I was a 15-year-old girl when my beloved grandma Rosie was placed in a group home in Brookfield because of sharply declining memory. I can vividly remember the unpleasant environments inside the nursing home. That impression has ultimately impacted me in a very great way, even after I graduated from university with a degree in architecture.

Grandma Rosie was the heart of our family. Her little two-bedroom home was truly where all her children and grandchildren gathered. She was also an amazing cook and her specialty was fried pork steak. Most of my nephews and nieces were fans of her specialty. She lived alone after my grandpa passed away but was cared by many relatives and friends. When she was in her late 60s, we began to witness a significant memory impairment (受损) in her. Everyone started checking up on her. A frequent question that people would ask her, “What did you have for dinner?”, almost always brought the same answer — fried pork steak. Every day she would report making fried pork steak. One day a group of us went to her house secretly, and found she was making fried pork steak!

After some lengthy consideration, our family were concerned for her condition and ultimately decided to place Rosie in a group home in Brookfield. A year later, Rosie caught heart disease and her condition required her to be moved to a nursing home in Oconomowoc. Her memory also declined sharply and she no longer remembered our names. It was heartbreaking for our family to know that.

By that time, I was in high school and thinking about plans for college. Seeing the cold, sterile (呆板的) long hallways and unfriendly surroundings in the nursing home, I was determined to become a professional architect concentrating on senior care and health care design. I wanted to design living space where seniors can not only live but benefit from lovely environments.

Bearing this goal in mind, I worked extremely hard.

Finally, Grandma Rosie moved into a senior living community I designed.

On the last day of the National Day holiday, Stephen, a former lifeguard, visited Santa Cruz, Tenerife. Walking down the sandy beach, he was bathed in the last rays of sunshine, enjoying the warm sea air and the gentle wind. Not far from the shore, a group of boys were playing water polo ball in the sea water. Getting a little closer, soon he realized that something was wrong. The wave had pulled Jordan, one of them, into the sea when his mother went for the bathroom. Stephen rushed over without hesitation, dived into the water and swam quickly to the boy. People standing on the shore waved wildly and screamed crazily for help and someone called the lifeguards immediately.

The boy had already been struggling for several minutes when Stephen noticed the scene. He was sinking fast and it seemed as if he would be drowned. Just at that moment, Stephen reached the boy and caught hold of him. He could tell the boy was still alive, but it was clear that he was almost losing his breath.

Gritting out teeth (咬紧牙关), Stephen held the boy and swam tooth and nail to the shore. However, the flow was so rapid that it seemed like a tough task for him to make it. At that moment, a new fierce wave came, pushing them away from the shore farther and farther, making it impossible for Stephen to swim forward.   

A sense of tiredness and fear engulfed (包围) him with his feet trembling hard to keep afloat (漂浮的). But he knew that if he gave up trying, he’d become another victim. Holding Jordan tightly, Stephen fought the waves to swim to the shore with his full strength, but the beach was too far away. Fighting the current and holding the boy above the water quickly became tiring.

Just then, a rescue boat caught Stephen’s eye.

A few hours had passed before good news came from the hospital.

Kathy was a shy girl,who really liked dancing. One day, she had promised her mother to get herself a pair of boots, but as she wandered through Waller’s department store, she was looking at the things she couldn’t afford or wouldn’t be allowed to wear. That beautiful hat, for instance, was just like the one her classmate had.

When Kathy was walking along the aisles with her head down, it was the sign BEAU CATCHERS in front of some hair ribbons that stopped her. Around the sign was a selection of those bow ribbons for your hair. In every color of the rainbow, it said-pick a color to suit your personality.

She stood there a moment, wondering if her mother would let her wear a big bow like that.“This would be a nice one for you, dear,” said the saleslady. “Oh, no, I couldn’t wear anything like that,”she answered, but at the same time she was reaching for the green ribbon. The saleslady, looking surprised, replied,“with that lovely copper-colored hair and those pretty eyes? Why, child, you could wear anything.” And she quickly fastened the bow in Kathy’s hair and advised,“One thing you have to remember, honey, if you are going to wear anything unusual, you will be different and look positively exciting.”

“I’ll take it,” Kathy said and paid for the ribbon. She rushed out of the store so fast that she bumped into a big woman with a lot of packages and almost got knocked over. As she neared the door,the funny old man was staring at her-a man with black eyes and a gray mustache under a green hat-you could feel that under the mustache he was smiling at the beau catcher!

The next moment a shiver of fright went through her, for the man was actually following her. She started to look around, but then she heard him call to her.She ran like a rabbit, and she didn’t stop running until she was a block away.

Suddenly she was in front of the school hall, and she realized she had been intending to go there from the start, for every girl at school knew this was the place where the best dancer Morris spent Saturday afternoons. He was there all right, training some dancers in the hall. Their dance steps were swift and graceful.Kathy was so eager to join them. Soon she realized that he had turned and was staring at her. She stood very straight, holding her head high, conscious of that green beau catcher in her hair.

About ten minutes later,the unbelievable thing happened.

She dashed to the ribbon counter in the store as the doors were being shut.

A bout ten minutes later;the unbelievable thing happened.

She dashed to the ribbon counter in the store as the doors were being shut.