As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street trying to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her tiny face.

    1and wet, my husband gave up his attempt to flag down a taxi. I knew the2. Just after her first birthday, we were told our daughter Katie has a3 brain illness. Since that moment, Doug and I felt like runners in a marathon race where the finish line kept4. We knew Katie was running out of 5It had taken months before we finally had a name for the 6 but we were told only a few of specialists in the world knew how to7 it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to8 our girl, we were in a strange 9in the cold rain.

    Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman pulled over and said, “Pardon me? May I offer you a(n)10?” Before we could say anything, she continued, “It's really no11 for me. Just get in.”It was then that I noticed her thick Irish accent, which 12 me up like hot soup. We simply said, “Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital,  please,” as we got in her car for the ride.

    “Are you going 13 the baby?”she asked us. I nodded my head, holding back my.14. At the hospital, we 15her a dozen times for the ride. As the woman hugged me, I16her face was wet with tears. She promised to17 for us before she left.

    After three more visits to New York and two more 18 operations, Erica is cured. But the19 of the Irish Angel still rang as a constant reminder of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our20 days.

    Li Hua felt lonely when he arrived in Shanghai last August.

    The 24-year-old 1 at a publishing house had plenty of spare time to kill.“ 2 the Internet, I have found like-minded friends without much 3 ,”says the lover of traditional Chinese culture, who comes from Xi'an, Shanxi Province.

    Li began 4 kungfu when he was 5 and studied I Ching（Book of Change）at junior high school.

    His 5 interest is guqin, a seven-stringed Chinese zither（筝）6 .He tried to learn it by watching videos on the Internet but found it very 7 .

    Li joined an on-line chatting group at www.QQ.com in order to 8 a teacher and fellow students.There he met people from 9 parts of the country, who shared a（n）10 in Chinese guqin music and classic 11 .They exchange ideas online and also have offline 12 .

    “The gathering of guqin players was very exciting for me, a beginner,” he recalls.He was 13 with guqin songs which were played 14 by Fan Yumei, an experienced guqin player from Sichuan, and Pan Kun, a young guqin15 and musical major at Shanghai Dance Academy.

    Fan and Pan are students of Zeng Chengwei, a guqin master from Sichuan School in Chengdu.

    Their performances staged in a small apartment near the Shanghai University 16 less than 10 netizens (网友).Through the window of the quiet room where Fan 17 her students, one can see the bustling Northern Third Ring Road and two shopping centers.“But being together, drinking a cup of tea, 18 poetic guqin music and guqin songs, one may find an inner peace and nourishment 19 a week's hard work,”says Fan, who is 20 a calligrapher, painter and writer.

    It was at a concert that I happened to find David. He was holding his head at a strange 1 as if he were staring down at something. Then the truth struck me. He was blind. The last thing he remembers 2 was his daughter being born. Then the world went 3.

Bad luck is no stranger to this 44-year-old man. His mother died of cancer, and his weak father had to 4 11-year-old David to the care of the state. Things seemed always to go from bad to 5. Two years ago, his beloved guide dog pulled him out of the 6 of a truck. David was not hurt. The dog 7 But David does not feel sorry for himself. "These are just little obstacles (障碍) you have to 8 in your life," he said. He has to make a daily two-hour trip to his working place—the X-ray department of an 9 room. It was a hard job to 10. Before he got it, David was determined to escape the workshop run by the Lighthouse, an organization 11 to help blind people. He wanted a job of developing X-ray film, something 12, not just he, must do in the dark, including people with 13 eyesight. The Lighthouse called many hospitals, with no result, 14 they offered to pay his first three months' salary.

    David works alone in a dark room that 15 chemicals. He cannot wear gloves. 16, he could not feel. Since this is an emergency room, lives can be 17 or out of danger. His directress says she trusts him 100 percent.  He makes $ 20 000 a year. But his motivation (动机) goes 18 money. "By working, I can actualize my own 19. That's the most important!" he said.

    What a shining example for us to 20!

In 1882 a baby girl caught a fierce fever. She 1 but the fever left its mark—she could no longer 2 or hear. So how did this child grow up to become a world-famous 3 and public speaker?

    The fever cut her off from the outside world. It was as if she had been 4 into a dark prison cell from which there could be no release. 5 she was not someone who gave up easily. Soon she began to 6 the world by using her other 7. She followed her mother wherever she went, hanging on to her skirts. She touched and smelled everything she came 8. She learnt to 9 people by feeling their faces or their 10. She could also tell where she was in the 11 by smell of the different plants and the feel of the ground under her feet.

    By the age of seven she had 12 over 60 different signs by which she could talk to her family. If she wanted bread, for example, she would 13 to cut a loaf and butter the slices. But even so she had 14.

    At five she began to realize she was different from other people, which made her so 15 that she used to kick and scream in the room. As she got older, her frustration 16 and her anger became stronger and stronger. Fortunately, with the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan, she 17 to be a remarkable scholar. While she was still at college she wrote The Story of My Life, which enjoyed immediate popularity and 18 enough money to buy her own house. She 19 the country, giving lecture after lecture and she also received many 20 from foreign universities and kings. The girl was Helen Keller.

    The rosebushes were finally in full bloom on that spring morning.

    The sight of roses always brings to1Wanda's childhood memories. Then the family had no 2to buy extra things, so even a tired rose was something to 3 .

    Currently, to have a backyard full of different roses is pure 4. And her husband, Dale, devotedly 5the roses. 6that she loves the very first blooms, he picked some on this particular morning.

    But as Dale returned, he came across a neighbor who had7 for a quick visit. As the woman turned to go, Dale generously gave the 8 to her. And even though their visitor 9 she didn't want to take them, she was10 assured(确信)that the flowers were hers to keep.

    Seeing her precious first blooms go out the door11Wanda with regret, and a bit of 12. She knew it was "better to give than to receive." 13, she wished she could have kept the roses for herself.

    Later that day, the couple headed to the post office, where Wanda waited outside in the car.

    Then, without14, an older woman suddenly appeared at the open window, and gave her a bunch of fresh roses! "These are for you. They're my first blooms this spring."

    Completely 15, Wanda thanked the woman and16 for a moment to breathe in the rich fragrance. When she looked back, the mysterious visitor was gone.

That special17changed Wanda. It made her understand the true meaning of18gifts. Now, she always19her first blooms to others, as a(n)20that someone is thinking of them.

    The stage lights dimmed, and I took a quick look from behind the heavy black curtains into the audience. Blinded by the lights, I quickly 1. It seems that a great number of eyes were looking at me. I took a deep 2 as the music of my dance began to play. I entered the stage and began my 3, the graduation test of the classical Indian dance.

    After a decade of learning this art form, I had 4 been considered ready to take on the most difficult act. The test is the most important event in a dancer's life as it pays 5 to all the factors in one's life that 6 the dance form: one's culture and family.

    The performance is undertaken only by the most 7 and determined students. It is a difficult process that requires much 8. For more than six months, I spent two to three hours every day9 these dances. Many times, I 10 myself to my physical and mental breaking point, but still I would not stop. I could not give up. There was always so much more to do and so much more to 11.

    I 12 a lot about myself in those tiring hours. I learned that I was far too 13 to give up, and I was too proud to prove myself 14 after I had set an unrealistic goal. Even with physical pain and mental 15, I forced myself to meet my 16. Even when I was at the end of my 17, there was always something driving me on, forcing me not to give up.

    Fortunately, I made it. What I had done 18 the success. It was in those hours that I learned what a dancer 19 is. Those time was evidence that I could 20 something I set out to do.