When I was about five years old, I used to watch a bird in the skies of southern Alberta from the Blackfoot Blood Reserve in northern Montana where I was born.I loved this bird; I would 1 him for hours. He would 2 effortlessly in that gigantic sky, or he would come down and light on the 3 and float there beautifully.Sometimes when I watched him, he would not make a sound and liked to move 4 into the grasses.We called him meksikatsi, which in the Blackfoot language 5 "pink-colored feet"; meksikatsi and I became very good friends.

    The bird had a very particular significance to me 6  I desperately wanted to be able to fly too.I felt very much as if I was the kind of person who had been born into a world where 7  was impossible. And most of the things that I8  about would not be possible for me but would be possible only for other people.

    When I was ten years old, something unexpected 9  my life suddenly. I found myself become an 10  child in a family I was not born into; I found myself in a 11  position that many native Americans find themselves in, living in a city that they do not understand at all, not in another culture but 12 two cultures.

A teacher of the English language told me that meksikatsi was not called meksikatsi, even though that is what 13 people have called that bird for thousands of years.Meksikatsi, he said, was really "duck".I was very 14 with English.I could not understand it.First of all, the bird did not look like "duck", and when it made a 15 , it did not sound like "duck", I was even more 16 when I found out that the meaning of the verb "to duck" came from the bird.

    As I 17  to understand English better, I understand that it made a great deal of 18 , but I never forgot that meksikatsi made a different kind of meaning.I19  that languages are not just different words for the same things but totally different 20 , totally different ways of experiencing and looking at the world.

    In 2005, I had a stroke and was taken into hospital. I was paralyzed down one side, with only a pad and a pen to 1 . But on my first day, after writing a note to the nurse, I found my right 2 wandering across the page. It was so 3 because I just copied a cartoon as a child, and I hadn't drawn since then. The act was 4; 5 when a nurse asked me what I was doing did I look down to see patterns all over the paper.

    From then on I woke up every night at 2 a.m. And kept drawing until dawn. It didn't feel 6. I'd never drawn before in my life but now couldn't 7.

    The 8explained that very occasionally, following a stroke, a patient's brain rewired itself to avoid the damaged area. Sometimes this can 9 a new ability in a patient: in my case, 10.

    I'd never had the 11 interest in art in my life. I was an engineer by trade, and now, 12, memories and thoughts appeared to me as abstract 13 . It was just something that happened. Drawing had become like breathing: something I did instinctively and without 14.

    In 2007, I heard about Second Life, the online virtual world. Inside, I 15art galleries selling digital art for real 16 and I decided to 17 my work for the first time. Two months later, someone 18 me saying he had bought two of my pictures online and wanted one in real life.

    Now I'm a 19 artist—in my first year I've earned around ￡30,000. I've been featured in some art exhibitions, 20 many of my pictures appeared on the cover.

    I am an American living in France for twenty years. I used to complain about how the French were 1 for friendship. I had a(n)2 time making a living here.

    When I came I felt a need to meet people,3 I went to the cinema night for women's day. I was excited about the way to connect to French women through the 4 we would have after the film, perhaps to make friends and get more chance of 5.

Outside the cinema was a woman with long gray hair who had a slightly 6 smell and was asking for money. I 7 my wallet to give her a Euro and then something made me stop and enter into 8 with her. I said, "Look, people are seeing a film that could 9 your life. I'd rather buy you a ticket than give you money."

    So she came in,10 behind me because she said people 11 the theater didn't like her. She sat next to me in the cinema. Then I noticed some women were looking at me, with expressions of 12.

I encouraged the women to come the following night to an event. I 13 her to an agency that helped women in her 14. Then, a woman came towards me and said, "Did you buy a ticket for the woman?" When I said yes, she said, "Please come to the community center to 15 other employees there."

    This was the 16 of a deep friendship and colleague relationship. The woman I took to the cinema that night wasn't 17. Actually, she was a secretary and spoke English.

    For me, though, she was18 my angel. I made a great friend 19 reaching out to her, also got a great job, and 20 myself of many previous negative judgments about the French.

    When I was a little girl, I remember that when my dad was repairing something, every time he asked me to 1 the hammer, just so we would have a time for a 2 with each other. I 3 saw my dad drinking or taking a night out with the boys, all he did after 4 was taking care of his family.

    I 5 and left home for college and since then, my dad had been calling me every Sunday morning, no matter what. And when several 6 later I bought a house, my dad was 7 it by himself for three days in the 80°F summer heat. All he 8 was to hold his paint brush and talk to him. But I was too 9 in those days, I did not find any time for a conversation with my dad.

    One Sunday 10 we had a telephone talk as usual, I noticed that my dad had 11 some things that we discussed 12. I was in a hurry, so our conversation was 13. Few hours later that day came a call. My father was in a hospital with an aneurysm(动脉瘤). 14 I bought a ticket for a flight and 15 I was thinking about all 16 occasions(场合) to have a talk with my dad.

    By the time I17 at the hospital, my father had passed away. Now it was he who did not have 18 for a conversation with me. After his death I19 much more about him, and even more about myself. All he ever asked me was my time. And now he has all my20every single day.

    Several years ago, my company experienced a slowdown in business. We hoped that it was only 1. We had work enough for only four days of the week. So we decided that we would 2 from Monday through Thursday, and take Fridays to do 3 projects in our hometown.

    One day, we went to a very old gentleman's 4 to do a total cleanup. When we arrived, an elderly woman 5 us at the door. We thought she was the wife, but it turned out she was the 6. She was 75, and her father 97! Soon, we began to 7 the house and the yard. It was 8 how much work a group could get done when everyone was working 9. That gentleman's house went from dirt to a sparkling clean palace by the time we 10.

    The thing I most remember about that day, 11, was not the great cleaning job that we did, but something 12. When we walked into the house, I noticed the wonderful drawings that 13 the walls. The daughter told us that her father had 14 them, and that he hadn't 15 art until he was 80 years old. I was 16: these drawings were works of art that could have easily been hanging in a museum. At the time, I was in my early 30s and wanted to do something that would 17 my creative and artistic competence more than being president of a company would 18. I had felt that it was too 19 to make a change at this "advanced" stage of my life. Boy! My 20 belief system got expanded that afternoon!

    Michael Greenberg is a very popular New Yorker. He is not famous in sports or the arts, But people in the streets 1 him, especially those who are 2.

    For those people, he is "Gloves" Greenberg. How did he get that 3? He looks like any other businessman, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase (公文箱). But he's 4. His briefcase always has some gloves.

    In winter, Mr. Greenberg does not 5 like other New Yorkers, who look at the sidewalk and 6 the street. He looks around at 7. He stops when he 8 someone with no gloves. He gives them a pair and then he 9, looking for more people with cold 10.

    On winter days, Mr. Greenberg 11 gloves. During the rest of the year, he 12 gloves. People who have heard about him 13 him gloves, and he has many in his apartment.

    Mr. Greenberg 14 doing this 21 years ago. Now, many poor New Yorkers know him and 15 his behavior. But people who don't know him are sometimes 16 him. They don't realize that he just wants to make them 17.

    It runs in the 18. Michael's father always helped the poor as he believed it made everyone happier. Michael Greenberg feels the 19. A pair of gloves may be a 20 thing, but it can make a big difference in winter.