It was unusually quiet in the emergency room on December 25. I didn't think there would be any 1 , sighing (叹息)about having to work on Christmas. Just then five bodies 2at my desk, a pale woman and four children.

    “Are you all3?” I asked. “Yes,” she said weakly and lowered her head.

    But when it came to 4their problems, things got a little strange. They all claimed to have headaches, but the headaches weren't 5by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still.

    Something was wrong. Our hospital policy,6, was not to turn away any patient. I explained it might be a little while 7a doctor saw her. She responded immediately, even a bit 8“Take your time,” and then added, “It's warm in here.”

    Then, I checked their registration（登记，注册） form out of curiosity. No address—they were  9.The waiting room was warm. I went back to the nurses' station and mentioned we had a homeless 10in the waiting room. The nurses, complaining of11on Christmas, turned to sympathy for a family just trying to get 12on Christmas. The team went into action, much as we do when there's a 13emergency. But this was a Christmas emergency.

    We were all 14a free meal on Christmas Day, so we took back that meal and prepared a big dinner for our15.We needed presents. We 16from different departments candies, fruits and other things 17that could be presents. Just like we 18the physical needs of the patients, our team worked to meet the needs of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas.

    19, as the family walked to the door to 20, the mother came running back, gave me a hug and whispered, “Thanks for being our angels today.”

    Lord Nithsdale was put into prison in 1716 because he was against King George I. As a (n)1 he was sentenced to death . His wife Winifred couldn't imagine life 2 her husband , so she was 3to do anything to save him .

    She was determined to 4the King and beg him for her husband's life, but the King didn't agree. Winifred refused to 5In desperation, she came up with a more 6 plan.  She visited her husband alongside her maid, her friends Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Morgan. Only two visitors at a time were allowed to enter the room. They took advantage of this 7, going into and out of the room many times to 8 the guards. She also gave the guards money and drink.

    9 inside the prison Winifred pulled out some10clothes and dressed her husband up as one of the11 Mrs. Mills. Mrs. Mills was then brought in, emotional and with her 12 buried in her handkerchief.  Lord Nithsdale then was led out by his wife, also holding the handkerchief to his eyes. This was very 13 or the guards would notice that one of the women had a long 14 ! Fortunately everyone managed to get outside at last.

    Winifred then returned to the room and 15 to be in an emotional conversation with her husband. After a suitable period of time had passed for her husband to leave ,she left the room and got some 16for herself by telling the guards that her husband was praying (祈祷) and should not be 17 This was a clever action as it allowed the 18 to go unnoticed for longer.

    To complete the clever escape and appear 19 they gave a tearful goodbye. Lord Nithsdale and his wife20and managed to leave the country together.

    All of us can give others a hand as long as we are willing to do so. Actually, there are some people doing kind things all the time. Spreading kindness, one good deed at a time, is Karla Gibson's mission. "I wish everyone could join me, 1 there are so many bad things going on in the world; I mean every day," said Karla.

    Karla had the2 and sense of duty in December of 2013. The single mother of three said she tended to feel down around the holidays, so she 3 to do something to cheer others up. She started a Facebook page and 4 her good deeds each day, from feeding the homeless to giving Easter gifts to prisoners. She hoped to 5 others.

    "We have to do something. Our 6 can make a difference in someone's day. You 7 know when someone might be having their worst day, and then something like buying them a coffee can change their whole attitude," Karla 8.

    Karla's greatest 9 had to do with coffee. On September 27^th, Karla's birthday, she went to her local Starbucks and gave the 10 $127 to pay for other people's drinks. She sat at the end of the drive-thru(汽车餐厅)holding a 11 reading "Have a great day." She ended up 12 about 23 customers. "It was really fun. It was 13one of the best birthdays ever," she said. Her kindness that day didn't go 14. One couple was so grateful that they surprised her with flowers and balloons to show their 15.

    Karla's acts of kindness have become a 16affair. Her two sons are always 17 others. "Sometimes I'll ask Kyle, 'So, did you do anything extra nice today?' and he would say 'Somebody 18 something in the hallway and I picked it up' or 'I held the door for someone', that kind of thing," said Karla.

    It's because of Mom that the boys think it's 19 to give a hand to others. "I think it's a great idea of hers. It's always nice to help someone out especially when they are going through 20 things," said Karla's 15-year-old son Chad.

    Until a few years ago, I had what most people would call a good life. I had a 1 job that paid the bills; I had a good family that I was close to, and I had a place to live and money in the bank for trips and 2, and there was nothing much wrong in my life. 3, I was bored.

    I wanted more. I wanted to live 4 and loudly and make sharp memories instead of the 5 ones of everyday life. But I was 6. I had never had any 7 in myself. As a child, even buying something in a shop caused me a great deal of 8, and even though I did get better as I got older, I never quite 9 that childhood shyness.

    And I tried everything, like reading books about confidence. I also took tiny steps leading to my goals. But none of them really 10.

    So I 11 that the small steps weren't enough. I signed up for an internship (实习期的工作) of teaching English in Vietnam, an 12 huge step, one that 13 me as much as it excited me. And then the day came and I left my home and my loved ones. I was alone in a country where the food was 14 and the streets were unfamiliar. I had no idea whether I would be able to 15 everything that this very strange environment would 16 at me.

    I spent five months in Vietnam, teaching, exploring and laughing, I'd learnt to 17 myself, my skills, my abilities and my decisions. I returned home 18, even to myself, let alone to others. The 19 that had controlled my life and the self-doubt were 20.

    That one big chance changed everything for me, and in me.

The Parents' Lifesaving Touch

    On March 25, 2010, Kate and David heard the words every parent feels frightened of: Their newborn wasn't going to make it. Their twins—a girl and a boy—were born two minutes apart and 14 weeks premature(早产的), 1 just over two pounds each. Doctors had tried to save the boy for 20 minutes but saw no 2. His heartbeat was nearly gone, and he'd stopped breathing. The baby had just minutes to 3.

    "I saw him gasp(喘息) weakly, but the doctor said it was no 4," Kate told the Daily Mail five years later. "I know it sounds stupid, 5 if he was still gasping, that was a sign of life. I wasn't going to give up 6."

    In an effort to cherish(珍惜) her last moments with the tiny boy, Kate asked to 7 him. The couple knew this was likely a 8.

    Kate removed the hospital blanket 9 the boy, whom the couple had already 10 Jamie, and ordered David to take his shirt off and 11 her and the boy in bed. The first-time parents wanted their son to be as warm as possible in their arms and hoped the skin-to-skin contact would improve his 12. They also talked to him.

    "We were trying to entice(说服) him to stay," Kate told the Daily Mail. "We explained his name and 13 he had a twin who he had to look out for and how hard we had tried to 14 him."

    Then something completely 15 happened. Jamie started 16 again. Finally, he reached for his father's finger.

    The couple's lost boy had made it.

    "We're the 17 people in the world," David said.

    Eight years later, Jamie and his sister, Emily, are happy and 18. The parents only recently told the kids the story of their 19. "Emily burst into tears," Kate told the Daily Mail. "She was really upset, and she kept hugging Jamie. This whole 20 makes you cherish them more."

71-year-old, Helen Lloyd Jones from Cardiff recently completed her first marathon and is encouraging others of her age to take up the challenge. "Do it. We only live once," she said after the event.

Helen took up running in her 50's while working as a teacher. After jogging alongside one of her students during a sports day race, Helen said, "I felt terrible, absolutely terrible. It was a wakeup call and I started to practise jogging."

Helen started attending her local parkrun, but decided she needed a bigger challenge to keep her motivated. Once the idea of running 26.2 came into her head, she was decided, and set her sights on running a larger race, using the support of the crowds to get her round.

Helen didn't tell her husband for the first five months of her training as she knew he'd be worried about the toll the distance might have on her, saying g afterwards, "The difference between the man who waved me goodbye and the smiling man who greeted me when I returned was a reflection of how much he had been worrying. But he is very proud of me."

At 71, Helen explains how she didn't do her training "by the book". After trying to do a long run, a speed run and a hill run each week, she soon found her body was not able to recover fast enough between sessions. Instead, she chose one long run a week with her local running club Pegasus and friend Sally, so she could feel confident with the distance. 

A proud grandmother, Helen is I now taking her grandchildren to parkruns and junior parkruns. She hopes that they will remember running with their grandmother when they grow up. Are there more marathons in her future? "I said I would only do the one, but have a feeling that if I got a place in London or New York... I might change my mind."