉). However, I knew exactly how to roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to cut the scones, because I had repeated it in my mind hundreds of times.

As my mom arrived home, the smell of freshly baked scones welcomed her into the kitchen. They were baked to golden brown perfection—flat, as a result of over-handling the dough, but they tasted OK. My mom praised me for my attempt, rather than blaming me for the state of the kitchen, which was a surprise! That night she told my dad how proud she was, and what a good job I'd done. Over time, she taught me the finer tricks of baking and cooking.

My habit of doing before learning still stands me in good stead. Whatever computer program or application I have to learn, I do so by simply starting to use it. I learn as I go on, and I've often been able to help others because I've gone through the process of learning from beginning to end. What I discovered from my experience is the wisdom to know when it's OK to do and then learn, and when it's probably better to learn and then do!