Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mum, you must come and see the daffodils(水仙花)before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. "I will go next Tuesday," I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call.

    The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible (看不见的) in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see!"

    My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

    After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read "Daffodil Garden."

    We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up amazed. Before me lay the most beautiful sight. Flows of flowers of different colors seemed poured down the peak and slopes. There were five acres of flowers! A sea of daffodil! It was like a fairyland all beyond description.

    "But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. "It's just one woman." Carolyn answered. "That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio (露台), we saw a poster." Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.

    The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs (鳞茎)" it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

    I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun one bulb at a time to bring the beauty and joy to the mountain top. Just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world where she lived and created something of magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

    When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small amounts of daily effort, we too can accomplish great things. Everyone can do something to change the world.

    Mrs Mullen had just got a new heart. She'd waited a year for it, she told me— not that she was complaining. In fact, Mrs Mullen never complain about anything. She just got on with it. Although she was getting over a serious operation, she didn't even like to bother the nurses for a painkiller. She put me, and most of my patients in the hospital, to shame.

    My generation are a generation of complainers. We think the world owes us something. But if the world owes anyone anything, it owes people like Mrs Mullen. She left school at 14, even though she'd won a place at grammar school. She worked in a factory until she retired. She never had a day off sick in her life and never had a holiday — not even when she gave birth to her three children. That's nearly 50 years of hard work. I've never worked as hard as Mrs Mullen, and I'll almost certainly never have to.

    Mrs Mullen recovered well and soon left hospital. It never occurred to me that I'd see her again, so I couldn't believe my eyes when a few weeks later I went to buy a sandwich from the hospital Friends' shop.

    “What are you doing here?” I asked. “You're supposed to be resting.”

    “Oh I am,” she replied. “It's only a few hours a week. I saw the ad for volunteers while I was staying here. It's my way of saying thank you for all that this hospital has done for me.”

    Thank you? Mrs Mullen is the sort of person who gives back more than she takes. I asked for a cheese and tomato sandwich. She handed me egg instead — it was all they had got. I hate egg, but I decided to eat it anyway and not to complain.

    We bet that on cold winter days, many of you love to stay in your warm home and, every now and then, come out into the kitchen for a snack. Unfortunately, plenty of small insects like to do the same thing! Winter is the time when small insects enter your house without an invitation. The season can be difficult for such creatures. In winter the air is cold, the ground is hard and many trees have no leaves. So small insects do what they have to do to survive.

    Monarch butterflies head south to warmer climates. Ants crowd in deep underground colonies and eat food they have been storing all year. Many insects go into a deep sleep called diapauses. There're different kinds of diapauses, but all are similar to hibernation, a time when bigger animals become inactive in the cold. Insects go into an inactive period, too, but it often isn't when the temperature drops.

    They rely on more dependable signals in the environment. For example, many insects can tell how much sunlight there's each day. They use that to tell themselves when to shut down. Insects are cold-blooded, meaning that their inside temperature is the same as the outside. They can't move much when it gets below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So they search for any warm place.

    They're looking for protection. These guys have been doing this for 300 million years, so they don't really know they're coming into your house. The home is a recent event in terms of their evolutionary (进化的) behavior. They enter through tiny cracks or come in unnoticed on your clothes or shoes. Remember that they may be entering your homes for warmth and food, but they don't care about humans.

    Over the years Lisa urged her sister Helen to prepare for her old age. Now they passed sixty. Lisa had a big house, Helen had the clothes on her back.

    Lisa had hated being a child and couldn't wait to grow up and buy herself everything. What Helen wanted was to go outside and play.

    When anyone would hire her, Lisa put herself to work. She never touched a penny of her money though her young mouth watered for ice cream and candy. When the dimes (一角硬币) added up to dollars， she lost her taste for sweets. And her bankbook became her most precious possession.

    Helen had a boyfriend Harry whose only ambition was to play a horn. That Helen married Harry straight out of high school was not surprising. Two or three times Lisa was halfway persuaded, but to give up a job that paid well for a homemaking job that paid nothing was a risk she was unable to take.

    Helen's married life was nothing for Lisa to envy. She and Harry played in second-rate bands. But Lisa had a big house because her boss offered her his first house at a price so low that it would be like losing money to refuse.

    Harry died abroad, in a third-rate hotel, with Helen crying as hard as if he had left her a fortune. He had left her nothing but his horn. Lisa knew she would have to bring her home.

    At dinner, Helen began to tell stories. They were rich with places and people, most of them lowly, all of them magnificent. Her face showed the joys and sorrows.

    Then Lisa knew why Helen didn't mention the shining room. Tonight Helen saw only what she had come seeking, a place in her sister's home and heart.

    She said, “That's enough about me. How have the years used you?” “I didn't use them,” said Lisa regretfully. “I saved for them but forgot to enjoy them. Now it's too near the end to try. ”Helen said, “Don't count the years that are left to us. At our time of life it's the days that count. You've too much catching up to do to waste a minute of a waking hour feeling sorry for yourself.” Lisa smiled.

    In the short time Steve and Zach had been inside their tent packing their tools, wind-blown flame had skipped from the top of one tree to another. The long dry summer had turned the forest into a tinderbox.

    "Let's go! We can make it back to the river we crossed today!" Steve kept Brady on the lead and their heads down against the fire-wind. But Brady barked a sharp warning. Ahead of them lay a thick curtain of smoke across the track. They would never make it through that. The dog was pulling at his lead trying to draw them away from the smoke, and yet Steve was uneasy. It seemed to him that they were moving away from the river.

    Suddenly, Zach cried. "Zach!" Steve shouted. "Are you OK? Where are you?" Then Brady pulled Steve down a sharp slope(坡). At its base, Zach was rubbing his ankle.

    As Steve helped his friend to his feet, Brady lifted his head and snuffed(嗅) the smoke-laden wind. Next moment, the dog bounded away and disappeared. The boys shouted for him, but he didn't come back. Steve couldn't blame Brady for panicking. He himself wanted to run even though he didn't have a clue which way.

    Steve and Zach hadn't gone far when there was a familiar bark, and Brady came bounding, stopped directly in front of Steve and hit him with his head, pushing him back toward the slope they'd just climbed. But Steve didn't get it. Then Brady grabbed the boy's jeans and started pulling. The message was clear, but Steve hesitated. Of course he remembered Brady saving his uncle's life when the dog was much younger. Was he still sharp enough to get them through this?

    Nearby, a pine went up in a whoosh of smoke. Brady pulled again, urgently. "OK, big guy," Steve gritted(咬紧牙关). Brady led them back down the slope and into the trees. Not far from them fire was touching underbrush. Several times the big dog stopped. Often he changed directions. Steve was so tired that he just wanted to rest, but Brady wouldn't have it. The dog bullied both boys to go on. How long they'd walked Steve had no idea. He was almost numb when he heard it—the wonderful sound of rushing water!

When it comes to emergencies, children are sometimes unsure what to do. 1 9-year-old Aria Lamen was fully 2 when she faced such an emergency. Her mother collapsed in the house and her quick 3 saved her mother's life. She immediately called her father and then called 

911. 

However, she has been 4 most for her calmness. On February 2nd, 2023, when Aria was finishing her homework in the dining room, her mother, Caron Lamen, collapsed. "Out of nowhere, I just 5 . . . I was on the floor and couldn't move or feel my entire left side," said the mother. 

"In the ambulance, they 6 to know my allergies（过敏症）, medications and all that," said Caron. "Aria said, ‘Well, here I have my mother's phone. I know all that 7 is on her phone; let me 8 it. '" At that moment, all that 9 to Aria was that her mother needed 10 . 

Even the police were 11 to hear Aria was so calm on the call. "I've taken calls for 30 years," said Tracie Whalen, the 911 dispatcher（调度员）. "I don't see most adults do as well as Aria did. "

After getting to 12 about what Aria did, Mayor（市长）Richard Irvin rewarded her for her 13 , "Your courage and calmness made all the 14 . Congratulations, young lady. " Hearing that, the 9-year-old is 15 that she knows what to do in emergencies.