I got aboard and sat down in my seat．It was going to be a long flight． Around me were some  1  "Where are you headed?" I asked．

       "Lakes Air Base．We'll be there for special training, and then to the front．"

After about an hour, an announcement was made that box lunches were  2  for five dollars． The journey would be several hours, and I decided to buy one．

        As I 3  for my wallet, I heard a soldier ask his fellows if he would buy lunch．"No, that seems a lot of money for just a box lunch．" I looked around at the other soldiers. 4  were buying lunch．I walked to the back of the plane and  5 the flight attendant a fifty-dollar bill．

        "Take a lunch to all those soldiers．" I said．She seized my arms tightly．Her eyes wet with tears, she  6  me, " My son is a soldier in the front．．．it's almost like you are doing it for him．"

       Picking up ten boxes, she headed to the soldiers．

       After eating, on my way to the rest room I was  7  by a man．"I saw 8 you did and I want to be part of it．" With this, he handed me twenty-five dollars．

       Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming, looking at the seat numbers  9  he walked．When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his10  , and said, "I want to  11  your hand．" I stood and took his hand．With a loud voice he said, "I was a soldier．12 , someone bought me a lunch．It was such an act of  13  that I never forgot．" I was a little bit  14   when applause rang out from all of the passengers．These soldiers were giving their all for our country．I could only give them a couple of meals．

       Later, when I walked to the front of the plane to stretch my legs, a man  15  another twenty-five dollars in my hand．

When we 16  , I gathered my belongings and started to leave．A man stopped me, put something in my pocket, and walked away 17 a word．Another twenty-five dollars! Seeing the soldiers  18  at the terminal, I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars．As I walked  19  to my car, I prayed for their safe  20  .

    I was having a period of bad health. I had one operation after another. I was falling 1 faster than the doctors could put me back together. But I just couldn't bear the operation, the hospital stay, the long recovery and the physical therapy（康复治疗）. I told my doctor I was going to try 2 else.

    I'd discovered that walking gave me a little 3. So I started walking. The first day, my wife 4 off our steep Silver Lake hill to a flat street. She got me out of the car, and I walked about two blocks 5 asking to be taken home. The next day, I walked about four 6.

    Slowly, feeling a little 7 every day, I began to walk a mile or more. I even 8some hills to my route. I became interested in the network of public stairways around Silver Lake I made a 9 of it and walked every public staircase in Silver Lake. That went pretty well, so I 10 onto Echo Park. I was feeling better, so I kept going. The search finally 11 “Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles' a book 12 in the spring of 2010. By then, I had 13. I'd been walking at least an hour a day for three years. My life 14 returned to normal.

    In three years of walks, I've met dozens of people who'd had 15 experiences of rebirth or recovery. One man told me he'd lost 80 pounds walking the secret stairs and was dating for the first time in a decade. One woman told me she'd 16 knee operation. Another told me she'd been 17 to start ballroom dancing again.

    All I'd 18 from the walks was relief from pain. What I got was 19, community and a whole new experience of my city. Out of the car, on my feet and moving at walking pace, I 20 Los Angeles for the first time.

    Mariah Smith, a seventh-grader at Southern Alamance Middle School, is February's Student of the Month.

    Mariah said she was “greatly shocked” to receive this 1.

    Mariah has a 2 relationship with her grandmother, Wendy Jordan, 3 nominated（推荐）her. Mariah is the daughter of Cameron and Cierra Smith of Burlington and has a younger sister 4 Chloe.

    “She's a good student. She doesn't have to be told to keep her 5 up,” Wendy said.

Of Southern Alamance Middle School, Mariah said, “6 there is really nice, it's a really good school.”

    She manages her time 7 and sticks to a 8. Her favorite classes are social studies and language arts.

    “I like learning about the world 9 me and what has happened in the past,” Mariah said.

    She10a lot of work with her community. She was selected to be part of the Alamance Youth Leadership Academy.

    “We learn a lot of valuable things from every field trip we 11, Mariah said. “We learn what kind of leader we are, and what we 12 do to help out around our community, and how to13 our schools.”

    Mariah isn't quite sure what she wants to do in the 14 yet.

    She claims that “15 it is, I want it to be something I really16 doing.” Mariah is a quiet and analytical（分析的）person who is also “very thoughtful to 17” and “very humble,” Wendy said. She is an A-honor roll student and is 18 trying to give back to her community and make it 19.

    “She's got a big 20,” Wendy added.

    Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy – they're given after all. Choice can be 1.”

    I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact 2 the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew 3 fast, and the idea of building an online 4 with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I 5 for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to 6 my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most start-ups don't, and I wasn't sure 7 to expect. MacKenzie told me I 8go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd always wanted to be a(an) 9, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

    I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very 10 people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books 11. He took me on a long walk in Central Park,12 carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, 13 it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.” That logic 14 to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours 15 making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a(an) difficult 16, but finally, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted （纠缠）by a decision to not17at all.

    After much consideration, I took the less 18 path to follow my 19, and I'm proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our 20.

    Charlotte Whitehead was born in England in 1843, and moved to Montreal, Canada at the age five with her family. While 1 her ill elder sister throughout the years, Charlotte discovered she had a(an) 2 in medicine. At 18 she married and 3a family. Several years later, Charlotte said she wanted to be a4. Her husband supported her decision.

    5, Canadian medical schools did not 6 women students at the time. Therefore, Charlotte went to the United States to study 7 at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia. It took her five years to 8 her medical degree.

    Upon graduation, Charlotte 9to Montreal and set up a private 10. Three years later, she moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and there she was once again a 11 doctor. Many of her patients were from the nearby timber and railway camps. Charlotte 12 herself operating on damaged limbs and setting 13 bones, in addition to delivering all the babies in the area.

    But Charlotte had been practicing without a license. She had 14 a doctor's license in both Montreal and Winnipeg, but was 15.The Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons, an all-male board, wanted her to 16her studies at a Canadian medical college! Charlotte refused to 17 her patients to spend time studying what she already knew. So in 1887, she appealed to the Manitoba Legislature to 18 a license to her but they, too, rejected. Charlotte 19 to practice without a license until 1912. She died four years later at the age of 73.

    In 1993, 77 years after her 20 , a medical license was issued to Charlotte. This decision was made by the Manitoba Legislature to honor "this courageous and pioneering woman."

    I'd never been crazy about Christmas. My husband John and the kids had always done their best to infuse(使充满) me with the holiday 1 , but this Christmas their efforts would be especially 2 .

    My salary had reduced and John's government salary was 3, too. There wasn't much money to go around, and 4 were just impossible. John was 5 a brave face as usual. But for me our financial hardship brought back 6  memories of my childhood.

    “I got a Make and Bake set for Christmas!” one girl shouted. “I got clothes!” another girl said. “What did you get, Lori?” someone asked. “So many presents.” I lied. My parents gave me plenty of love, but love was the 7   thing I had. Mom and Dad always had trouble making ends meet. I'd long since 8  Christmas just wasn't for me.

    John was 9 the tree for just the right branch to 10 the red glass bulb with the “Merry Christmas” writing. It was a precious 11 of his childhood, and he took great pleasure in hanging it on our tree every year. A few days earlier, the tree 12 and several ornaments( 装 饰 物 ) broke, but this one was unique because of the memories it held for him. It was fine if I didn't have any Christmas spirit, but it was a different 13 for John. He took a step back to admire the replacement I'd finally found after endless searching on foot and surfing the Internet.

    I worked hard to make things right for John because I loved to see my Christmas-loving husband full of holiday joy. I 14 one of the tree lights so it shone directly on John's beloved ornament. The words on it sparkled(闪烁). After all this time, I finally understood its 15 . Christmas was the season to show my love for my family. How could anyone not like Christmas?