A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package: "This," he said, "isn't any1package." He unwrapped the box and2both the silk paper and the box .

"She got it 3 we went to New York 8 or 9 years ago. She has 4put it on. And she was5 it for a special occasion(场合)", he told me.

    He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other6 he was taking to the funeral home(殡仪馆); his wife had just died. Then he turned to me and 7:

"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a8occasion".

    I still think those words 9my life.

Now I spend more time with my10, and less at work. I"ll wear 11clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like my new clothes. I don't save my special perfume(香水)for special occasions; I use it 12I want to. The words "Some day ..." and "One day ..."13 gradually from my dictionary. If it's worth seeing, listening or doing , I want to see, listen or do it now.

    I don't know what my friend's wife would have14if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning, and this 15can tell. I think she might16her relatives and closest friends. She might call old friends to make peace over past17. She might go out for a Chinese, maybe her18food. It's these small things that I would regret(后悔) not doing, if I knew my19had come. I would regret it because I would no longer see the relatives and the friends, even the delicious food.

    Now, I try not to20anything that could bring laughter and joy into my life. And on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

    Last month, I visited one of my old neighborhoods in New York. I had not been there for twenty years and as I walked along the street, my mind was 1 by memories of the past. I saw the old 2 building where I had lived and the playground where I had played. As I viewed these once 3surroundings, images of myself as a child there4 However, what I saw and what I remembered were not the same. I 5realized that the best memories were those kept6

    My old apartment building, as I remember, was bright and alive. It was more than just a place to live. It was a movie house, a space station, or whatever my young mind could 7 I would steal away with my friends and play in the 8This was always exciting because it was so cool and dark, and there were so many things there to 9among. There was a small river in the back of the building. We would go there to lie in the shade of trees and enjoy ourselves.

    However, what I saw was 10different. The apartment building was now in bad11What was once more than a place to live in looked hardly worth 12in. The windows were all 13The once clean walls were covered with dirty 14The river was hardly recognizable. The water was polluted and the trees and flowers were all 15The once sweet-smelling river now smelled16It was really heartbreaking to17all this.

    I do not18having seen my old neighborhood. However, I do not think my 19 childhood memories can ever be the same. I suppose it is20when they say, “You can never go home again.”

    Sarah Hott had fought against weight all her life, and when she had trouble walking down the school aisle（过道）for her ride to work, she knew she had to 1.

    “I was 2 Reader's Digest, and the people in an article seemed so 3.” said the 43-year-old teaching assistant. She decided to try the 21-day 4. She first 5 healthy food and good habits, and then went on to 6 18 pounds in three weeks, then 73 pounds in eight months. Then chores（工作）aren't 7 anymore for her.

    “Last year, my 8 hurt so bad that I couldn't climb on a chair to change a light bulb,” Sarah said. “Now I feel 9.” “Best of all.” she 10. “my three daughters love to play Frisbee（弗里斯比飞盘）and swim, and I can 11 them now.”

    Recently, the students in Sarah's class brought “Ms Sarah” a special 12 for her birthday. But the kids didn't provide her with cakes 13 rich calories and much sugar. 14, they brought her favorite parfait（冻糕）.

    Sarah's success has 15 her friends to start the diet. “A few weeks ago, I took a friend to go food shopping for the plan.” Her 16 was fell at home, too. She called her husband “a potato chip connoisseur（行家）”, 17 almonds（杏仁）in front of the television.

    Sarah makes some changes for her own 18. She changes the master19 by using Haifa banana and half a cup of apple juice. “I 20 the diet food in the fridge and cat them with a spoon.” she said. Now Sarah is trying to change her diet plan in many different ways and encouraging more and more people around her to join her plan.

    The depression(经济大萧条) was coming to an end and Mum had a（n）1 time raising us kids on her own. Christmas was 2, and we received some money for Christmas. Mum said that 3 buying food, she would use the money to pay back rent. Unknown to Mum, I had been doing tough and odd jobs（零工）to earn enough money to buy myself new4.

    The big day came on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. I was very 5, as I hurried up the road to catch the bus. But on the way, I 6 a house with Christmas lights and decorations. It was then that I realized that at our house, we had 7 for Christmas. I felt sad and I was feeling a strange8 of guilt. Here I was going to buy a new pair of boots 9 Mum would be trying to explain to us why there were no presents.

    I went into a grocery store and bought a turkey, ham, oranges and all the Christmas 10. I 11 every penny of my12 money. I asked two boys to 13 them to our house. I 14 for the delivery boys to quietly 15 the groceries on the porch and pile them 16 the door. Once they had done this, I knocked on the door. I could hardly 17 to see my mother's face! When Mum opened the door, some of the groceries18 inside onto the floor, and she just stood there dumbfounded. 19 the tears, I yelled," Merry Christmas Mother!! There really is a Santa Claus!"

    I had a lot of 20 as we unpacked all the food. That day I got enough hugs and kisses from Mum. It was a Merry Christmas for us after all!

    In October, I told the eight-year-olds about my plan. "I'd like all of you to do extra jobs to1 some money. Then we'll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner 2 ." I wanted the children to3 that it's more blessed to give than to4. I wanted them to understand that religion is5nice theological ideas; that people somehow have to make it come 6 .

    Early in the week, the boys and girls arrived in class seizing their hard-earned money and couldn't wait to go shopping. I watched7they ran up and down the supermarket aisles.8, we headed toward the checkout. Then someone9 a “necessity” that sent them racing.

    "Flowers!'' Kristine cried, The group rushed toward the holiday10 .I pronounced, “you can't eat flowers.” But Mrs. Sherlock, we want flowers.”11,I sighed as the children moved a pot of purple mums（菊花） into the cart.

    Then we set off for the house of a needy grandmother and finally  12 in front of a small house in the woods. A woman with a tired face came to the door to13 us. My little group hurried to get the turkey and the trimmings. As each box was carried in, the old woman thanked us—much to children's 14 , When Amy put the mums on the counter, the woman seemed surprised.

    We returned to the car. Fastening seat belts, we could see the kitchen window. The woman inside waved goodbye, then turned and walked across the room, past the turkey, past the trimmings, 15 to the mums. She put her face in the flowers. When she raised her head, there was a16 on her lips. She was17 before our eyes. The children were quiet. In that one brief18, they had seen for themselves the 19 they possessed to make another's life20 . The children had sensed that sometimes a person needs a pot of funny flowers on a dark November day.

Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American particle and experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the fields of nuclear and particle physics. She is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity (对称) is not conserved. This discovery resulted in her colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang winning the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, while Wu herself was awarded the Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Her expertise in experimental physics aroused comparisons to Marie Curie.

Chien-Shiung Wu was born in a town of Jiangsu province, China, in 1912. Wu and her father were extremely close, and he encouraged her interests passionately, creating an environment where she was surrounded by books, magazines, and newspapers. Wu received her elementary school education at Mingde Women's Vocational School founded by her father.

Wu left her hometown in 1923 to go to the Suzhou Women's Normal School No 2, which was fifty miles from her home. In an era when "getting married" was considered the best destiny for women, she carved out a new path for herself through her diligent and earnest approach to learning and her thirst for knowledge.

In 1936, Chien-Shiung Wu went to the United States to pursue further studies in atomic physics. It was during this period of her education that she came to know Oppenheimer, who was teaching in the Physics Department. Under the guidance of renowned physicists such as Oppenheimer, Lawrence, and Segre, Chien-Shiung, Wu successfully completed her studies and her doctoral research. Due to the highly sensitive nature of her work, the details of her research were not revealed until the end of World War II.

In 1984, Chien-Shiung Wu returned to China from the United States. At the age of 72, she made a substantial donation of $250,000 to her hometown to support its development. Later, she also became an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1997, Chien-Shiung Wu passed away. Before her death, she requested to be buried in her hometown of Suzhou. Today, her tombstone in Taicang, Suzhou, bears the inscription: "She was an outstanding global citizen and a forever Chinese."