One afternoon，my son Adam asked me，“Are all people the same even if they are different in color？”

    I thought for a minute，and then I said，“I'll explain，1you can just wait until we make a quick 2 at the grocery store. I have something3 to show you.”

    At the grocery store， we 4 some apples—red，green and yellow ones. Back home. I told Adam，“It's time to 5 your question.” I put one apple of each 6on the table. Then I looked at Adam， who had a7 look on his face.

    “People are like apples. They come in all8colors，shapes and sizes. On the 9 ， some of the apples may not 10 look as delicious as the others.” As I was talking，Adam was 11 each one carefully.

    Then， I took each of the apples and peeled(削皮)them，12them back on the table，but13 a different place.

    “Okay， Adam， tell me which is which.”

    He said， “I 14 tell. They all look the same now.” “Take a bite of 15. See if that helps you 16which one is which.”

    He took17 ， and then a huge smile came across his face. “People are 18 like apples！ They are all different， but once you19 the outside， they're pretty much the same on the inside.”

    He totally 20it. I didn't need to say or do anything else.

    Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid,1 in a hotel for a short period of time while2 a house for me and our children.

    During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to 3 that his suitcase was 4. He was extremely 5 as the suitcase had all his important 6, including his passport.

    He reported the 7 to the police and then sat there，lost and 8 in a strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork 9 again from a distant country while trying to 10 in a new one.

    Late in the evening, the 11 rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to 12 my husband's name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile of papers in their trash can that had been left out on the footpath.

    My husband 13 to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of 14 papers. Then, her parents had carefully sorted them out,15 they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents.16 they had seen a half-written 17 in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.

    That family not only 18 the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and19in people. Now, we 20 remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way.

    My mother seemed to be able to make dolls (洋娃娃) out of anything. She made some dolls for me and my two elder sisters. I 1 playing with them, but still, secretly, I hoped for a store-bought 2like the one our rich cousin had. Her doll 3 open and close its blue glass eyes and even say "Mamma". I 4 stopped admiring it and hoping to have one.

    However, my dream 5came true when I was six. One day my father came back from his business trip with three 6 dolls! They were much smaller than our cousin's doll and their eyes were just painted ones, but I did not 7 such differences. They were 8 "store-bought" dolls. We each chose one and I named 9 Misako.

    Soon my sisters and I became devoted 10. Our "children" kept us 11 all day. We gave them a bath, 12 them, brushed their hair, took them out for a walk and put them to bed. Several months later, they got more like real children — their 13 and bodies became dirtier; their dresses got stained; their hair less smooth.

    But, by then, 14 interests seemed to have moved into 15 toys. Their dolls were abandoned (被抛弃) and in bad condition. One had 16 one of her arms, and 17 was one-legged. "You can 18 them if you want," my sisters said to me. Thus, I had 19 dolls. They were more or less handicapped (残疾) and they often looked at me as if they needed me to 20 them. I enjoyed this feeling of being needed — being the only one in the world who could protect them with a lot of love. Indeed, they made the rest of my childhood days very happy.

    I walked into a bank in town a couple of days ago and waited in the queue. I was the second1and I couldn't help overhearing the2in front of me. The bank clerk must have been having a(an)3 day and after asking how the4was and so on, he began to complain about our government, 5them for not doing enough to6the coast from storms and floods as this had been much on the news at the time.

    He was in7spirits and you could tell that he was really8about a lot of things going on in the world.

    My heart went out to him. I was 9 next and all I could do was10. 1didn't have any words. Afterwards, it 11to me something that had been running under my own thoughts.

    So I left the bank, found a12and on it I wrote: Sometimes the bad parts of the world seem so13. There are so many sad things going on in the news. They make it hard to see 14going on around us. But that doesn't15life right now can't be beautiful. All you have to do is open your eyes. It's in the gaps(缝隙) that beauty is16.

    I17the postcard back into the bank, wandered around and18 it on a table, 19that the bank clerk would find it. Whether he did or not, I never found out, but it20would do someone some good, which I'm certain of.

    I used to believe in the American Dream, which meant a job, a mortgage (按揭), credit cards, and success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us 1chasing the same thing.

    One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell2. I found myself homeless and3. I had my truck and $56. I4the countryside for some place I could rent for the5possible amount. I came upon a shabby house four miles up a winding mountain road over the Potomac River in West Virginia. It was6, full of broken glass and rubbish. I found the owner, rented it, and7 a corner to camp in.

    The locals knew nothing about me,8slowly, they started teaching me the 9of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, and tools, and began sticking around to10. They started to teach me a belief in a11American Dream – not the one of individual achievement but of12.

What I had believed in, all those things I thought were13for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place. Up on the14, my most valuable possessions were my 15with my neighbors.

    Four years later, I moved back into16. I saw many people were having a really hard time,17their jobs and homes. I managed to rent a big enough house to18a handful of people. There are four of us now in the house, but over time I've had nine people come in and move on to other places. We'd all be in19if we hadn't banded together.

    The American Dream I believe in now is a shared one. It's not so much about what I can get for myself; it's about20we can all survive together.

    My l4-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat which was hanging at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass. While the other coats drooped(低垂), this one looked as if it were1itself up. The coat had beautiful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and a(an)2price of $28, which was popular just then with3, but could cost several hundred dollars new. This coat was even better, bearing that4of classic elegance(优雅). John tried it on and the fit was perfect.

    John5the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big smile" Did the kids like your coat?" I asked. "They loved it," he said,6folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a7came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and reasoned discussion replaced fierce8. He became more mannerly and9, eager to please. He would generously loan his younger brother his tapes and lecture him10his behavior.

    When I mentioned this incident to his teacher and11what caused the changes, she said laughing. "It12be his coat!" Another teacher told him she was giving him a good13not only because he had earned14but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran into a friend "Could this be John?" he asked surprisingly,15John's new height, assessing the cut of his coat and extending his hand, one gentleman to another.

    John and I both know we should never16a person's clothes for the real person within them.17there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for18what is on the inside to what is on the outside.

    For John it is a time when it is as easy to try on different approaches to19as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape20all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.