A young man woke up one morning under a bridge and checked his pocket. All he had left was less than ten dollars. He bought food and as he sat down to eat, an old man and two children came along. The old man asked him to help them with food as they had not eaten for almost a week.

The young man looked at the children—they were so weak that they could hardly stand. With the last bit of kindness he had he gave them all the food. The old man and children thanked the young man and then gave him a dirty old coin. The young man said, “You need this coin more than I do— just keep it.” The old man insisted(坚持) that the young man put it in his pocket—and finally he did.

    The old man and children sat down to eat. And with no money, no job and no food, the young man went back under the bridge to lie down. As he was about to fall asleep he saw an old newspaper on the ground. He picked it up and saw an ad inviting people with old coins to come to a store. He decided to go there with the dirty old coin the man gave him.

   When he arrived at the store, he gave the keeper the dirty old coin. The keeper cried loudly. It was part of a Spanish treasure ship that had never been found. This same old coin was worth 67,000 dollars. The young man was pleased. He immediately sold the coin for money and then looked for the old man and little children to thank them and share the money. By the time he got to where he left them eating, they had gone.

    I can't help thinking about the face of that little beggar girl all the time．I can see the glad light filling her eyes when I laid the dime(一角硬币)in her little dirty hand．

    How much I had thought of that dime，too! Grandpa gave it to me a whole month ago，and I had kept it ever since in my red box upstairs；but those sugar apples looked so beautiful，and were so cheap—only a dime apiece(每个)一that I made up my mind to have one．

    I can see her—the beggar girl，I mean—as she stood there in front of the store，in her old dress，looking at the chocolates laid all in a row．I wonder what made me say, “Little girl，what do you want?''

    How she stared at me，just as if nobody had spoken kindly to her before．I guess she thought l was sorry for her, for she said．“l was thinking how good one of those gingerbread rolls would taste，I haven't had anything to eat today．''

    Now，I thought to myself, “Mary Williams，you have had a good breakfast and a good dinner this day，and this poor girl has not had a mouthful．You can give her your dime；she needs it a great deal more than you do．''

    I could not resist(抗拒)that little girl's hungry look—so I dropped the dime right into her hand，without waiting for her to speak，walked straight away．

    I remember the first time I got on a horse. I was two years old and we were watching a friend of the family ride. My mom agreed to let me take a short ride around the ground with the friend and that was it' I became crazy about having a horse. From then on, I drove my parents mad beg­ging for a horse. Whenever I saw a horse, I would beg even harder.

    When I was four years old, problems appeared in my life. I had Selective Mutism (选择性缄默症). This is an unusual childhood disorder (失调) in which children stop speaking in certain social situations, many times at around the age of four. I spoke to my parents as usual, my brother and certain other people, but was silent at school and in social situations. I went days, weeks, months without a sound at school. At most, I might very quietly speak to a friend.

    My parents looked for a cure. One psychologist (心理医生) had an idea. Having discussed his plan with my parents in advance, one day I was asked by the psychologist what I wanted more than anything in the world. He explained that I was going to be given a chance to work for what I wanted. I couldn't believe my good luck, but I could not answer. I just stood there. Finally, I was allowed to whisper (低声说) the answer in my mother's ear. "A horse," was all I could say.

    I was to get a little horse, but before we could even start looking, I had to try to talk. I had a chart of weekly tasks I had to finish. I had to answer the phone five times every week, something I had never done before. I did everything that was asked of me and the day came when my parents found the perfect horse. His name was Sequoia, a strong little chestnut (栗子马). He was perfect, of course, and I fell in love immediately. It truly was a dream come true. When I was with Sequoia, I forgot all about my problems and felt strong and life.

    By connecting with them, I have learned to hug what I was once not able to do and I found my voice back.

Betty collected a basket of seashells. She showed them to Amy." Look! They are all1 . These are big, and those are small. Some look like beautiful animals… Well, I can use them to make a birthday present for my Dad! How wonderful!"

Suddenly, Amy saw the sea water rising along the beach. She was 2 and cried," The waves! They will take your toys!"

" Put my seashells onto the bus, Amy!" Betty ra n 3 to get her toys.

Just when Amy was about to get the basket onto the bus, she fell down and the shells4 into pieces.

When Betty 5 , she saw the pieces and cried. Amy tried to tell her what happened, but Betty still looked 6 and didn't talk to Amy. Amy didn't know what to do, so she took them home.

The next morning at school, Amy found Betty on her 7 . She walked over to her desk and took out a frame(框) and a bag of seashells." Betty, I 8 some nice seashell pieces from the broken ones last night. Shall we glue(粘) them to the frame together? We can put a( an) 9 of your family in it. It will be a wonderful present." Amy said. Betty agreed. Together they made a beautiful frame.

" Sorry, I wasn't careful yesterday, Betty." Amy said."I know the shells are 10 to you."

"I should also say‘ sorry' to you. I like them, but you' re my best friend." Betty smiled.

Do you know Zhang Jiacheng? He is a 16-year-old boy from Guangdong. He has a dream to be a basketball 1 . But when he was 5, he lost his right arm. He felt so sad, because he couldn't realize (实现) his 2 any more. But to everyone's surprise, he didn't give 3 . He practiced very 4 after school everyday. Now he is good at playing basketball.

Two years ago, he 5 his videos (视频) on Douyin. In these videos, he showed his 6 in playing basketball. He soon became 7 . Yi Jianlian praised (表扬) him for his hard workings and wonderful skills. He said, "Heart is always the 8 part of the body." And Zhu Fangyu said "Zhang is a hardworking boy. I would like to ask him to visit our team and watch home games." Last year, he went to9 the basketball team of Guangdong and played basketball with the players. He did a good job and all the players were proud of him.

Zhang Jiacheng is a good 10 for us. We should learn from him.

A young boy had many bad habits. His father was so 1 . He asked an old teacher for help. The teacher took the boy for a walk in the woods. While walking, he suddenly stopped and told the boy to pull out a small plant. 

The boy held the plant and pulled it out 2 . The old man then asked him to pull out a little bigger one. The boy 3 hard and the plant came out, roots (根) and all. "Now pull that one out. said the old man, looking at a small tree. The boy had to use all his strength to pull the 4 out. "Now pull this one out." said the old man, 5 a big tree. The boy held the trunk (树干) and tried to pull it out. But it didn't move at all. "It's 6 " said the boy, out of breath. 

"So they 7 bad habits," said the teacher, "When they are small, it is easy 8 them out, but when they grow bigger, they cannot be pulled out." The old man's words made a great difference to the boy's life. 

What we can learn from the story is: Don't wait 9 bad habits to grow in you. 10 when you have control over them, or they will control you