The journey my daughter Cathy has had with her swimming is as long as it is beautiful.

    Cathy suffered some terrible 1her early childhood. After years of regular treatment, she 2 became healthy.

    Two years ago, while Cathy was watching the Olympics, a dream came into her sweet little head—to be a swimmer. Last summer,she wanted to3 out local swim team. She practiced hard and finally 4 it. The team practice, 5 was a rough start. She coughed and choked and could hardly 6 her first few weeks. Hearing her coughing bitterly one night, I decided to7 her from it all. But Cathy woke me up early next morning, wearing her swim suit 8 to go! I told her she shouldn't swim after a whole night's coughing, but she refused to 9 and insisted she go.

From that day on, Cathy kept swimming and didn't 10 a single practice. She had a 11 intention within herself to be the best she could be. My ten-year-old was growing and changing right before my eyes, into this 12 human being with a passion and a mission. There were moments of 13 of course: often she would be the last swimmer in the race. It was difficult for Cathy to accept that she wasn't a 14—ever. But that didn't stop her from trying.

      Then came the final awards ceremony at the end of the year. Cathy didn't expect any award but was still there to  15 her friends and praise their accomplishments. As the ceremony was nearing the end, I suddenly heard the head coach 16, “The highest honor goes to Cathy!” Looking around, he continued, “Cathy has inspired us with her  17 and enthusiasm.  18 skills and talents bring great success, the most valuable asset(财富)one can hold is the heart.”

     It was the greatest  19 of my daughter's life. With all she had been 20 in her ten years, this was the hour of true triumph(成功).

    There is a workman in America who earns as much as a company director. He is Max Quarterman, a thirty-year-old plasterer (泥瓦匠).

    Max lives in an upper middle-class housing estate. His 1 are mostly bank managers, business executives, airline pilots and the 2, but Max's seven-bedroom house — 3 $ 80,000 — is the largest in the area. 4 outside the house are Max's $ 7000 sports car and his wife's Morris Mini. Indoors is a 150 colour TV set and the family's 5 — a circular bath with gold-plated taps. There are also many labour－saving 6 and luxury furniture.

    How can a plasterer 7 all this? The answer, says Max, is hard work. In 8 with another plasterer, Max 9 contract plastering jobs for a firm. The owner of the firm 10 them as human machines, the best and quickest in the 11, who can do as much in two days as 12 two-man team can in two weeks.

    How do they manage it? Not by working overtime. They work a(n) 13 eight-hour day, five days a week. The secret 14 in Max's hod (桶) in which he carries the plaster to the site of the job. Max's is a superhod — it contains double the usual 15 of plaster, and Max, a strong fellow, runs when he carries it. More time is thus 16 to get on with the plastering. Besides, 17 man wastes time smoking, and they 18 their lunch break to a 19 of an hour a day. Now Max earns over $ 800 a week which is four times the average weekly pay in Britain today, and if he gets as 20 as $ 15, it's a disaster.

    My mom died when I was two years old. She died in an accident when 1to visit her parents. I was in the backseat, and I wasn't 2.I don't remember anything about her.  The only few things I know are from the 3my dad tells me. I 4 with only my dad and myself. I love my dad, but sometimes it was 5, like being in elementary school when Mothers'day was coming, kids would decorate cards, and so on. To make it6, there was  “tea party with mom ” day for 2^nd and 3^rd grade when kids and their7would come during the school day and have8 and snacks. Except that my dad would let me9 those days, we would do something 10together like going to Disneyland. I never exactly felt 11 even though I didn't have a mom.

    My dad worked very hard. My mom died right as he 12from Harvard law, and he tried to be both a good13 and a great dad ,but also he tried to play both14 as dad and mom . I remember all the other girls in my 2^nd grade class had hair braided (辫子), and I15 that too. So my dad would braid my hair every morning before 16. It makes me smile just to17it.

    I think about not having mother occasionally, and18 it does bother me ,like the 19that on Mothers' day my dad and I visit my moms' grave , and bring her20 yellow roses .

    Maybe I don't have exactly what I want, but I have what I need .

    From an early age, Parker always said that he would be an astronaut when he grew up. But no matter how much he studied and took tests, he was never 1 to fly in space. 2 , he grew over the maximum age for taking the selection tests. In other words, he would never be able to fulfill his 3 .

    Thinking about all the time and 4 Parker had put into trying to be an astronaut, people felt 5 for him. Despite what he was told about having to 6 his ambition, Parker continued training and studying, 7  he was going to have the tests next month.

    He 8  as he got older, and when he was a very old man he heard that they were doing some very important 9 experiments. For those experiments they needed a very 10 astronaut. Parker, who now walked with a 11 was the only old man in the whole world who was 12 to fly in a rocket. Therefore, Parker found himself flying in 13 , all with the help of science. It was clear that the 14 gained during those missions helped to cure one of the worst sicknesses for old people, and Parker was 15 as a hero.

    Photos of the astronaut with a walking stick and no teeth 16 all over the world, and became a 17 of how you can never train or learn too much. It showed that 18 effort always brings 19 even though it may not be in the form we had first 20.

    In the 1950s, I was an only child of a single mother, living in a modest cottage in New Zealand. There was no TV and very little1to spend on entertainment.2we had our books and enjoyed3better than reading aloud to each other. My mother read me The Faraway Tree Stories, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Treasure Island and poetry as well.4I turned seven, I was able to take my 5at the reading role, and we spent many pleasant evenings laughing over6characters.

    In 1964, I was 18 and moved to Auckland, but we still phoned each other and talked about books. Years later, Mum's eyesight began to7. She found it8difficult to read the small print of her beloved books. She enjoyed looking at magazines but missed9up with the latest books by her favourite10.

    Later, I became a Special Needs library assistant and my11was to select books for12impaired（损伤的）people. In time, I introduced my mother to large-print novels and audio-books, which gave her a great deal of13as her eyesight grew more dim(模糊的).

    In her 70s, Mum's choice of reading seemed to14to mainly murder mystery stories. I was15to see that, so I bought her a more “worthy” audio-book. The next day, I asked, “How are you getting on with that latest book?” “Oh, not so well,” she replied16. I didn't try to “improve” my mother's literary17after that.

    A few years ago Mum18away. There are still so many thing I'd like to tell her. I'd like to19her for her early guidance in the20world of books. And I'm happy to say that I'm also into audio-books now.

    Many people spend their New Year's Eve getting dressed up and dancing their way to midnight. My brother and I decided to do things a bit 1.

    We each filled a backpack with clothes, shoes and other things and headed out to the 2. The first person we saw was a 15-16-year-old boy picking up 3 plastic bottles on the train platform (站台). We called him over and started up a(n) 4. We had a look at his 5 and noticed he had 6 fingernails (手指甲). We explained that it was 7 to keep short nails and then we 8 cutting them for him. When we were 9, we offered him some chocolate candies, which made him look at us 10. We talked to him some more and began 11 some of the chocolate ourselves. Finally, he 12 took the chocolate himself and then began telling us his 13.

    His name was Raju. After his mother died, his father remarried. Unable to 14 his stepmother (继母), Raju ran away from 15 and has been living on the streets for 3 years, collecting and 16 empty plastic bottles.

    When we met Raju, he wasn't wearing any 17. One quick look into our backpacks and we 18 what we were looking for-a pair of Nike shoes. When we dressed him in them-Raju's eyes were full of 19. "These shoes are so great. Nothing will hurt my 20.Thank you so much!" Touched by our actions, he joined us as we walked around and looked for those in need.