As everyone grows, they realize there will always be someone who is better. I learned this1in the second year in high school. The shock this experience brought was so great that I felt my2was left on the side of the road for dead. That was all it took: one year and one person3everything.

    Her name is Jenny. She was the girl who4raised her hand and had useful comments about everything. When teachers needed challenging problems answered, they 5 her. And if students needed6,they went looking for her. I didn't 7her, but I admit her presence annoyed me. In the first year, as a model student, I was the person everyone 8and all the teachers trusted. Then she came out of9! We also had two classes 10.There I got to see what everybody thought of her. When an exam finished, it became a11that she got the top grade and it didn't 12to my classmates whether I was right there,13I also got excellent grades. They would cross a desert and14her! I was left being denied my presence.15.I felt like not trying anymore.

    I stopped trying to put on a show because no one was16 anymore. Later, I volunteered at the graduation ceremony. She was called to make a(n)17and discussed their difficulties. I realized all her hard work got her there, not her desire to 18 It finally hit me that Jenny19the attention she got. She showed me how big the world is and how20a world I used to live in. I'll do my best because I know it will pay off.

    We have been driving in fog all morning, but the fog is lifting now. The little seaside villages are1one by one. “There is my grandmother's house,” I say2across the bay to a shabby old house.

    I am in Nova Scotia on a pilgrimage(朝圣) with Lisa, my granddaughter, seeking roots for her, retracing(追溯)3 memory for me. Lisa was one of the mobile children4 from house to house in childhood. She longs for a sense of5and so we have come to Nova Scotia where my husband and I were born and where our ancestors6for 200 years.

We soon7 by the house and I tell her what it was like here, the memories8back, swift as the tide (潮水).

    Suddenly, I long to walk again in the9 where I was once so gloriously a child. It still10 a member of the family, but has not been lived in for a while. We cannot go into the house, but I can still walk 11 the rooms in memory. Here, my mother 12 in her bedroom window and wrote in her diary. I can still see the enthusiastic family13 into and out of the house. I could never have enough of being 14 them. However, that was long after those childhood days. Lisa15 attentively as I talk and then says, “So this is where I16 where I belong.”

    She has17 her roots. To know where I come from is one of the great longings of the human18 To be rooted is “to have an origin”. We need19origin. Looking backward, we discover what is unique in us; learn the 20 of “I”. We must all go home again—in reality or memory.

    When I was shopping a few months ago , I saw a man trying to get people to donate(捐赠)to a very well-known charity(慈善团体)for children. I 1 to him that I can't donate money any more 2 my bank account(账户)having some problems last year. It was a 3 time and took months to get back our money. 4, I noticed the man was hungry and cold, so I offered him a(n) 5 in the nearby restaurant.

    Last week I 6 home on a really hot day. My husband Stewart was at the table with a person from a Charity having a 7. We talked for a while and then I said, "I 8 you!" and he looked at me in surprise and said, "Oh, you're the lovely lady that 9 me a big lunch and drinks when I was at 10 trying to get people to donate." We both laughed and we had a little 11.

    He told me that he had let the organizers know about this lovely woman 12 him out on a cold day. He said 13was so unexpected. I was so 14 to see him again, sitting in my home. My act had really 15 him for the kindness of it and I loved the fact that Steward had 16 him in out of the heat for a cold drink.

    In our daily life, maybe we 17 know how we 18people when we do good things. But in fact, 19we do does affect others, for it is a lovely 20. Kindness is so catching (感染力的).

    On a trip to California, my family stopped for lunch. As we walked toward the 1 to the restaurant, a man, with a 2 beard (胡须) and dirty hair, jumped up from a bench(长凳)and opened the door for us and 3 us in a friendly way.

    Once inside, my daughters whispered, "Mom, he 4." After we ordered our lunch, I explained, telling the kids to look 5 the appearance. The day I became a mother, I had made my mind to set a good 6 for my children. Yet sometimes when things didn't go right, being a good example was 7. When our meal arrived, I 8 I had left the car－sick pills in the truck. With the most winding trip ahead, the 9 needed them, so I went for them.

    Just then, the "doorman" was opening the door for a couple. They rushed past him without even noticing him. Letting them in first, I said a loud "thank you" to him as I 10.

    When I returned, we talked a bit. He said he was not allowed inside unless he bought 11. I went back and told my family his12. Then I asked our waitress to add one soup and sandwich. The kids looked    13 as we had already eaten, but when I said the order was for the "doorman", they smiled. When it was time to 14 our trip, I noticed the "doorman" enjoying his meal. Upon 15 me, he stood up and thanked me heartily. He then 16 out his hand for a handshake and I gratefully 17. I suddenly noticed his tears in eyes.

    Back in, I fell into deep thought. 18 we can't choose many things in life, we can choose when to show thanks. I said thanks to a man who had 19 held open a door for me, and also said thanks for that 20 to teach my children by example.

    Sarah, a classical dancer from India, had to have her right leg cut after a car accident. She was also 1 on her career（事业） road.

    Though the accident brought her bright career to a 2, she didn't give up. In the 3 months that followed, Sarah met a doctor who developed an artificial (人造的) 4 made from rubber filled with sponge (海绵). So 5 she wanted to go back to 6 after she had been fitted with an artificial leg. Sarah knew that she believed in 7and could realize her dream, 8 she began her courageous journey back to the world of dancing ­ 9to balance, bend, stretch, walk, turn, twist and twirl.

    After every public recital (个人表演), she 10 ask her dad about her performance. "You 11 have a long way to go" was the answer she used to get 12. In January 1984, Sarah made a historic13by giving a public recital in Bombay. She performed in such a great manner that it 14everyone to tears and this 15 pushed her to the number one position again. That evening when she asked her dad the 16question, he didn't say anything. He just touched her feet as a praise.

    Sarah's comeback was 17 moving that a film producer 18 to make the story into a hit film. When someone asked Sarah how she had 19 to dance again, she said quite simply, "YOU DON'T NEED FEET TO DANCE." 20is impossible in this world. If you have the will to win, you can achieve anything.