Bella arrived home late from school that day. When she walked past her mother's room, she found her mum was 1 in bed, and seemed to be very weak.
Bella entered her room and heard the cries from her little sister. She knew her dad would expect her to 2 her sister. And she also bad to prepare meals for the whole family3 her mum did before.
Bella thought it was not4 because she also had schoolwork to do, just like everyone else in her class. Why did she have to be the grown-up?
When she got out of the room, she saw her5 sitting at the kitchen table, lonely and tired. Suddenly, something happened inside Bella. She 6 that her father, as well as a husband, must be really 7 .
Then she heard a deep voice from her father, "Make the8 , will you, Bella?"
She was going to find a(n)9 to meet her friends, but she stopped and said to herself, "It is a 10 time for everyone in our family. I guess making meals is just what I can do to help. " Then she 11 went into the kitchen and began peeling potatoes.
"OK, Daddy. " said Bella. " 12 will be all right and we can manage. " At the moment, she saw a smile on her father's face. She felt 13 —grown-up, somehow. It was really good to 14 a smile to her father's face, even for only a moment.
"Daddy, whatever happens, we will be OK. Right?" "Yes, we will. If we15 each other, we'll always be all right. " They both smiled at each other over the table.
Nevado Del Ruiz is a mountain in Colombia. It is 5,425 meters high and it is popular with climbers. It is beautiful, but it is 1 , too. The weather can change 2 on the mountain. One minute it is sunny, and the next minute it is cloudy. One minute it is warm, and the next minute it is cold.
On a sunny morning in June, Leonardo diaz began climbing Neva do Del Ruiz with some friends. On the second day of their climb, there was a snowstorm. It was difficult to walk in the 3 , and it was difficult to see. The climbers decided to 4 and walk-down the mountain. Leonardo stopped for a minute to get something out of his backpack. When he looked 5 , his friends were gone. He couldn't see them or their footprints in the snow. "Wait!" Leonardo shouted. But his friends couldn't hear him in the storm.
All day Leonardo continued down the mountain alone. That night he put up his tent, crawled inside, and slept. He was in big 6 when he woke up the next morning. His clothes were not 7 enough, so he was very cold. He was hungry, too, 8 he had no food left. He decided to 9 for help. He opened his backpack and took out his cell phone. It didn't work. Leonardo had no more prepaid minutes on his phone.
All morning Leonardo stayed in his tent and listened to the 10 . He began to think, "Maybe I'll 11 on this mountain."
Then his cell phone 12 .
"Hello?" he answered.
"Good afternoon," a woman said. "I'm calling from Bell South Phone Company. You have no minutes left on your cell phone. Would you like to buy more minutes?"
"Yes, but not now!'" Leonardo said. "I need help. I'm 13 on a mountain."
"Stay where you are," the woman said. "I'll 14 help."
Late that night, a rescue team arrived and helped Leonardo down the mountain.
Leonardo says he will probably try again to climb Nevadodel Ruiz. But the next time, he will bring plenty of warm clothes and plenty of food. He will also bring a 15 with plenty of prepaid minutes.
Nina had always felt like she was living in the dark. During her growth, she was the shy kid who always sat in the back of the classroom and 1 spoke up. She had a few friends, but they were also quiet, so they not really did anything 2 . As she got older, she wanted to break out of her shell and experience new things. However, she didn't know 3 .
One day, Nina 4 a group of people playing Frisbee (飞盘). They were having a great time. Nina felt a pang of jealousy (嫉妒) but she didn't know how to 5 them. She watched from distance wishing she had the 6 to join in. As she was about to turn and 7 , one of the guys in the group noticed her watching. He smiled and 8 at her. Nina's heart started 9 as she walked towards them. They welcomed her with 10 arms and invited her to play.
It was a simple game of Frisbee, but for Nina, it was a brave 11 forward. Over the next few weeks, she started meeting the group 12 . For the first time in her life, Nina felt like she 13 somewhere. She has realized that sometimes all it 14 is one small step. She has also learned that life is too short to live in the shadows and that the world is full of 15 waiting to be seized (抓住).
You never know how far a kind act can go. When Gloria and Jeff began communicating, they had no idea how much it would encourage people to show their kindness to 1 .
89-year-old Gloria was lying in hospital. She couldn't leave her sickroom. So she 2 a lot of time looking outside her window to watch construction (建筑) workers working on the new building. To her 3 , one of the workers noticed her and waved to her. She couldn't help waving back at this kind 4 . This was only the 5 of a special story between the two.
Jeff knew Gloria was ill. So he decided to 6 a kind message to her. He wrote "Get Well" on one of the beams (柱子) facing her 7 .
"I just thought that was nice," Gloria said, "so I should do something to 8 that."
When Gloria saw the 9 working high above the ground one cold, windy day, she grew concerned. She wrote "10 " on a piece of paper and placed it on the window for the workers to see. "When I saw it on the window, I 11 around and said to my coworkers, ‘Did you see that?'" Jeff said.
One of the nurses took photos about that and 12 them on Weibo. The small act of kindness moved many people, 13 one woman who sent free pizza to the workers.
"I just try to show my care and 14 expect so much." Jeff said. "If 15 is willing to do things like that, the world will be a better place."
A gift in a wrong place brings unexpected(出人意料的) happiness.
Last year I came to my new neighborhood, I had a good time meeting a few neighbors. They seem to be quite 1 people. For Christmas, I thought I would do something nice for each of the neighbors that I know. I sat down and 2 . There were nine neighbors, and I also knew which houses they lived in.
However，I decided to 3 one more person to my list(清单), the lady I met every morning walking to work as I drove down the street. She always gave me a sweet smile and a hearty wave(挥手), 4 I had no idea which house she lived in.
My gift idea was to make small 5 baskets and leave them on each of my neighbor's front porches（门廊）the night of Christmas Eve. I kept the last one for the friendly lady，because I was still not sure where she lived — 6 the house where I met her each morning. Finally I decided to put it there. My neighbors really enjoyed the baskets and a couple even came by to 7 me.
This morning on my way to work, I noticed a thank-you card in the mailbox(邮筒). I opened it and read the 8 .
The card said, "Thank you for those lovely apples and strawberries you left on the porch of Tod. He 9 on January 19，but he never stopped talking about how nice you were. Because someone 10 him in his time of illness. He really enjoyed it. "
I was very 11 . I didn't know who Tod was or that he had been badly 12 . I had left that nice lady's basket on Tod's porch by mistake. I believe that Tod never expected(料想) to have that basket. I feel 13 that the nice lady did not get a basket from me this Christmas，but I believe that if she knew what had happened, she would 14 me.
I feel lucky to have helped Tod be more cheerful in his last days. This just makes me further believe that sometimes 15 in life are beautiful.
I sat on the steps next to Peter and watched him play his new guitar. His left hand worked the strings(弦)1 his right hand played.
"Just in time for the school talent show next2 , "I said.
"Are you doing anything for the talent show, Jeremy?"Peter asked.
"No, "I said. "If I were a little3 , like you, 14 years old, maybe I could, too. I believe you'll win the first prize this year. "
"Maybe, "said Peter, "I'm playing a song I4 myself. "
"You write your own song?"
"It's not5 , "he said. "My song is called‘Two for One'. I got the6 easily from a two-for-one sale at the store. And I liked the sound of‘Two for One'. 7 song goes like this:‘Two for one, two for one, that's the way to have some fun. 'I haven't written all the words yet. "
The next morning, I saw Peter was so8 . His right arm was broken.
"I got9 when playing baseball yesterday, "he said, "Now I can't be in the talent show next week. "
Peter and I 10 each other worriedly. Then I had an idea.
"We could sit next to each other on the stage, "I said, "You could play the left-hand parts, and I'll play with my right hand. "
Peter's eyes were11 and lively. "It might work, "he said.
I sat 12 him on the top step.
"Where can I put my right hand while we13 ?"
"Put it on my shoulder, "I told him, "We're14 aren't we?"
Our song answered that question. We finished writing the words together 15
"Two for one, one for two, see what two good friends can do!"
My sister Diana is a runner. She used to be a pretty good sprinter*, but one day, all of that changed because of a 1 she made.
She went to 2 early in the morning. After she took off her shoes, she realized she had left her running shoes home, which are 3 because they' re small, light and have spikes on the bottom.
When her coach found out the fact, he got 4 , so he ordered her to run around the track as a punishment. Off she went. Soon, she was running 5 other students who were on the long-distance* practice runs.
The runners were moving 6 . It surprised the long-distance coach to see that this girl could keep up. He walked up to the sprinting coach to 7 about the girl. The two coaches were even more amazed to see that as the group of runners were coming around the final corner, my sister was in the 8 ! Another girl was close to my sister for a while, 9 because of her sprinting ability, my sister seemed to just pull away from that girl.
It was her 10 time to run a long-distance race and she came first! The two coaches went to my sister to congratulate her on her 11 job. They were much more shocked when they looked down and realized Diana wasn't 12 any shoes!
"You told me to run and I thought you meant right away, so I 13 and started, " she explained.
"I can' t believe how comfortable it is to run without my 14 filled inside those little
sprinting shoes. "
From that moment on, Diana's sprinting days 15 . She's a natural long-distance runner. She works hard and hopes that she can go to the Olympics one day.
I am a girl who likes to make a mess in the room, 1 my roommate Jenny likes to keep it clean. I don't know how we became good friends, because our personalities* are so 2 .
In fact, we have also had arguments over room cleaning. One night, Jenny rushed to my side and shouted at me, "Take your 3 off my bed! "I saw her face gradually become redder and redder, and I knew she was4 , I didn't know why she was so nervous for a single shoe. So, I 5 the television and pretended to watch it, 6 completely angered her. She threw the lovely doll* I had given her as a birthday gift out the window. Seeing the doll 7 outside the window, it was my turn to get 8 , and I shouted out loud too, "I know I made a mistake, but why did you do it?"
After that, we didn't speak to each other for nearly a month. Until one day, I heard crying coming 9 under Jenny's quilt*. I saw that her desk was no longer as tidy as it used to be with all her books lying on the table and her clothes piled on the chair. This is very 10 ! I guessed 11 might have happened to her. So, I quietly began to 12 up the room, first swept the floor, and then helping her fold* her clothes. After half an hour, Jenny's crying gradually quieted down, and I sat next to her waiting for her to calm down. She said, "My grandpa died last night. "I hugged her and said, "He loved you so much and certainly didn't want 13 to be so sad. "
The 14 that we had before has disappeared today. Why did we become good friends? Because no matter what happened in the past, we always company and 15 each other during their sad moments.
One day, 60 people were listening to a speech（演讲）. The 1 was talking about happiness. 2 , after a few hours, people started to lose their attention（注意力）. The speaker came up with an idea. He 3 his speech and asked all of the people to take part in a group activity.
He gave each person a balloon（气球）in the room and asked them to write his or her 4 on the balloon with a pen. Then his assistant（助手） 5 all of the balloons and moved them to another room.
When all 60 people walked into the room, the speaker told them to 6 the balloon that had their own name written on it. Everyone ran around, crazily 7 their own balloon. Many people even fell over. What a mess!
But after about five 8 of searching, 9 could find their own balloon. 10 seeing this, the speaker asked each person to collect a balloon and try to find the person whose name was written on it. Everyone started talking to each other and asking each other 11 their name. In just a few minutes, everyone had his or her own balloon.
"Can you see what happened?" the speaker said. "The balloons are like the 12 we look for in our own lives. Everyone is 13 looking for their own happiness, not caring what happens to others. But sometimes the best 14 to find happiness is to help others. Help 15 find happiness and you can find your own."
There is a saying, "One man's trash (垃圾 )is another man's treasure. " It means I might1something and throw it away (扔) while someone might love it and take it. I once saw a homeless person searching trashcans to2something. So I asked him3he did that. He told the saying to me.4I didn't really understand it at that time.
This man lived in the5near my house. People around6bothered (打扰)him. I went running in the park one morning and saw him putting together a bed with stuff he had7from the trash. He only took clean stuff. If it had food trash on it, he would8although it's useful. So I took a blanket (毯子) to him. He felt 9and thanked me.
I remember one day the10came to him. They wanted to take away his stuff. The neighbors went to the police and told them that he wasn't hurting11by being there. The homeless man looked at every neighbor and thanked them, but told the police to take his "12" away. "I know you are just doing your13. Go ahead. "
When the police heard what he said, they decided to leave him alone. He has been there for a few years now. He has even started planting a14with lots of fruit trees and flowers. People often gave him food and other things he might15__. He has turned others' trash into his own treasure.
