I was wandering around the Albuquerque airport. My flight had been 1 , and I heard a(n)2: “If anyone near Gate A-4 3 Arabic，please come to the gate immediately." Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.

    An older woman was 4, sitting on the floor. In her 5 Arabic dress, she reminded me of my grandmother.

    “6 to her,” the flight agent urged. “We told her the flight was going to be late, and she did this."

    I spoke to the woman 7in Arabic while putting my arm around her. She 8crying. It turned out that she thought the 9 had been canceled. She planned to be in New York for some medical treatment the next day. I comforted her and suggested 10her family.

    We telephoned her son. In English, I told him that I would 11 with his mother until we got on the plane. Then his son was12. Next we called my dad. They spoke for a while in Arabic and 13 that they had ten shared friends. After that, I called some Arabic friends I14 and let them talk to her.

    She was in a 15mood by then and took some homemade 16— little cakes stuffed with nuts and topped with sugar 一 from her bag and 17 them to the people near the gate. To my amazement, no one 18. It was like a party. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo — we were all smiling, enjoying the same 19.

    I looked around and thought, this is the world I want to live in. One with no 20. Everyone can be happy anywhere.

    A few years ago, I was with a close friend in a grocery store in California. As we walked along the aisle (过道), we became 1of a mother with a small boy going in the opposite direction. The woman don't noticed us because she was so 2 with her child, who 3 to eagerly pull items off the lower shelves. As the mother became more and more annoyed, she started to 4 at her son and progressed to shaking him by the arm.

    At this point my friend spoke up. A wonderful mother of three, she had probably 5 in her life6 any child so harshly(严厉地). I 7 my friend would give this woman a serious8 about the effect of this kind of behavior on the boy. However to my9 my friend said, “What a(n)10little boy. How old is he?” The woman answered, “He's three.” My friend went on to say how11 he seemed and how her own three children12in the grocery store, pulling things off shelves. “He seems so bright,” my friend said. A(n)13smile came to the woman's face. She said, “Yes, he's very smart,14 sometimes he wears me out.” My friend responded, “ They can do that; they're so15.

    As we16 away, I heard the mother speaking more17to the boy about getting home and cooking his dinner. “We'll have your favorite foods,” she told him.

    How 18my friend achieved harmony in the situation! Really, although sometimes it's necessary to 19someone physically from hurting another person, more often it is helpful that we show love and 20to those lost in anger, allowing them to remember their own tenderness(温柔).

    Every year around this time kids perform in their holiday concert. For many schools it is the most well-attended 1 of the year. In years past, my daughter has joined her classmates in singing. This year was 2 though. She had a few 3 parts.

    My daughter was very 4 about earning these parts. Yet with her excitement also came some nervousness. She 5 practiced her lines until she knew them 6. And, each day her class would prepare for what was going to be a special 7.

    Each day she would tell us that she did well but that she was very 8. She was worried that people would 9 her if she made a mistake. 10, she was worried about speaking in front of over a thousand people.

    Then the 11 night came last week. We luckily got front row seats, which was great for 12.

    When the time had finally arrived for my daughter to recite her lines, she did it 13. But she thought she had made a mistake, and I could see that she was close to 14 when she had finished her first part. You can only imagine how 15 it was for me not to run up on stage and 16 her and tell how much I 17 her. What happened next was the reason she is now my 18.

    She went back up to the microphone two more times and spoke her lines perfectly. The 19 it took to do that was something I will never forget. I will not 20 myself in any situation as long as I remember the night my daughter showed me what real courage looked like.

    Last year at the weekly classes of Eastside Academic Studies, I met some people with the whole responsibility for teaching and working. They cared deeply for the 1 of their students. One of them was the English teacher, Mrs. Roos, who taught me AP Language and Composition.

    I was first 2 with the fact her teaching would not be cookie-cutter (俗套的) style and 3 day after day. She was smart. She did not expect to teach 4 as if we were mass-produced products required to pass a certain 5. She thought we were the individuals that were in the 6 of being built for the future we would face. She spent time in knowing us 7.

    At the same time, every 8, I could see, was thoroughly investigated and analyze, so that she could give us high-quality comments and 9 proposals. In her opinion, her 10 didn't stop at the end of the school year; it stopped at the end of her students' 11. Thus, she did her work seriously.

    Mrs. Roos was not the one to give an easy A. Yet that was the work she 12 us to do. She was looking for right 13 inside of us. Additionally, she was more than willing to present a Plan B when a student needed her help, and willing to spend time outside of the 14 class when we couldn't finish the once-a-week 15.

    Because she was absolutely 16 with her students, I thought it made her 17. However, by 18 what she liked through stories and opinions in our class conversation, she 19 us. She cared for us. I summed it up like this: She gave her best to her students and I 20 the teacher like her!

As an only child, Nicole Renae often felt lonely in her youth. But that all changed when she turned ten. For her birthday, Renae's grandmother 1 her with an adorable gray 2 named Chloe.

From the very start, the two were 3 . "She was my best friend," Renae said. Every ounce of love Renae gave, the little dog returned tenfold.

But when Renae was 14, her father 4 a new job that came with a shocking warning: He'd be working at home, and the house needed to 5 noise disturbance.

"Chloe was very noisy," Renae said. "I was just a kid, so I didn't have any 6 in the matter. I didn't want to 7 my dog. I just felt so sick and 8 about it. With no easier option, the family sent Chloe to a humane society.

9 , Renae grew up, got married, and had a child of her own. But her family didn't feel quite complete. Remembering the 10 that having a dog had brought her as a kid, Renae wanted her daughter to 11 the same. She had it in her mind that she would 12 a puppy, but then one day she saw a post on a social media platform about a 13 dog that needed a new home. The dog in the photograph looked a lot like Chloe —she was even named Chloe. In an instant it was 14 : She would adopt this older dog.

When she met Chloe, the dog seemed so familiar. And Chloe appeared to feel the same 15 about Renae. Soon Renae cried with excitement because she felt so lucky to have Chloe again.

"It's nice having a friend," said Mole (鼹鼠) to Rabbit as they sat talking in the sun one day.

"Oh, it is!" said Rabbit. "Very useful, too, 1 if you need help. 2 , I think I'd like Bull (公牛) to be my friend."

"But I'm your friend!" said Mole, feeling 3

"Oh, yes," said Rabbit. "You are good for talking to and laughing with, 4 you are too small. When I need help, I 5 someone big and strong like Bull. He would be a very good friend to have. It would be 6 shouting for him when I need help."

Mole went off in anger.

"Oh, well, I need to 7 something," Rabbit thought.

He moved along 8 he found a tiny garden. He had just started on his first leaf when there was a big noise. People were shouting and dogs were barking (吠叫). Rabbit was so afraid and in such a 9 to get away that he ran into the wrong hole. The hole was too small and Rabbit got stuck. He could not 10 at all.

"Help!" cried Rabbit.

Mole 11 him. He ran up to see what was the matter.

"Help!" cried Rabbit. "I'm stuck in this hole."

"If you want help," said Mole, "I'd better 12 Bull."

"No!" cried Rabbit. "He's no good! He's too big to get into this hole. You're just the right 13 ! Please help me, Mole!"

So Mole began digging around Rabbit. He worked so fast that Rabbit was 14 in no time.

"I'm sorry, Mole. I was wrong, " Rabbit said. "I'm 15 I have you as a friend."

And the two good friends set off for home together.