Imagine someone who has spent the majority of their life sitting with a sign on the side of the road and that very person giving someone their last 20 dollars. That's exactly what Marine Corps veteran (退伍军人) Johnny Bobbitt, 34, did in October in Philadelphia.
Bobbitt served in the U. S. Marine Corps and worked as a paramedic (医务辅助人员) in Vance County, N. C. before he became homeless. Nobody knew how he got to where he was because he was discreet about that.
One night in October, Bobbitt was sitting roadside with a sign in Philadelphia as usual, when Kate McClure of Florence Township, N. J. was driving home down Interstate 95 and ran out of gas. Scared and nervous, she got out of the car to head to the nearest gas station. As McClure was heading to the nearest gas station, she ran into Bobbitt and he told her to get back in the vehicle and lock the door. Minutes later, he appeared with a red gas can. He'd used his last $20 to buy her gas.
After that unexpected meeting, McClure and her boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, who both live in New Jersey, visited Bobbitt several times to deliver gift cards, cash, snacks and toiletries. They then decided to create a fund raising page so he wouldn't have to spend the holidays sleeping on the street.
McClure started the GoFundMe page on November 10. With the page, the couple hoped to raise $10,000, enough money for his rent, a reliable vehicle and up to six months' expenses. Bobbitt's story ran in a local paper. By November 15，more than 10,000 local people had made donations through the GoFundMe page and more than $300,000 had been raised.
On Thanksgiving, Bobbitt was resting in a hotel, his feet up on the bed, drawing up a grand plan for his new life, thanks to several thousand dollars raised to repay him for a good deed.
A brand new scooter (滑板车) was recently left outside a shop in Cornwall with a heartwarming note saying: "Free to a little boy or girl who is not lucky enough to have one." The scooter belonged to Max, a generous six﹣year﹣old. The child was given a new scooter for his birthday but he already had one, so he decided that he didn't need it.
He told his parents he wanted a family who could not afford a scooter to take his extra one and they helped him put a plan together. They spoke with the owner of a local shop in Trispen, Cornwall, who let the family leave the scooter outside. They attached a note to it saying it was free to take.
When the family returned to the shop after a short trip out, they found a thank you note sitting where the scooter once stood, and the family then knew that a happy child was racing home with a new scooter. The note read: "Thank you so much! I love my new scooter. Love Ayla."
Max's mum, Deborah, proudly said her six-year-old son had always been generous. The family was thrilled that someone could appreciate and treasure their spare scooter. She also added how they would love to hear from Ayla.
"He realized he couldn't have two scooters so he said he wanted to give it to another boy or girl who didn't have one," Deborah said. The post has been widely shared and appreciated. Max's kind action has warmed the hearts of many people on Facebook. "I'm very proud of him. He's my little superstar. There are kind people out there."
When Max was asked if he had a message for Ayla, he joyfully said: "I hope you enjoy it."
It never occurred to me when I was little that gardens were anything less than glamorous places. Granddad's garden was on the bank of a river and sloped gently down towards the water. You couldn't reach the river but you could hear the sound of the water and the birds that sang in the trees above. I imagined that all gardens were like this—a place of escape, peace and solitude. Granddad's plot was nothing out of the ordinary when it came to features. He had nothing as grand as a greenhouse, unlike some of his neighbors. Not that they had proper "bought" greenhouses. Theirs were made from old window frames. Patches of plastic would be tacked in place where a carelessly wielded spade had smashed a pane of glass.
At home, his son, my father, could be quiet and withdrawn. I wouldn't want to make him sound humorless. He wasn't. Silly things would amuse him. He had phrases that he liked to use, "It's immaterial to me" being one of them. "I don't mind" would have done just as well but he liked the word "immaterial." I realize that, deep down, he was probably disappointed that he hadn't made more of his life. He left school without qualifications and became apprenticed to a plumber. Plumbing was not something he was passionate about. It was just what he did. He was never particularly ambitious, though there was a moment when he and Mum thought of emigrating to Canada, but it came to nothing. Where he came into his own was around the house. He had an "eye for the job." Be it bookshelves or a cupboard—what he could achieve was astonishing.
Of the three options, moors, woods or river—the river was the one that usually got my vote. On a stretch of the river I was allowed to disappear with my imagination into another world. With a fishing net over my shoulder I could set off in sandals that were last year's model, with the fronts cut out to accommodate toes that were now right to the end. I'd walk along the river bank looking for a suitable spot where I could take off the painful sandals and leave them with my picnic while I ventured out, tentatively, peering through the water for any fish that I could scoop up with the net and take home. After the first disastrous attempts to keep them alive in the back yard, they were tipped back into the water.
I wanted to leave school as soon as possible but that seemed an unlikely prospect until one day my father announced, "They've got a vacancy for an apprentice gardener in the Parks Department. I thought you might be interested." In one brief moment Dad had gone against his better judgment. He might still have preferred it if I became a carpenter. But I like to feel that somewhere inside him was a feeling that things might just turn out for the best. Maybe I'm deceiving myself, but I prefer to believe that in his heart, although he hated gardening himself, he'd watched me doing it for long enough and noticed my unfailing passion for all things that grew and flowered and fruited.
What is the difference between happy people and unhappy people?Read the following list of things that HAPPY people do differently from UNHAPPY people and you will know.
Well, I can tell you for sure that those people who are really happy, FEAR less and LOVE a lot more. They see each moment, each challenge, each person as an opportunity to discover more about themselves and the world around them.
Happy people understand that you can't really change a situation by resisting it. But they can feel better by understanding that there might be a reason for its existence. But rather, they ask themselves questions like: What can I learn from this? How can I make this better？They always seem to be pleasant and hopeful no matter what happens to them.
They do the things they do because of the meaning it brings into their lives and because they get a sense of purpose by doing so. They care more about living a life full of meaning rather than, what in our modern society we would call, living a successful life. The fact here is that most of the time they get both, success and meaning, just because they choose to focus on doing the things they love the most.
They make sure that their actions bring meaning and happiness in the lives of many. They look for ways to give and to share the best of themselves with the world and to make other people happy.
A. They have an ideal living and a balanced life.
B. What are the things that these people do differently?
C. They are kind to themselves and others and they understand the power of love.
D. The things happy people do are not for themselves, but for the good of others.
E. They are ready to embrace whatever lies in front of them.
F. They understand that "Doing what you love is the most important for living a full life".
G. When something unpleasant happens to them, they don't try to fight it, knowing that this will make the situation even worse.
I log onto a computer at the doctor's office to say I have arrived and then wait until a voice calls me into the examination room. There, a robotic nurse 1 me onto the scales and then takes my blood pressure. Some time later, in steps the 2 , who is also a robot. He notes down my 3 and gives me a prescription (处方). I pay for my4 using a credit card and return home without having met another human being. This is my nightmarish vision of the 5 ， which hasn't happened 6yet.
I should say I really do like many aspects of7. I am a big fan of air conditioning in summer and heaters in 8. But I am writing this because I don't want machines to 9.
When I call my dentist's office and actually get a human being on the line, I am 10. And when I see the introduction of yet more selfservice checkout stations at the grocery store, I feel like 11, "When it comes to cashiers, make mine a(n) 12, please!"
After all, human cashiers sometimes 13you a store coupon (优惠券) for items you are14. Even more than that, reallife cashiers often take an interest in particularly cute children, which can 15young mothers' day. A cashier may also show compassion for an elderly person 16 to get that last penny out of his purse.
Machines can be 17 and costeffective and they often get the job done just fine. 18 they lack an element so important to everyday life.
Call it the spirit, the soul or the heart. It is 19 no machine will ever have. It is human being that 20 us to smile at others, which may be what they need at that moment.
As the effects of global warming, rising sea levels and natural disasters become more serious before, some local communities are taking action. Among them is one community in Florida local people and government officials are proving successful in protecting (coast) cities from the dangers of rising sea levels.
The community has studied how much sea levels will rise and has suggested (way) to address the problem. It has persuaded the state government (ban) new developments on land near the coastline and recommended building sand dunes (沙丘) along beaches. Kristin Jacobs, one of the group's founders, decided to take action in 2008 after it became (gradual) clear that her state's 27 water authorities couldn't agree on joint (联合的) action.
While some Florida government officials doubt whether the climate will become hotter or (cold), the people (live) in these locations are certain of the need to protect their communities.
At present, coming up with ways to fight against the effects of climate change under a limited budget (be) a pressing concern. Only time will tell whether these coastal communities will succeed in end.
要点包括：1）陪伴；2）照顾。
注意：1）词数80左右；2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Peter
……
Yours
Li Hua
Though it is one of the faded memories of my life today, there are times when I remember his face clearly, especially his eyes. As he had yellow spots on his eyes we called him Spotty. He would have been a stray(流浪) dog, until he came to me.
I was seven years old. My dad had just got a new job in Nasik. We had moved into a rented house. It was raining very heavily on the day we moved.
It was a cold dark night. We had our meal and went to sleep. Somehow in the midnight I heard some strange sounds outside the main door. I gathered courage and looked out through the window and I was really amused with what I saw outside.
There was a small puppy lying on an old doormat which my mother had put outside the door. It was wet and trembling. At first it was difficult to see the little one. It was the yellow spots on its eyes that made me realize its presence.
It was trying to get under the doormat to avoid the cold air outside and it had managed to get in as I could see only its head outside the doormat. Was it sick or injured?
I felt pity for the poor soul. I went in and came out with an old towel. I went near the innocent one and held it in my hand and wiped the puppy till he had become dry. I took him into my room and made a bed for him with a woolen blanket and a small pillow. He seemed very healthy and comfortable in his new bed as he went to sleep immediately.
The next morning, everyone in the family came to know about the unusual guest. "Shall we keep him with us?" I questioned my mom.
Like any other parents would, my parents first totally refused my idea but my sister and I convinced them to keep Spotty.
Slowly Spotty got on with everyone and became one of the family members.
Paragraph 1:
One day, Spotty returned from his daily walk with a broken leg.
Paragraph 2:
Almost a year later, one midnight we heard Spotty barking breathlessly
