That holiday morning I didn't have to attend school. Usually, on holidays, Mother 1  me to sleep in. And I would certainly take full advantage of it. On this particular morning,  2, I felt like getting up early.

        I stood by my window overlooking the 3, having nothing better to do. But as it turned out, I was soon to learn about something  4  in life.

        As I watched several people go by, get into their cars and go off, I  5an old man on a bicycle with a bucket on its  6 and a basket of rags and bottles on its back-carriage. He  7  from one car to another,  washing and cleaning them. From the water on the ground, it seemed that he had already  8  washing and cleaning about a dozen or more cars. He must have begun to work quite early in the morning.

        Several thoughts  9my mind as I watched him work. He wash't well-dressed. He had on a pair of shorts and a(n)  10  T-shirt. The bicycle he rode was not by any means the kind modern  11 would want to be seen riding on. But he seemed 12  with life. There he was, working hard at his small business,  13at passers by and stopping to chat now and then  14elderly men and women on their way to the market nearby,

        There was a noticeable touch of  15 in the way he seemed to be doing things  16 the  windscreen(挡风玻璃), then standing back to admire it; scrubbing(擦净)the wheels and  17, standing back to see what they look like after the scrub.

        It was a  18 to learn, I felt. At no age need one have to beg for a  19 if one has good health and is  willing to work hard. For a while I felt  20 of myself. Young as I am—just sixteen, and there was this old man who must have been usefully engaged perhaps before the sun appeared above the horizon.

    I often read of incidents of misunderstanding or conflict. I'm left 1. Why do these people create mistrust and problems, especially with those from other 2?

I was growing up in Kuala Lumpur in the early 1960s,3children from different races and religions played and studied4in harmony. At that time my family lived a stone's5from Ismail's. And no one was bothered that Ismail was a Malay Muslim and I was an Indian Hindu—we just6our differences. Perhaps, our elders had not filled our heads with unnecessary advice, well7or otherwise.

We were nine when we became friends. During the school holidays, we'd8the countryside on our bicycles, hoping to9the unexpected. At times Ismail would accompany my family as we made a rare shopping trip to town. We would be glad of his10

When I was twelve, my family moved to Johor. Ismail's family later returned to their village, and I11touch with him.

    One spring afternoon in 1983, I stopped a taxi in Kuala Lumpur. I12my destination. The driver acknowledged my13but did not move off. Instead, he looked14at me. “Raddar?” he said, using my childhood nickname(绰号). I was astonished at being so15addressed (称呼). Unexpectedly! It was Ismail! Even after two16we still recognized each other. Grasping his shoulder, I felt a true affection, something17to describe.

If we can allow our children to be18without prejudice, they'll build friendships with people, regardless of race or religion, who will be19their side through thick and thin. On such friendships are societies built and20we can truly be, as William Shakespeare once wrote, “we happy few, we band of brothers”.

    Once upon a time there lived a cruel lion in a thick forest.All the other animals are1of him.One day the lion was trapped in a2trap and no animal wanted to rescue him.

    A man3to come into the forest and saw the lion.The lion said,“I will die of4if I stay here.Please help me 5.I promise your kindness will be rewarded.”The man felt sorry for the lion and set him free.As soon as the lion got6,he let out a fierce roar.“I have been trapped in the cage for a long time.I am7I will have to eat you,said the lion.looking at the man.The man was8.

    However,he was clever enough to say,"Alright,you can eat me.But let's find someone and let him decide9 you are right in eating the person who has rescued you."

    The lion was10that no animal would speak against him,so he11.Just then a fox came and the lion asked the fox to be the12He said to the lion,"Sir,would you please13me how it all happened?"The lion was too14He entered the cage and closed the cage door.The fox15bolted（将……闩上）the cage from outside.And the ungrateful lion was16in the cage again.

    The lion asked the man for help again,but the man knew the lion wouldn't be17to him.He just walked away.

    When we're18by others,we should be thankful to others instead of returning bad for19.If we do that,we'll be left to20the consequences（后果）.

    On July 24, 1916, a natural gas explosion trapped 32 men working in a tunnel 250 feet below Lake Erie. The first rescuers who entered the tunnel were 1 by gas, and for hours no one else dared to enter the suffocating (窒息的)2 deathtrap.

    Then, late that night, someone had an idea3 Garrett Morgan and his new invention. Garrett Morgan was a successful 4 owner in Cleveland. The son of freed slaves and the seventh of 11 children, mechanically minded Morgan had opened his own sewing machine shop, which he soon 5 to a tailoring factory with 32 employees.

    In the early 1900s, factory buildings were crowded and untidy. They were often6 of wood, with no fire escapes. Fire could cause serious7 Concerned about his employees, Morgan 8 with a “safety hood” (头罩) that would allow the wearer to9 despite a fire's poisonous smoke.

    Morgan knew smoke rises during a fire10 he created a heat-resistant hood with a long tube reaching to the floor. Wearing Morgan's hood, a firefighter could breathe the 11 air near the 12 Morgan lined the breathing tube with a sponge-like material that was wetted before use to13 the air. A second tube was designed to14 exhaled (呼出的) air.

    Called to the scene on the night of the tunnel explosion, Garrett arrived with samples of his safety hood. Still in their nightwear, he and his brother Frank put on the hoods and 15 entered the tunnel. It was a dangerous 16 of the invention, but they saved two lives and 17four bodies before officials closed the18Morgan knew that more lives might have been saved if he had been called sooner.

    The daring19 made Morgan famous and brought requests for safety hoods from fire departments around the country. But his greatest20 was knowing that his invention would now save more people.

    October 12^th, 2008. It was a cold, rainy day, and I had no desire to drive up for two hours along the winding mountain road to my daughter Carolyn's house. But she had 1 that I come see something at the top of the mountain.

    "I'll stay for lunch, but I'm 2 back home straight after that," I announced when I arrived.

    "But I need you to drive me to the garage to 3 my car," Carolyn said. "Could we 4 do that?"

    "How far is it?" I asked.

    "About three minutes," she said. "I'll drive—I'm5 it."

    After ten minutes on the mountain road, I looked at her 6. "I thought you said three minutes."

    She laughed. "This is a detour(绕道)."

    Turning down a narrow path, we parked the car and got out. To my 7, the views before my eyes were 8 words.

    From the 9 of the mountain, several acres(英亩) across hills and valleys, were rivers of daffodils(水仙花). Plenty of 10—from the palest ivory(象牙白) to the deepest lemon and then to the most vivid pink—shone like a carpet before us. It looked 11 the sun had tipped(翻倒) over and spilled(洒落) gold down the mountainside.

    A series of questions 12 my mind. Who 13such beauty? When? How?

    As we approached(接近) the house that 14 in the center of the land, we saw a sign that15: "Answers to the Questions; I Know You Are 16."

    The first answer was: "One Woman—Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain." The second was: "One at a Time." The third: "17 in 1958."

    The 18 of it would not let me go. "Imagine," I said, "if I'd had a 19 and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have 20?"

    Carolyn looked at me, smiling. "Start tomorrow," she said. "Better yet, start today."

    I was driving on the freeway when I noticed heavy clouds roll in. A storm was coming. Glancing at the boxes of 1in the back seat, 1 smiled to myself. The rain began beating 2against my car window, making driving impossible. I 3onto the shoulder of the road and stopped. The rain 4me of Hurricane (飓风) Katrina.

    Hurricane Katrina struck when I was nine years old. I had 5it would strike us in Houston. It missed us, 6other cities were not so lucky. I remembered watching the 7. A reporter stood inside the Houston Astrodome (体育馆), 8people. Many wore dirty and 9 clothes, and some had no shoes on their feet. I noticed a little boy behind the reporter 10an old teddy bear. Watching him, I knew I had to do 11.

    The next day, my friends 12me at our volunteer club and we came up with a plan. We wanted to 13toys and give them to the kids at the Astrodome, which would bring some 14into the lives of these families. We 15the word to our schools and other organizations. Three days later, the donation bins were overflowing with new toys! When we 16the Astrodome with our gifts, children 17toward us from all directions, smiles lighting up their faces.

    BZZZZ. My cell phone brought me back to the present. To my joy, the storm had 18. "Hector. We have more 19of yesterday's tornado." "Well, I've brought clothes I'd like to donate to them. The 20 delayed me, but I'll be there soon!" I eased my car into the suddenly busy traffic. It felt good to know that I was making a difference again.