Children all round the world are familiar with fairy tales such as “The Little Mermaid”(美人鱼), “The Princess and the Pea” and “The Emperor's New Clothes”. The colourful 1 from the stories made us laugh and cry throughout our 2.

    The stories are the creation(创作) of Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson. He was born into a 3 family in Odense, Denmark, on April 2, 1805. His 4 life was not easy. His father was a shoemaker and his mother a washerwoman. He 5 very little education. As a child he was very6 and was laughed at for being feminine (女性化的) and tall.

    In 1816 his father died and Anderson was 7 to go out to work, first in a tailor's shop and 8 at a tobacco factory. 9 the age of 14 Anderson moved to Copenhagen to start a career as a singer and actor. He struggled for three years 10 he had to leave the theatre when his voice 11 in 1822.

    12, Anderson went to a grammar school. Having done well, he was admitted to Copenhagen University in 1828. He began to publish his fairy tales in 1835. They 13 in small volumes (量) until his death.

    14 Anderson lived a 15 life, he tried to make people 16 in all his stories. He wrote because he didn't want children to have a 17 childhood as he did. The works 18 Anderson world fame(声誉), but he remained a 19 man. He never married and his friends were the people who paid for his work. Anderson 20 on August 4, 1875. His home in Odense is now a museum and thousands of people visit it every year.

    When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor of the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University（SMU）in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn't afford the operation because her family was poor.

    Her mother ran a boardinghouse in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry”. It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Galveston boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, whoauthenticatedthe story as O. Henry's.

My father then set out to sell it. Eventfully, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.

My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.

    A few weeks ago I was at the comer store, and there stood an old lady in front of me in line. She seemed very 1 when the cashier asked her to pay $ 38.00. She had about $ 5.00 in her wallet, and she began to 2. The cashier became very 3, telling her that she cannot buy these 4 because she didn't have enough money. So, I told the cashier not to 5 it, and that I would 6 the difference. The cashier gave me a funny look,7 I really felt for this woman.

    Anyway, I paid for my groceries and 8 the store. When I got outside, I saw the lady standing there. I asked her what was 9. She said that she could not remember where she lived, and she began to cry again. I said some names of the 10 around the area but she had no clue (线索). Just then, a car 11and a woman jumped out of the car. It was this lady's daughter. I 12 that her mother couldn't find her way home. The daughter told me that she had Alzheimer's disease (阿尔茨海默病) and that she had been 13 off a lot lately. Then the daughter14 that her mother had 3 - bags of groceries and wondered 15 she got the money to pay for them. I was not 16 if I should tell her that I paid for them, but I did.

The daughter wanted to pay me back, but I 17. The daughter said “Thank you” and I said “Good bye”.

    I felt so 18and happy right through the day, because making others feel 19 makes me feel good. I know that if this 20 happened again, I would do the same thing.

    I guess I was spoiled at first. I was an only child, 1 by all relatives. Up until I was eight years old, life was 2. Then along came Grant and everything 3.

    Grant is my little brother. He was born a month earlier, so he needed a lot of extra 4. My parents still 5 me, but I was no longer the center of the universe. I was angry about the change. And at first, I was also 6 with Grant.

    Fortunately, Grants didn't cause any real 7 in his growth. Gradually, he developed the habit of 8 himself to me. My parents want me to be 9 to him, but I found him totally annoying. By the time I became a teenager, he was, at five, my shadow, 10 me around, copying my every move, and asking endless questions.

    Still, in spite of my unhappiness towards him, I began to 11 the time we spent together.

    As time went on, we developed connections and partnership, becoming more 12. Grant stopped asking to go along on dates with me, and I set aside time to go fishing with him. He cheered me on at my soccer games, and I 13 to coach his T-ball team. He became less 14 and more of a buddy. I became more patient, more able to 15 and more likely to accept the unconditional love he 16.

    Today I am happy to say that Grant and I are a 17. We have already 18 how he will come visit me when I am in college. It will be hard to be 19, but I know that we will always be close, if not in age or distance, we will be close in the long journey shared by 20.

    I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier(收银员) 1 her by name and asked her how she was doing. The woman looked down, shook her hand, and said, “Not so good. My husband just lost his job and my 2 son is up to his old tricks again. The truth is, I don't know how I'm going to 3 the holidays. ”Then she gave the cashier food stamps.

    My heart 4. I wanted to help but didn't know how. Should I offer to 5 her groceries or ask for her husband's situation?

    6 I walked into the parking lot, I spotted the woman returning her shopping cart. I remembered something in my purse that I thought might help her. It wasn't a handful of cash or an 7 of a job for her husband, but maybe it would make her life 8.

    My heart beat faster as I 9 the woman. “Excuse me,” I said, my voice trembling a bit. “I couldn't help overhearing what you said to the cashier. It sounds like you're going through a really 10 time right now. I'm so sorry, but I'd like to give you something.”

    I took a small card out of my purse and 11 it to her.

    When the woman read the only two words on the card, she began to cry. And through her 12, she said, “You have no idea how much this 13 to me.”

    I was a little 14 by her reply. Having never done anything like this before, I didn't know what kind of 15 I might receive. All I could think to respond was, “Oh! Would it be OK to give you a 16?

    After we hugged 17, I walked back to my car and began to cry, too.

    The words on the card?

    “You Matter.”

    A few weeks earlier, a colleague gave a similar card as 18 for a project I was working on. When I read the card, I felt a 19 glow(光辉，喜悦)spread inside of me. Deeply touched, I came home and ordered my own box of You Matter cards and started 20 them.

    I was a single parent of four small children, working at a low-paid job. Money was always tight, but I 1 to make ends meet (收支平衡), and if not a lot, 2 we had enough. Not knowing we were poor, my kids just thought I was 3. I've always been glad about that.

    It was Christmas time, and although there wasn't 4 for a lot of gifts, we planned to celebrate with a family party. But the big 5 for the kids was the fun of Christmas 6. They planned weeks ahead of time, asking 7 what they wanted for Christmas. 8, I had saved $ 120 for gifts to be shared by all five of us.

    The big day 9. I gave each kid a twenty-dollar bill and 10 them to look for 11 of about four dollars each. Then everyone went away excitedly. We had two hours to shop and 12 back at the “Santa's Workshop”.

    Driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits, 13 my youngest daughter, Ginger, who was unusually 14. She had only one small, flat bag with a few candies—fifty-cent candies! I was very doubtful but I didn't say anything 15 we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door. This is what she told me:

    “I was looking 16 thinking of what to buy when I 17 to read the little cards on the “Giving Trees”. One was for a little girl, four years old, and all she 18 for Christmas was a doll. So I took the card off the tree and 19 the doll for her. We have so much and she doesn't have anything.”

    I never felt so 20 as I did that day.