Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second1. He learned the value and beauty of 2 there from a very young age.
When he was 16, Molai began to notice something 3 happening around his home. A flood had hit the area earlier that year and the 4 it caused had driven away a number of birds. 5, the number of snakes had declined as well. He 6 that it was because there weren't enough trees to protect them from the 7. The solution, of course, was to plant trees so the animals could seek 8 during the daytime. He turned to the 9 department for help but was told that nothing would grow there. However, Molai went looking on his own and 10a nearby island where he began to plant trees.
11 young plants in the dry season was 12for a lone boy. Molai built at the 13 of each sapling(幼树)a bamboo platform, where he placed earthen pots with small holes to14 rainwater. The water would then drip(滴落)on the plants below.
Molai 15 to plant trees for the next 37 years. His efforts have resulted in 1,360 acres of naturally-grown land that has become home to many plants and animals.
Detective Ashley Jones works at a police department in England. He has recently made a significant1一loneliness is a serious social problem that can contribute to depression and even crimes, but it can be2in a clever way. The3? Chat benches.
Jones got the idea after he had talked with an elderly lady who had been cheated of her4. The lady would get a call from a stranger every morning who 5made her believe that he was her friend, and then she lent him about "f 31,000. Jones was6 when she said that she didn't actually7 being cheated. "Otherwise, 1would never speak to another person for weeks on end," she said.
This led Jones to the conclusion that there are too many extremely 8 people in his community, who are easy targets of cheating. So he9 to do something about it. He 10 the police department to allow him to 11 a couple of "chat benches" in two of their local parks. Then he hung a colorful sign on each of the benches that12:"HAPPY TO CHAT. "Just a few days after the signs went up, he found people sitting there and engaging in active and13 conversations.
The idea is catching on14There are now over 40 chat benches throughout England. More new chat benches have sprung up across the UK and beyond. All who participated have gained a (n)15 outcome from getting involved. Jones' idea has been fully 16-the "HAPPY TO CHAT" benches help17 the invisible social barrier that keeps people from saying hello.
This effort is not just a(n) 18 at being community minded一it's also a 19 measure. It prevents people who are cut off from society falling victim to cheaters.
The Chat Bench is a fantastic new project that20 those of all ages to interact and get to know each other in the future.
I've been farming sheep on a hillside for 54 years. I use a small tractor to get about. My dog Don always sits beside me in the passenger scat.
One morning I 1 a lost lamb when I was in the top field，near where a motorway cuts through my land. The lamb had become separated from its 2, so I jumped out of the tractor to 3 it while Don stayed in his scat.
Lamb and mother 4, I turned back to the tractor only to see it move suddenly away from me. This was so 5 because I had put the handbrake on when I jumped out. 6 Don had somehow made the 7move.
My heart froze in my chest as I 8 the tractor heading towards the 9 .I ran desperately but failed to 10. It crashed through a wooden fence and disappeared. The 11 thing I saw was Don's face, looking calmly back at me.
Heart in mouth, I 12 the fence and looked over. The tractor was 13against the crash barrier in the central reservation, having miraculously(奇迹般地) crossed the 14 road with fast-flowing traffic. I couldn't see Don, but as I 15 the tractor he jumped out onto the road, apparently 16, and dashed back to me.
The police 17 and the motorway ran normally again. I couldn't quite believe my 18it turned out no one got badly hurt, but the outcome could have been 19 .Don was given a special 20 that night—I didn't want him thinking I was angry with him.
Being good at something and having a passion for it are not enough. Success 1 fundamentally on our view of ourselves and of the 2 in our lives.
When twelve-year-old John Wilson walked into his chemistry class on a rainy day in 1931, he had no 3 of knowing that his life was to change 4. The class experiment that day was to 5 how heating a container of water would bring air bubbling (冒泡) to the surface. 6, the container the teacher gave Wilson to heat 7 held something more volatile (易挥发的) than water. When Wilson heated it, the container 8, leaving Wilson blinded in both eyes.
When Wilson returned home from hospital two months later, his parents 9 to find a way to deal with the catastrophe that had 10 their lives. But Wilson did not regard the accident as 11. He learned braille (盲文) quickly and continued his education at Worcester College for the Blind. There, he not only did well as a student but also became a(n)12 public speaker.
Later, he worked in Africa, where many people suffered from 13 for lack of proper treatment. For him, it was one thing to 14 his own fate of being blind and quite another to allow something to continue 15 it could be fixed so easily. This moved him to action. And tens of millions in Africa and Asia can see because of the 16 Wilson made to preventing the 17.
Wilson received several international 18 for his great contributions. He lost his sight but found a 19. He proved that it's not what happens to us that 20 our lives-it's what we make of what happens.
As s businesswoman, I care deeply about my customers. But like anyone for whom you feel affection, 1 can also drive you mad. They'll come rushing in, 2their handbag's been stolen. They'll 3 that they left it in the changing room, create havoe (混乱) and then 4 it had been in their car all the time. They'll have out half the 5 in the shop, and want the only style you don't have left in a 6 colour. I do know how upset the shop staff can get, but I try to persuade them to keep 7.
I remember the first really 8 customer we had at Covent Garden. She was. 9 absolutely everything, nothing was right and I was rather 10 that she became a "regular". After a while, she 11 for the way she behaved at the beginning. She had split up with her husband the week before, was living in a flat 12, and since she'd found it too much to cope with (应对), she'd taken it out on 13 people.
That taught me a valuable 14 and I pass it on to the people who 15 in the market. Don't take it 16. If a customer is rude or difficult, just think "Maybe she's had a row with her husband. Maybe her child's not 17." Always water it down and don't let your ego (自我) get 18. If you do, you won' be able to 19 it and the whole thing develops into an unpleasant scene and that 20 everyone's day.
Since our twins began learning to walk, my wife and I have kept telling them that our sliding glass door is just a window. The 1 is obvious. If we 2 it is a door, they'll want to go outside 3. It will drive us crazy. The kids apparently know the 4. But our insisting it's 5 a window has kept them from 6 millions of requests to open the door.
I hate lying to the kids. One day they'll 7 and discover that everything they've always known about windows is a 8.I wonder if 9 should always tell the truth no matter the 10. I have a very strong 11 that the lie we're telling is doing 12 damage to our children. Windows and doors have 13 metaphorical (比喻) meanings. I'm telling them they can't open what they absolutely know is a door. What if later in 14 they come to a metaphorical door, like an opportunity (机会) of some sort, and 15 opening the door and taking the opportunity, they just 16 it and wonder, "What if it isn't a door?" That is, "What if it isn't a 17 opportunity?"
Maybe it's an unreasonable fear. But the 18 is that I shouldn't lie to my kids. I should just 19 repeatedly having to say, "No. We can't go outside now." Then when they come to other doors in life, be they real or metaphorical, they won't 20 to open them and walk through.
It was just after sunrise on a June morning. "Nicolo," whose real name cannot be 1 to the public because of Italy's privacy laws, 2 working the whole night at a factory in Turin. As he often did, he stopped by the "after work auction（拍卖）" 3 by the Italian police where things 4 on the trains were sold to the highest bidder. There, among many other things, Nicolo spotted two paintings he thought would look 5 above his dining room table. Nicolo and another bidder 6 until Nicolo finally won the paintings for $32.
When Nicolo retired and went to live in Sicily, he 7 the paintings with him. He hung them above the same table he had 8 from Turin. His son, age 15, who had 9 an art appreciation class, thought that there was something 10 about the one with a young girl sitting on a garden chair. It was signed(签名) "Bonnato" or so he thought, but when he 11 it, he only found "Bonnard," a French 12 he had never heard of. He bought a book and was 13 to find a picture of the artist Pierre Bonnard sitting on the same chair in the same 14 as his father's painting.
"That's the garden in our picture,"Nicolo's son told his father. They 15 learned that the painting they 16 was called "The Girl with Two Chairs." They 17 the other painting and learned that it was 18 Paul Gauguin's "Still Life of Fruit on a Table with a Small Dog." The 19 called the Italian Culture Ministry; the official confirmed that the paintings were 20 and worth as much as $50 million.
