Not being sure where I want to start this, I will say that I lost my mom back in April of this year. She was ninetytwo. 1, I was not expecting her to 2 and I don't think she was expecting it either. I was very close to my mom, being an only child. We did have3 on the surface，but we still had a close relationship4 those.
Being newly married less than a year, and having moved a couple of times 5, I have had more changes recently in my life than at any other point of my fiftyfour years. Stability is one of the gifts that Mom6me and it had so many7that I wasn't aware of until now. My husband and I have made some 8 to Mom's home and will be moving at the end of next week. It is now our home, but it still has my9 heart in it. It's where I grew up, and there are many 10 that will live there with us. At the same time, I am looking forward to 11 some very happy and memorable ones with my husband.
Mom12 such a big part in my life. Our lives were 13 woven because she gave me her values which have become deeply 14in the woman I am today. I don't have any children whom I could15 these on to. However, Mother's values affect me every day with the16 I have with others, whether I know them or not.l hope Mom would be 17 of who I am, what I've become because of her, and of 18 I am going to live with my19. She gave me everything I needed to know in life: respect others, and give help to others who 20it most. I love you, Mom, and I will never forget you.
My oldest daughter is on vacation this week.She called last night to tell us that she arrived safely in North Carolina.She said,“Don't get mad but I lost my wallet.”Then she quickly added,“But it's been returned to me！”
She had left the highway to get gas and some food.Her boyfriend was in a hurry to get going because they had a few more hours to drive before reaching their destination. She placed her wallet on the car roof, put the little dog in the back seat, and quickly jumped into the car.Off they went, with the wallet still on the roof!
They were about a half hour away and they came to a toll booth. She reached in her purse for her wallet and couldn't find it. She had a lump in her throat as she remembered leaving it on the roof.
She started to cry. Then, almost immediately, her cell phone rang.It was the local police. They said someone had dropped_off her wallet and she could come to pick it up.
She did and all the vacation money was there. Nothing was missing. She asked for the name of the person who returned it but the police said they couldn't give the information out.
I told my daughter,“It was an anonymous act of kindness and whoever did it is smiling, knowing that you got your wallet back and were able to enjoy your vacation.”
Honest people do exist! This is proof!
Notes：
toll booth收费所
The freezing Northeast hasn't been a terribly fun place to spend time this winter, so when the chance came for a weekend to Sarasota. Florida. my bags were packed before you could say “sunshine. I left for the land of warmth and vitamin C(维生素C), thinking of beaches and orange trees. When we touched down to blue skies and warm air, I sent up a small prayer of gratefulness.Swimming pools, wine tasting, and pink sunsets(at normal evening hours, not 4 in the afternoon) filled the weekend, but the best part—particularly to my taste, dulled by months of coldweather root vegetables—was a 7 a．m. adventure to the Sarasota farmers'market that proved to be more than worth the early wakeup call.
The market, which was founded in 1979, sets up its tents every Saturday from 7 a．m. to 1 p．m., rain or shine, along North Lemon and State streets.Baskets of perfect red strawberries; the redpainted sides of the Java Dawg coffee truck; and most of all, the tomatoes:
amazing，large，soft and round red tomatoes.
Disappointed by many a broken, vineripened(蔓上成熟的) promise, I've refused to buy winter tomatoes for years. No matter how attractive they look in the store, once I get them home they're unfailingly dry, hard, and tasteless.But I homed in, with uncertainty, on one particular table at the Brown's Grove Farm's stand，full of fresh and soft tomatoes the size of my fist.These were the real deal—and at that moment, I realized that the best part of Sarasota in winter was going to be eating things that back home in New York I wouldn't be experiencing again for months.
Delighted as I was by the tomatoes in sight, my happiness deepened when I learned that Brown's Grove Farm is one of the suppliers for Jack Dusty, a newly opened restaurant at the Sarasota Ritz Carlton, where—luckily for me—I was planning to have dinner that very night.Without even seeing the menu, I knew I'd be ordering every tomato on it.
People aren't walking any more—if they can figure out a way to avoid it.
I felt superior about this matter until the other day I took my car to mail a small parcel. The journey is a matter of 281 steps. But I used the car. And I wasn't in any hurry, either. I had merely become one more victim of a national sickness: motorosis.
It is an illness to which I had thought myself immune (免疫的) , for I was bred in the tradition of going to places on my own two legs. At that time, we regarded 25 miles as a good day's walk and the ability to cover such a distance in ten hours as a sign of strength and skill. It did not occur to us that walking was a hardship. And the effect was lasting. When I was 45 years old I raced—and beat—a teenage football player the 168 steps up the Statue of Liberty.
Such enterprises today are regarded by many middleaged persons as bad for the heart. But a wellknown British physician, Sir Adolphe Abrahams, pointed out recently that hearts and bodies need proper exercise. A person who avoids exercise is more likely to have illnesses than one who exercises regularly. And walking is an ideal form of exercise—the most familiar and natural of all.
It was Henry Thoreau who showed mankind the richness of going on foot. The man walking can learn the trees, flowers, insects, birds and animals, the significance of seasons, the very feel of himself as a living creature in a living world. He cannot learn in a car.
The car is a convenient means of transport, but we have made it our way of life. Many people don't dare to approach Nature any more; to them the world they were born to enjoy is all threat. To them security is a_steel_river thundering on a concrete road. And much of their thinking takes place while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
I say that the green of forests is the mind's best light. And none but the man on foot can evaluate what is basic and everlasting.
Maybe you are an average student.You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessarily so,however. Anyone can become a better student if he or she wants to. Here's how：
When planning your work, you should make a list of things that you have to do. After making this list, you shouldmake a schedule of your time. First your time for eating, sleeping, dressing,etc.Then decide a good, regular time for studying.A weekly schedule may not solve all your problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.
Find a good place to study. Look around the house for a good study area.Keep this space, which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room, free of everything but study materials. No games, radios,or television. When you sit down to study, concentrate on the subject.
Make good use of your time in class.Listening carefully in class meansless work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says.
Study regularly. When you get home from school, go over your notes, review the important points that your teacher is going to discuss the next day, read that material.If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you'll remember it longer.
Develop a good attitude towards tests.The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. They help you remember your new knowledge.The world won't end if you don't pass a test, so don't be overworried.
Youwill probably discover them after you have tried these.
A．There are other methods that might help you with your studying.
B．Don't forget to set aside enough time for entertainment.
C．Take advantage of class time to listen to everything the teacher says.
D．No one can become a top student unles she or she works hard.
E．Plan your time carefully.
F．Make full use of class time to take notes of what the teacher says in class.
G．This will help you understand the nextclass.
