Many years ago, I bought a house in the Garfagnana, where we still go every summer. The first time we1 there, we heard the chug chug-chug of a motorbike2 its way down the hill toward us. It was3 called Mario, coming to4 us a box containing some tomatoes and a bottle of wine. It was a very nice5 for him to make. But when we looked at the tomatoes, we were6 because they were so misshapen: not at all like the nice, round, 7 things you get in a supermarket. And the wine was cloudy, in a funny old bottle with no label(标签) on it These can't be any8 , we thought. But we were9 his kindness, so we10 them.
What we discovered is that it's11 to judge what you eat only by its12 . Those tomatoes had13 that reminded me of the ones my uncle used to grow when I was a child. Nowadays supermarket tomatoes14 perfect but taste of water. Nobody's going to have a15 memory of those. It's a surprise they haven't managed to grow square ones so that they can16 them easily. Mario's wine may have been cloudy and come out of an old bottle, but it was17 .
It's good to eat things at the correct time, when they're18 , and as close as possible to where they were19 . What Mario had20 us was the taste of the Garfagnana.
To become the Olympic champion in the individual (个人) all-around event, Gabby Douglas had to leave everything she 1 best. She had to 2 her bedroom in Virginia. She had to say 3 to her two dogs and to the beach, where she loved to 4 waves on her board. But it was 5 to take the leap (飞跃), however 6 it would be. Even at 14, Douglas knew that. So she 7 about 1,200 miles away from home, to 8 with a coach from China. She lived with a family she had never 9 and everything was new to her.
As it turned out, Douglas did 10 what she needed to do to become Olympic champion when she 11 two Russians. The Chinese coach12 Douglas into one of the best gymnasts in the 13, helping her skyrocket from an 14 member of the national team to the top of the sport. By 15 the Olympic all-around title, she became the first black woman to do so. She 16 the competition from beginning to end. She said she had felt 17 all along that she would win.
Not so long ago, Martha Karolyi, the coordinator (联络人) of the women's national team, did not think Douglas had what it 18 to be an Olympian. As time went by, she thought 19 that she could make the London Games — and win.
"I'm going to inspire so many people," she said. "I'm ready to 20."And shine she did.
On Oct. 11, hundreds of runners competed in a cross-country race in Minnesota. Melanie Bailey should have 1 the course earlier than she did. Her 2 came because she was carrying a 3 across the finish line.
As reported by a local newspaper, Bailey was more than two-thirds of the way through her 4 when a runner in front of her began crying in pain. She 5 to help her fellow runner, Danielle Lenoue. Bailey took her arm to see if she could walk forward with 6. She couldn't. Bailey then 7 to let Lenoue climb onto her back and carried her all the way to the finish line, then another 300 feet to where Lenoue could get8 attention.
Once there, Lenoue was 9 and later taken to a hospital, where she learned that she had serious injuries in one of her knees. She would have struggled with extreme 10 to make it to that aid checkpoint without Bailey's help.
As for Bailey, she is more 11 about why her act is considered a big 12. "She was just crying. I couldn't 13 her," Bailey told the reporter. "I feel like I was just doing the right thing."
Although the two young women were strangers before the 14, they've since become friends. Neither won the race, but the 15 of human kindness won the day.
In April last year, I saw a post on the PNP (Pilots N Paws) website from a family in Topeka. They had to move to Virginia but they were on a very tight 1. They could not afford to pay for 2 for their dog, Tiffy, and 3 wanted to take her with them.
It just 4 that I was planning another PNP flight with another pilot, Karen, who 5 to take Tiffy from Kansas City to Virginia. What I was to do was fly to Topeka to 6 Tiffy.
When I met Tiffy's owners, they seemed very 7. George, the husband, was trying to be calm, but I could tell this was 8 for him, having to leave his dog to a 9 and trust that everything would 10.
After some goodbyes, I asked George and his wife to help me 11 Tiffy into the plane. I promised to take care of Tiffy and 12 them as soon as we got to Kansas City.
The flight was 13, and Tiffy was a great passenger. The next day, she 14 with Karen and made it back to George in Virginia within a few days. He was so 15 and sent me a nice e-mail with pictures. It felt great to know that I had helped bring this family together again.
The sun was beginning to sink as I set off into the Harenna Forest. I was on my way to 1 a unique honey harvest. Here, in south-east Ethiopia, hand-carved beehives(蜂箱)are placed in the 2. Reaching them to get the honey is difficult—and often 3 .
I 4 beekeeper Ziyad over a wide stretch of grassland before entering a thick jungle. Ziyad began preparations. He 5 handfuls of damp tree leaves, wrapped them with string, and 6 the bunch to create a torch(火把). Then, with one end of a rope tied to his waist and the other end around the trunk of a tree, Ziyad began 7 . He stopped every few minutes to move the 8 higher up the tree trunk.
9 , Ziyad got close to the hive which was around 20 metres above the ground. Sitting on a branch, he 10 towards it and blew smoke from his torch into a tiny hole in the hive. Suddenly, Ziyad let out a sharp cry. Within seconds, he'd 11 the trunk and was back on the ground.
It was too 12 to collect the honey. A cool summer had delayed 13 . Baby bees were still in the honeycombs(蜂巢). The adult bees were 14 and kept attacking as Ziyad escaped from the tree. He had to wait for the right 15 to go back up.
