Mary and I , together with our husbands, helped look after our neighbors' children this weekend. Our1have two children aged 3 and 6 and my husband and I chose the six-year-old child. What a pleasure! We2last night with Mary who invited us to have dinner. They were looking after the 3-year-old boy for 3at their dining table.

    The 3-year-old child was 4his parents who were overseas for the weekend. When he saw his sister he 5with tears flowing on his face. I had “Plan B” in the back of my head. When I saw that the child was6and my friends who were looking after him were also 7 I offered to take both of them with us.

    I thought another8for the night wasn't the best idea, so we 9made a decision to go back to our own house. Then I 10the child's overnight bed 11 and we came back home together. I had a12night as the boy was awake 5 times through the night, crying for his mommy, and it took a while to13him down.

    Mary and her14came over this morning with their own children who are under 2 years old15I could have a short16 At noon, they left. I had just got to get through the17baths and dinner, and18 their parents would be back.

    At night, both my husband and I were tired but we thought it was good to have “Plan B”, and how happy we were with such 19friends that invited us for dinner, and were thoughtful enough to20me a break this morning.

    My family suffered a lot three years ago when my father died in a car accident. It1my mother, two younger brothers and me alone.

    At that time, I was in senior high school. As the2 son, I had no choice but to3of school and work in a factory. Life went on without any 4I dared not ask for more and just thought about5 my two brothers. However, it wasn't easy, for I couldn't6 their tuition even if I worked day and night without rest. I also had to look after my sick mother. I wanted to go back to school, but it seemed to be a(n)7 idea, since I needed to work to support my family.

    A thread of8 appeared during those gloomy days. It was a rainy dusk when I went outside into the rain and walked in the street9 the rain stopped! I raised my head, and found that “the sky” was in fact a dark blue umbrella. Then I heard a deep voice say, “Why not10 without an umbrella?” It was a one-legged man,11 you run, you won't get so wet.” His words12 me deeply. Without my father's protection, was I only a slave to 13?

    While walking together in the rain, I knew that his dream was once14by an accident. He was glad that he didn't lose15 and still “ran” on the road of life… Facing this guy, I had no pity16admiration.

    Inspired by his17 I went to a city in the south and became an assurance representative. After two years' “running”, I got somewhere and my family situation became better18 I went back to school and eventually succeeded in being19 to a university.

    Everything is so simple: to run without an umbrella! When you run out of the 20season of your life, there will be a bright sky ahead of you.

    A town mouse and a country mouse were friends. The country mouse one day1his friend to come to visit. He wanted his friend to come and see him at his home in the 2. The town mouse came and they sat down to a 3of roots and corn. The country mouse 4the food and he asked his friend to eat more. But his friend didn't think the food was 5.

    After 6for a while, the town mouse finally said, "My 7friend, you live here no better than the ants. Now, you should just see8I live! There is plenty of nice food in my room. You must come and 9with me. I'm sure you will enjoy your 10there." The country mouse wanted to eat better food, so he11.

    When the town mouse12 town, he took the country mouse with him. He showed the visitor into his room which had a lot of nice food. The country mouse had 13seen anything like that and sat down to enjoy the food his friend 14. But right before they had15, the door opened and someone came in. The two mice 16and hid themselves in a narrow hole. After a while, when it was17again, they came out. But someone else came in, and they hid again. This was too much for the18. "Goodbye," said the country mouse, "I'm off. You have a lot of nice food to eat, I can see, but there is so much19 around you. Though I can only enjoy my simple dinner of roots and corn, I can live20in my hole. "

    I was walking around in a Big Bazar store doing a shopping, when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy who couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, "I'm sorry, 1you don't have enough money to buy this doll." Then the little boy turned to me and asked, "Uncle, are you sure I don't have enough money?"

    I 2 his cash and replied, "You know that you don't have enough money to buy the doll, my dear." The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked 3 him and I asked him 4 he wished to give this doll to. "It's the doll 5 my sister loved most and wanted so much. I wanted to gift her for her Birthday. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there." His eyes were so 6 while saying this.

    "My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister." My heart 7 stopped. The little boy 8 me and said, "I told daddy to tell mommy not to go 9. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall."

    Then he looked again at the 10with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly11 for my wallet and said to the boy. "Suppose we check again, just 12 you do have enough money for the doll?" I added some of my money to his, without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some13money.

    The little boy said, "Thank you God for giving me enough money! I asked last night God to 14 I had enough money to buy this doll. He heard me! I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't 15 to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. "

    I finished my shopping in a totally different 16from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local newspaper article two days ago, which mentioned a 17 man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a 18 state.

    The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is 19, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a 20 of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

    The summer before the ninth grade, procrastination(拖延 )affected my life in a deep way. With only a few days until the start of school, I had1just one of three homework tasks we were2Instead of enjoying my last few moments of 3, I spent that time doing homework, which was an4way to end the vacation.

    Putting in 100 percent5, I always started with strong6at the beginning of each school year.7I struggled to maintain that energy as the weeks passed.

    One night, my father and I were having a8about college. He told me, "It doesn't 9much whether you get into an Ivy League university or just a(n)10college-what matters is how you get there and what you do to11it". This really spoke to me, because it made me focus more on the12of my work rather than the quantity.

    Thanks to that conversation, I13the way I went through life. I started to 14 that trying my15best is a thousand times better than simply doing something to get it done.

    My effort began to16in my first year of high school. I had never17that my grades in some harder classes could be better than those in the easier ones I took last year.

    Now I would rather work hard for something and enjoy the18of success, than not try at all or give up halfway. Motivation can 19become a habit if you repeat a(n)20that helps you avoid procrastination.

    Susie Coodall finally was discovered and rescued. She was a volunteer in the 1 Golden Globe Race accompanying sailors through the 2 every June. On Wednesday morning, Goodall was 2, 000 miles west of South America when her boat was like a drunken man in a strong wind and a broken bar knocked her 3 unconscious. But soon after that she 4 and at once rang the alarm through her emergency system and a series of troubling 5which had recorded her happenings during the journey, were 6 on her Facebook at once.

    Chile's Maritime Center received her 7 and soon ordered a ship to change is 8 to rescue Goodall. Meanwhile, all Goodall could do was wait-trying to keep her boat 9in the waving South Pacific and pumping out water that was 10 into the damaged cabin(船舱), which made her 11 her present situation

    When the Chilean ship finally 12 Goodall, lowering down a small boat to save her seemed13because up to 13 feet waves will 14 the boat at any time. 15 , crew members on board 16 another way-lowered a long thick rope from the ship, and 17 Goodall from her ship to safety. As luck would have it, the chosen method 18 worked.

    Goodall arrived at the Chilean port without any delay. On her Facebook, Goodall wrote: "They were the hardest and loneliest days I've ever had. Actually, all I wanted was a break with to 19 to the busy daily life. But I might as well 20 home instead of giving up."