Flora was a carnivorous(食肉的) plant. She lived in a supermarket, next to her friend, Porky, who worked there. Porky 1her with great affection and attention, and always gave her some meat at the end of each day. But one day, Porky didn't give her meat any more. Flora got so worried that she decided to 2 why Porky did this to her.

    After several days, she found out that Porky 3 lots of meat in a big yellow box. 4 not to know anything about it, Flora asked Porky if she could have a little of the food that was 5 in the yellow box. He responded very 6that she could not.

    Flora felt hurt, as well as 7, and she couldn't stop 8who Porky was keeping all that delicious-looking meat for. She was filling up with anger. That night, when the shop was 9, she went over to the box, opened it, and10the meat.

    The next morning, Porky arrived and found the meat had gone. Flora felt terrible. He asked her several times 11she had taken the meat. At first she 12it, but seeing Porky's worried face, she13 to admit to it.

    “What have you done?” Porky 14. “I told you not to touch it! All that meat was 15！That's why I haven't been able to give you 16for days. They sent us a spoiled（变质的）delivery.”

    Without delay, Flora was taken to a hospital, and the doctors there 17 to save Flora's life. Flora was very 18 and it taught her a big lesson. She learnt to stick to the 19set by those who loved her, because that was much 20. than doing whatever she wanted.

    The famous composer（作曲家）, Albert Roussel, didn't have a good start in this career. However, he achieved a great deal of success as a result of a 1 .

    Roussel's parents died when he was eight and he went to live with his  2  . As a little boy, he fell in love with music and  3  himself about it by reading through the family collection that his mother kept,  4  which there were a lot of related books.

    Three years later, Roussel's grandfather died, and his mother's sister decided to  5  him. Her husband was a kind man and  6  for young Roussel's music lessons. One summer vacation at a Belgian seaside added a second  7  to his life—the sea. Then he studied to be a naval cadet（海军学员），but still made time to study  8  .

    In the French Navy, he and two friends found the time to  9  a band, playing the works of Beethoven and other  10  . Roussel also began composing. On Christmas day 1892, he had his first chance to  11  as a composer, which turned out to be a success.

    That success  12  Roussel to write a wedding march（婚礼进行曲），and one of his navy friends  13  to show it to a famous conductor, Edouard Colonne. When Roussel's friend  14  with the manuscript（手稿）, he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to  15  his naval career and devote his life to music.

    Not long  16  , at the age of 25, Roussel decided to  17  Edouard Colonne's advice. He gave his heart and soul to his composing and  18  a major force in twentieth century French music. Because of Eduoard Colonne's inspiring  19  , Roussel devoted his life to music—but Rousssel's  20  friend later admitted that he had made it up. He said he had never even shown Roussel's manuscript to the famous conductor.

    My elder brother,Steve,in the1of my father who died when I was six,gave me important lessons in2that helped me grow into an adult.For example,Steve taught me to face the3of my behavior.Once when I returned in4from a Saturday baseball game,it was Steve who5the time to ask me what happened.When I6that my baseball had flown through Mrs.Holt's basement window,7the glass with a crash,Steve encouraged me to apologize to her.After all,I8not have played in the path between buildings.9my knees knocked as I explained to Mrs.Holt.I10to pay for the window if she would return my ball.

    I also learned from Steve that11property is a sacred（神圣的）thing.After I found,a silver pen in my fifth-grade classroom,I wanted to12it,but Steve explained that it might be important to13else in spite of the fact that it had little value.He reminded me of14I'd hate to lose the small dog my father gave me to someone else.I returned the pen to my teacher,Mrs.David.

    Yet of all the15Steve gave me,his respect for16is the most vivid in my mind.When I was twelve,I killed an old brown sparrow in the park with a BB gun.17with my accuracy,I screamed to Steve to come from the house to have a look.I shall never forget the18he stood for a long moment and stared at the bird."Did it19you first, Mark?"he asked.I didn't know what to answer.I really felt terrible then,but that moment20out as the most important lesson my brother taught me.

    My first full time job after high school was selling vacation packages via telephone for a well-known company. One day, the dialer 1me to a man who answered the phone and2a bit out of breath. I started with my normal pitch（推销), and3to hear the normal, "I don't want any," and be hung up on.

    Instead he spoke in a low, weak voice and told me how he wished he could take a4like the one I was offering, but couldn't5he was dying of emphysema (肺气肿). He 6how he was on oxygen, and it took almost all his7just to get to the phone to answer the call. I8 and my heart fell into my stomach. He asked me if I smoked, which I did, and then begged me to stop. He told me smoking is 9was killing him, and how horrible it was. He told me to 10every day with my loved ones, and tell them all the time how much I love them. At this 11, I was in tears, and couldn't control myself, and he could tell.

    After a few moments, I decided to write down his name and 12, and just send him a card telling him that I13his advice and that I would pray for him and his family. Shortly after, I received a nice letter back from Frank, along with a picture of him and his wife. We continued to write back and forth over the next few months or so, and became very 14of each other. He was old enough to be my grandfather, and in many ways, I felt 15he were.

    It was about a year later I received a letter from his wife, and when I started to read it, my eyes were filled with tears. She told me how Frank's 16with the disease had finally come to an end, and he 17shortly before Christmas .She wanted to thank me for the letters I had written to Frank, and then explained how Frank touched many lives over the years. At his 18  to show just that, they read the 1st letter I had written to Frank to show how he 19a 19-year- old person he had20even met.

    I will never forget how much that meant to me.

    My son Joey was born with club feet(天生特厚的畸形脚). The doctors assured us that with treatment he would be able to walk1, but would never run very well. The first three years of his life were2in surgery(手术). By the time he was eight, you wouldn't know he had a 3when you saw him walk.

    The children in our neighborhood ran around as most children do during4, and Joey would jump right in, run and play, too. We5told him that he probably wouldn't be able to 6 as well as the other children. So he didn't know.

    In seventh grade he7to go out for the cross-country team. Every day he 8 with the team. He worked harder and ran9 than any of the others—perhaps he sensed that the10that seemed to come naturally to so many others did not come naturally to him.11the entire team runs, only the top seven runners have the potential to12points for the school. We didn't tell him he probably would never make the team, so he didn't know.

    He13to run four to five miles a day, every day —even the day he had a 103-degree fever. I was14, so I went to look for him after school. I found him 15all alone. I asked him how he felt. “Okay,” he said. He had two more16to go. The sweat ran down his face and his eyes were glassy from his fever.17he looked straight ahead and kept running.

    Two weeks later, the names of the team runners were18. Joey was number six on the list. Joey had made the team. He was in19grade —the other six team members were all eighth-graders. We never told him he shouldn't20to make the team. We never told him he couldn't do it… so he didn't know. He just did it.