Yesterday I was doing some shopping and a man, who was in worn clothes, walked towards a group of us at the checkout stand (收银台). I 1 him say to one woman in front of me, “I don't want to steal from this store… would you 2 me some food?” But the woman 3 not to hear him; it was 4 she hadn't seen him, I waited for my 5 to be questioned, but it never came. So I asked him, “Can I buy you something to eat?”

    He 6 accepted. The man got a 7 and began putting sandwiches in the bag. As my 8 were being rung up (结账) I watched the man put the sandwiches into the bag; 1, 2, 3… He finally stopped and I asked him how many he had got and he answered 10.

    The 9 cashier (收银员) looked at me for a while and then added them to my 10. After I was through, the man was wandering around the store saying he wanted something to 11, too. The cashier seemed to be keeping a 12 eye on him. I admit I was too, as I didn't want him to 13 anything either! I told the cashier that if he got a drink I'd just 14it.

    We both ended up 15 the store, but he stood outside talking to 16 Or maybe he was talking with someone who he thought was there.

This man's situation made me 17. How many of the homeless also 18 a mental (精神的) illness? Maybe that's even what 19 him to be homeless. I 20 to run into him again someday... maybe we can sit down and have lunch together.

    It's always been a dream for Alex to take a trip with her mother, but it was a death in the family that1made them both realize how precious life really is.

    “After losing my grandma, I2that neither I nor my mum will3be here, and that I can't4the right time to come,” the 27-year-old girl told The Huffington post.

    “After a week of5, my amazing mum and I are off to travel around the United States. We will be travelling from New York to Los Angeles interviewing6who are changing the world for the better and7the dream I had for a very long time: to travel together with my mother. I have taken a month off work and we are on our way.8are waiting!” Alex said.

    So in August，Alex and her 63-year-old retired mother，Halina, traveled to the United States for a three-week 9that took them from coast to coast.

    Alex is the10of Looking For Heroes, a social media project, in which she photographs many of the interesting people she meets with,11unique tidbits (花边新闻) of their life stories at the same time. The 12mother and daughter traveled across the nation, visiting cities13Knoxville, Tennessee, New York City, Los Angeles and Washington. Along the way they took photos 14 famous backdrops (背景) in each city, making some15memories.

    Meanwhile, Alex16much from her mother. Her mother often said “My  17to young people would be to learn new things, and what you have learned will be your biggest 18in life. With age you stop19about things that don't matter. With your priorities (优先) changing, 20and health become the most important.

    I always preferred to take on（承担）more than I should when I was a young man. At times, it was to prove to myself that I could 1 it. At other times, it was to please someone and gain 2 for my efforts. This sometimes led to 3 or frustration（挫败）.

    When I was an IT manager after college graduation I was 4 to work with a wealth customer and be a go-between（中间人）for my company. I took on the assignment 5, thinking that this might be my time to shine. 6, the customer's demands proved to be more than I could do with. And the company chose to 7 the customer and try to meet his unreasonable requirements rather than stick to what we had 8 offered in the contract. As you can imagine, this led to a lot of unexpected 9 and arguing with some of the staff（职员）who 10 to do anything outside their scope（范围）of work. I remember walking into my office one morning, opening my laptop and 11 the blank screen for long, thinking to myself: What should I do? That was a(n) 12 time in my life and then I finally had to give up my first job and 13 that company sadly.

    Perhaps, I thought then, I could find the 14 that didn't involve dealing with difficult people and difficult situations. But later I realized: Is this15 in our modern world? No, it is impossible. Now, I know, I shouldn't run away from the 16 I faced in life. I had to learn how to deal with them. I 17 not persevering（坚持）in my job. We should train ourselves to look at things from a 18 point of view, because that is far better than being 19 in the bad circle depression. I've come to 20 that when faced with difficulties, I should not give up, but preserve.

    Experts say boredom is good for kids. It forces them to be creative, 1their imaginations and helps them discover new things. A (n)2in point is 13-year-old Luke Thill from Dubuque, Iowa.

    Luke was3of playing video games and riding his bike, so he decided to build a tiny house in his backyard instead. He made money from cutting lawns(草坪)and4exchanged some services, such as gaining the help of an electrical engineer5sweeping his garage. Luke also6spare materials from his grandmother's house and other7materials from his neighbors for some of the windows and the door.

    The 89-square—foot home cost $1,500 to build and 818 months. Inside there's a kitchenette, a back sitting room, a table and a mounted(镶嵌的)TV, and an upstairs bedroom can be easily9by stairway.

    Although Luke did the10and learned how to do all the work, he had his father's11throughout the project. Greg Thill was very happy that his son learned to stay on12and deal with grown-ups.13 ， he had some simple rules when Luke14the house: “You 15the money. You build it. And you own it."

    Luke is now in love with 16. He has a YouTube channel and hopes to 17other kids to start building.18, he wants to build a bigger tiny house to live in, but for now, he19in his new home a few nights a week, does homework there, and uses it to take a20from his twin brother.

    Carl Kenton is a wealthy businessman. Five years ago, after returning from abroad to his motherland, he 1 his small company. Speaking of success, Glen often tells us a story about his 2 expensive “school” fee. He always owes his success to it.

    At that time, Glen, who already got a PhD degree, decided to return to the homeland, starting a company. Before 3 , he bought a Rolex watch with the 4 made through years of work after school and the scholarships. At the airport he had to accept the routine customs check. The watch on his wrist was also demanded to be 5 down for inspection. Glen knew that carrying the 6 goods out had to pay the tax and he worried about paying 7 for his watch. So when he was checked, he told a lie that his watch was a 8 fake (假货). When he was 9 of his “smarts”, immediately, 10 the presence of Glen, the officers hit the watch, which 11 nearly 100,000, into pieces at hearing Glen's words. Glen was 12. Before he understood why, he was taken to the office to be examined 13. For many times of entry-exit 14, he knew that only those people in the “blacklist” would “enjoy” this special treatment. The officers looked over everything carefully in the box and 15 him no matter what time of entry and exit he must accept the check and if 16 reusing and carrying fake and shoddy goods, he would be charged according to law! Suddenly, his face turned red, and he had nothing in mind after 17 the plane for long.

    After returning to the homeland, he often told the story to his family and his employees, too. He said that this made a deep 18 on him because the additional high “school” fee that he had ever paid made him realize the value of 19, which he would 20 as the secret of his success forever.

That morning in September, at a five-kilometer race, I waited for my 11-year-old son at the finish line. He'd run 30:34 at another 5k in late spring, so I 1 he could run a 5k in about 30 minutes. When I didn't see him at the 35-minute mark, I began to 2 .

It'd already been an 3 morning. About an hour earlier, when we drove into town, my son noticed a lovely tiny green tree cricket （树蟋） in my car. It jumped onto my son's hand where it stayed so long that we eventually gave it a name: Little Friend.

Minutes before the race, it jumped onto the sidewalk. Maybe it wanted to seek freedom, but this wasn't a safe place due to the 4 pedestrian traffic. So my son knelt and 5 his hand. Little Friend came back. But I told him he would 6 it during the race.

I ran well and felt thrilled at the finish line. However, that 7 gave way to anxiety when my son didn't show up. I 8 asking people if they'd seen him. No one had. So I returned to the race headquarters. In my confusion, I didn't even see him 9 the finish line. But there he was, just ahead of the 45-minute mark, with Little Friend 10 on his right thumb.

My 11 were wrong. My son didn't run fast, and he didn't lose Little Friend. These two 12 seemed somehow related. He 13 a cold he was getting over, but I knew it was more than that.

Sometimes life gives you something beautiful, but fragile （易碎的）. There's no need to 14 ahead. Treat it 15 and hold on when you can.