My friend Monty Roberts told me a story about a young boy. One day at school, the boy was asked to write a paper 1 what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

    That night he wrote a seven – paper 2 his dream of owning a farm. He put a great deal of his 3 into the paper and the next day he handed it in to his 4. Two days later he received his paper back. On the5 page was a large red F with a 6 that read, “See me after class.” The boy went to see the teacher after class and asked, “7 did I receive an F?” The teacher said, “This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like 8. Owning a farm requires a lot of money. There's no 9 a young man could ever do it.” Then the teacher added, “10 you rewrite this paper, I will reconsider your 11.”

    The boy went home and 12about it long and hard. Finally, after a week, he turned in the 13 paper, making no changes.

    Monty then said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my farm. I 14 have that school paper over fireplace.” He added, “The 15 part of the story is that two summers ago the same schoolteacher 16 30 kids to camp out on my farm. When the teacher was 17, he said, 'Look Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream18. During those years I stole a lot of kids' dreams. 19 you had enough courage not to 20 yours.” Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what…

      Ann worked for a big company. One of the duties of her 1 was to go to the post office every day and 2  the company mail. One day in December, she 3  a beggar making himself up as a Santa Claus 4  on the corner of the street. Each day she 5 her coins and dropped them in his bowl. He would smile and 6  her a Merry Christmas.

      At night the temperature dropped below 0℃, but the Santa Claus 7 stood in the cold wind.  8  she dropped her coins into his bowl, she handed him a pair of gloves.

      A week later, a(n) 9  Santa Claus was standing there. “What happened to the other Santa Claus?” she asked. He told her, “He's very 10  today.” She prayed for his health.

      Later that day, a colleague came into her office 11 . “I don't know what I'm going to do.” “What's wrong?” she asked. “It's my ex—husband,” her colleague 12 , “I don't have any money to buy my boys anything for Christmas, 13  my ex—husband refuses to send money to them. It breaks my heart that they won't have anything this year. ” The lady 14  her colleague, “I'm sure everything will 15  It's Christmas. Believe in miracles (奇迹).”

      That evening, she told her husband about her colleague's 16 , “I know we don't have much money to 17  , but I'd like to give her fifty or a hundred dollars. We'll just get ourselves less this year. Last year we couldn't afford to buy anything for 18  but we still had a wonderful Christmas.” Her husband smiled, “Give her one hundred dollars. She needs it more than we do.”

      She reached up and held him. Warmth spread 19  her body. He held her and realized that there really was a Santa Claus—and he had 20  her !

    I learned my first lesson at a meeting. As we sat around the table I heard Meg, who was 1 a recent operation, talking to Judith, the manager of our project. “Thank you so much for 2my daughters to their dance lessons last week.” “Don't mention it,” Judith says, “It was nothing.”

    Knowing how 3Judith's schedule is, with her work, kids and aging parents, I found her driving Meg's children to lessons unbelievably 4. I was about to say more about this when Donna, another colleague, entered the room 5. She apologized for being late, saying she just hosted a lunch for her friends who are over seventy. “That is so nice of you,” I say,6 how busy she was, how she didn't like to cook and clean. “Oh,” she said, waving her hand, “It was nothing.”7, I could still tell the 8in her voice. She did gain a sense of satisfaction from the entertainment offered to her friends.

Seeing their 9to help others selflessly, I started thinking about the concept of “nothing”, this peaceful and generous way of living— had it really been nothing or were they simply saying that? It 10to me that once I spent a whole afternoon after work helping a friend 11a speech. I 12her to rearrange the sequence of the stories in the lecture to make it sound more 13. After the fifth try, she finally 14it. She hugged me with 15, saying thanks to me. I smiled and said it was nothing.

    Suddenly, I realized that helping someone was really something to me. I learned that giving from the heart doesn't 16mean sacrifice and hard work. The 17is finding something we love to do and finding someone who 18that something. Our generosity pan benefit others 19ourselves. Once you have a good 20of it, it's nothing. And it's really something.

    People from every corner flooded into the streets that Christmas Eve. "Frosty the Snowman," and "Jingle Bells" 1 in stores; on the pavements, the street singers performed happily. Everyone, was 2 by someone else, delighted and cheerful. I was alone.

    As one of 8 kids of a Brazilian family, brought up in America's crowded apartment, I'd spent several years searching for aloneness. Now, 3, at 27, a college student after the 4 with my girlfriend, every cell inside me wanted to be alone, 5 not at Christmas. My family had 6 to Brazil and my friends were 7 with their own lives. Dusk was approaching, and the fact that I had to return to my 8 home made me sad. Lights from windows blinked, and I hoped someone would 9 from one of those homes to invite me inside with a Christmas tree decorated with shiny fake snow and 10presents.

    At a market, I felt more 11 when people were buying lots of goods, which 12 the gifts we received as children in my mind. I missed my family and wanted to cry for wanting to be alone and for having achieved it.

    Outside the church , a manger (小耶稣) had been set 13. I stood with others watching the scene, some of them 14 themselves, praying. As I walked home, I realized that leaving Brazil was still a 15experience as I struggled with whatI had become in 15 years in America. I'd mourned the 16, but for the first time, I recognized what I'd gained. I was independent, 17 and healthy. My life was still ahead, full of18.

    Sometimes the best gift is the one that you give yourself. That Christmas, I gave myself 19 for what I'd obtained up to now and promise to go forward. It is the best gift I've ever got, the one that I most 20.

    The family had had a cat for years. Then, one day, the children finally1to persuade their parents to get them a dog as well. So a little Labrador（拉布拉多犬）2.

    The dog was so3that everyone wanted to hold him and he charmed everyone by just loving them. The cat made it very clear she did not welcome another 4in the house, but the dog just5the cat anyway. The little dog6her anywhere, and tried to make friends with the angry cat. No amount of 7behavior from the cat could persuade the dog not to love the cat.

    The family thought the cat would8like the dog.

    Then one day the family heard horrible9from their back yard. They ran to the10to see what was happening. They lived in the suburbs and so they saw a real lynx（猞猁）was just planning on11their cat for lunch. The poor cat had nowhere to run or hide. It would only be a matter of seconds and their cat would be 12.

    And then suddenly a black lightning ran to the rescue. The little dog13the big lynx with all its strength. It did not14or stop to think. It saw its15in trouble and did what had to be done. The family opened the window and started yelling and the father ran to the yard. The lynx soon disappeared into the16.

    And ever since that day the cat's behavior toward the dog17totally. Now it was the cat that followed the hero dog everywhere. They18in the same basket. The cat even let the dog eat from her bowl.

So if ever anyone is19towards you, don't turn your back on them. They may not rescue your20 —but their kindness can certainly rescue your day!

    Chris is a columnist (专栏作家) at citypages.com whose life turned upside down in 2017. Chris was willing to share his story but his own print deadlines made it a(n) 1  task for this time. In 2017 Chris found out his 2  condition left much to be desired and that he needed a kidney transplant (移植). Any person would have been lost in such a situation but Chris tuned to the place where he felt most comfortable——Twitter.

    The whole operation thing takes lots of efforts on a donor's (捐赠者) side and Chris continued 3  all the details on his blog and Facebook account. In the meantime, he was 4  a tiresome process of hemodialysis (血液透析) 5 waste and water removal from his blood and it generally takes 4 hours.

    6 , 19 people replied to Chris's tweet (推特信息)! They were his lawyers or just people he met at some party months ago and even complete 7 . None of them was his family, relative or Just a 8  friend. Just imagine all these people accepting medical checks, 9  their blood types and stuff of the kind to make a great 10 to a person they hardly knew! One person 11  ideally­­­Scott. Strangely enough Scott and Chris never met in person before the 12 and really saw each other for the first time on a thanksgiving evening. Both men felt that it was somewhat easier for them to let their communication flow on Social Media 13 a certain point of time. Scott sent Chris a 14 tweet even after the successful operation. When seeing Scott for the first time on a family dinner Chris couldn't say all he wanted at first and his writing talent 15 at one time.

    Social Media 16 worked! Chris has a healthy kidney now thanks to Scott, Twitter, Facebook, and the inventor of the web. For some people, 17 networks are pure evil or just time consuming black holes, but Social Media was once a 18  for Chris. It isn't just a place where people 19 their time on lonely evenings. For some of us it is also one of few paths that can lead to a certain kind of 20 .