It was Christmas evening. I just 1home from the nearby grocery store with all kinds of things. The kitchen was2with brown bags and boxes. On seeing me coming back, my youngest son, Isaiah, reached me and 3 if I would play a game with him.

    I took Isaiah's  4 . He stood there and his green eyes were5. “Here is a Christmas6 for you. Please find it. You can see something silver.” he said. I began to look for it. I 7 the table in the corner and some other places.

    After a few seconds, I saw there was a  8 snow globe on the top of the piano. It was silvery and beautiful. I held the cool 9 in my hands. Isaiah said to me that it was to 10 the one that he had broken the year before.. I was puzzled completely. So I bent my 11 beside him. He added12aved enough money and asked his elder brother, Logan to help him buy this one to13 the broken one. They just wanted to give me a (n)14 .

    Logan nodded and smiled. When I15 the key on the bottom of the globe, the quiet room was full of elegant music. Isaiah said, “Mum, do you remember how I by accident 16 your snow globe? It broke on the ground17 the music was still going on. I was so, so sad.”His face turned a little18 . But the truth was that I did not quite 19the broken snow globe after a long time. But Isaiah had been sorry for his 20 all the time. I was sure I would keep this snow globe in my mind forever.

    Since my childhood, I always dreamed of becoming a full - time writer. Two years after my graduation, I 1my job and made up my mind to realize my 2.

    No one could tell me 3I would succeed or not. I rented a cold storage room in a building, set up a used desk and4 to write. I had too many things to write and I had to write because the5was full of my heart.

    After a year or so, however, I began to doubt myself. I found it6to earn my living by selling what I wrote. I can't remember how many times my novels were7during that year. But I8to put my dream to the test—even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of9I believed anyone with a dream must learn to struggle for the10 .

    During the most difficult period of my life, one of my classmates came to see me and tried to 11me, “Yun, come to our company, and we will 12you 2,000 yuan a month.” 2,000 yuan was really a big13at that time. It would enable me to live14As the money were dancing in my 15, something cleared my senses. Hadn't I dreamed of being a writer A full - time writer.

    “Thanks, but no,” I said16 , “I'm going to stick to writing.”

    Again and again, I said to myself, “I will be17. People will love my novels.”

    Finally my first novel was 18 in 1991. I had the kind of fame and success that few writers ever 19.

    Twenty years have passed, but the effect it had on my life has lasted. Now I often20the time working in that cold storage room. I will say, “Anyone with a dream, courage and persistence will be successful.”

    I was doing a year of voluntary service abroad for people with learning disabilities. It was set in an English 1 ， quite different from my home in Sweden.

    One of my fellow 2 ， a girl from Tanzania, seemed a bit 3 ， so I asked what the problem was. She told me she had a 4 back home who was really 5 with her university studies. It seemed that 6 difficulties would make it impossible for her to complete her course. So this friend of 7 had done something unbelievable: she had sent all her pocket money for the month to Tanzania to 8 her friend! This meant that she didn't have much food to eat and had no money to go anywhere outside the village.

    I was so 9 that she did this for her friend and I felt I had to do something. 10 ， during my next trip to one of the ear by towns I walked into a shop to buy some food for her. I started 11 to the woman working in the shop and 12told her about my friend. The woman looked at me, 13."Does she eat pasta (意大利面)？" she asked."Yes，" I replied. She immediately 14 loading a bag with pasta, cookies, sweets and other things until the bag was full."Give this to her for me. It's my15！" I couldn't believe it but cried with 16.

    Imagine my friend's face when I 17 the gifts on my kitchen table and 18 her from her room to see! I have 19 seen her so happy! She told me that due to the generous help, she could definitely 20 the month.

    Danielle was living in a new city with no local bank of her own. She desperately needed to 1 a bank to cash her paycheck. For more than two weeks, she made 2 one after another but in vain. How could she continue to 3 herself and her two children as a single mother?

    Taking a break from her 4, Danielle decided to attend a meeting at the local women's resource center. The women there had been a strong source of encouragement since she fled her home 5 for her safety. Sitting next to Danielle, Amy began to share the details of her 6 situation. She was just days away from 7 her home and her car. Her phone and electric services were both scheduled to be 8. Her husband had gambled away their money. She had nothing left. Nothing!

    As Amy described the degree of the situation, Danielle 9 God's soft whisper in her heart: “After the meeting, give Amy twenty dollars.” Danielle immediately thought, “But I can't lonely have forty dollars.” She heard the 10 again. Danielle knew she needed to follow. When the meeting 11, she reached in to her purse and 12 handed twenty dollars to Amy. Knowing Danielle's situation, Amy was 13 to accept it at first. But as a crowd of women 14 to give Amy hugs of support, Danielle told her that God wanted her to have it. Then Danielle left.

    Now with just twenty dollars left in her wallet, Danielle decided to 15 cashing her pay check at just one more bank before heading home. 16 she expected the rejection she had received at so many other banks, she was 17 filled with renewed confidence and optimism. Hopefully, she walked in to the bank next to the women's center. Moments later, the bank 18 her pay check with no questions asked. Wearing a big smile, Danielle returned home.

    As for Danielle, it has been three years since that day. Realizing true hope has no 19, she continues to be 20 for the life time supply that she received for just twenty dollars.

    “This Friday we'll have the yearly Egg Drop Challenge,” said our science teacher, Mr. baker. “You can work alone or with a partner.”

   My friend, Cassie, and I smiled at each other. We always worked on projects 1.

The2of the challenge was simple—to build a protective container to keep an egg from breaking when 3the stadium wall.

   I made my sandwich that afternoon while waiting for Cassie.4the butter-cream gave me an idea.

    “I have a brilliant design for our5container!” I said when Cassie arrived. “We can 6the egg with some butter-cream. ”

    “Why not put the egg in a basket with a parachute (降落伞)7?” Cassie rolled her eyes. “The parachute is better than that stupid idea.”

   I couldn't believe it. Of course, we'd had our little 8in the past, but she'd never called any of my ideas “9” before.

    “Then I'll build mine and you build yours!”

    10words had been out, our friendship was challenged.

   When Friday finally arrived, I had to11Cassie's Egg Force One looked pretty good.12, my Egg--cellent Egg Cream didn't look quite scientific. We kids carried our containers up three stadium steps and dropped them over the side wall. Those whose eggs broke were out; those whose eggs survived 13three more steps and dropped them again. This would go on till the last egg broke.

    After four rounds, only Cassie and I were 14. I let go of my box. I heard someone say “ew” after seconds. Had my egg broken? I raced down the 15. The side walk was dotted with egg shells from those16drops. Finally I found my little Egg--cellent Egg Cream.

    “That looks like egg drop soup, Laura,” Cassie said. She was holding her Egg Force One. My17raced. Had she won? I looked at her basket.18.

    “My egg bounced(弹起)19, ”she explained, pointing to a broken shell.

    “A tie,”Mr. Baker said.

    Cassie looked at me, and her glare 20. I laughed. She smiled…

    Years ago, when I was working as psychologist at a children's institution in England, a boy showed up in the waiting room. It was David.

    David's face was pale, and he started at his feet 1. He had lost his father as a baby and when David turned 13, his mother was killed in a car accident. He was very depressed, 2to talk to others.

    The first two times we met, David didn't say a word. As he was about to leave after the second visit, I put my hand on his shoulder. He didn't shrink back, 3he didn't look at me either.

    "Come back next week," I 4 a bit. Then I said, "I know it hurts."

    He came, and I 5 we play a game of chess. He nodded. After that we played chess every Wednesday afternoon in complete6 and without making any eye 7. It's not easy to cheat in chess, but I admit that I made sure David 8 once or twice.

    It seemed as if he enjoyed my 9, though he never looked at me. Perhaps he 10 that I respected his suffering. Until some months later, suddenly, he looked up at me, "It's your11," he said. After that day, David started 12. Since then he really started to live his own life.

    Maybe I gave David 13. And David showed me how one – without any words – can 14 out to another person. All it takes is a hug, a 15to cry on, a friendly touch, a sympathetic nature and an ear that listens.