Although 19-year-old George Denney is armless, he isn’t letting that stop him from pursuing (追求) his dreams and sharing his passion（热情）with the world.

Born ________ arms, the young boy’s birth parents left him. Luckily, a warm-hearted couple adopted（收养）him and ________ him. ________ , his new parents never allowed him to use his disability as an excuse to be ________ . When George was eight, they asked him to sign up for cello (大提琴) lessons. The instrument is   ________ even for people who have the use of both their hands, so it was far more challenging for George, who had to learn to play it with his feet.

Thanks to his music teacher, the young boy was not only interested in the cello, but also realized that he had a passion and talent for ________. During middle school years, he also ________ the piano and the guitar. His music talent caught the eye of an American rock band who ________ him to perform alongside them at a ten-day-long music festival.

The experience has encouraged this shy boy to pursue a career in music. He has also become a motivational speaker who encourages both able and disabled people to achieve their ________ , no matter ________ impossible these dreams may sound.

Many years ago, my dad was facing a serious heart condition. He fell suddenly ill and had to be sent to hospital.

When he recovered, he wanted to do something to keep himself busy, so he decided to volunteer at the local children’s hospital. My dad loved kids. It was the perfect job for him. He ended up working with the seriously sick children. He would talk, and do arts with them.

One of his kids was a girl who was seriously ill and was paralyzed from the neck down. She couldn’t move or do anything, and she was very sad. My dad decided to help her. He started visiting her in her room, bringing paints, brushed and paper. He stood the paper up, put the paintbrush in his mouth and began to paint. He didn’t use his hands at all. All the while he would tell her, “See, you can do anything you set your mind to.”

At the end of the day, she began to paint with her mouth, and she and my dad became friends. Soon after, the little girl was sent home because the doctors felt there was nothing else they could do for her. My dad also left the children’s hospital for a while because he became ill. Some time later after my dad had recovered and returned to work, he saw the little girl who had been paralyzed and only this time she was walking. She can straight over to my dad and hugged him really tight. She gave him a picture while she drew with her hands. At the bottom it read, “Thank you for helping me walk.”

My dad would cry every time he told us this story and so would us. He would say sometimes love is more powerful than a doctor, and my dad---who just died just a few months after the little girl gave the picture---loved every single child in that hospital.

Have you ever wondered what goes through your mind when you choose where to sit in a new classroom? Or in a waiting room full of strangers? Or on a bus? Researchers have found out some interesting facts.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we prefer to sit closer to people like ourselves. Girls sit by girls and boys sit by boys. Adults sit together and young people choose another young person to sit near. But it goes further than this. We even choose to sit near someone who looks like us. People with glasses are more likely to sit near other people with glasses. People with long hair sit closer to other people with long hair.

We seem to believe that people with similar habits or hobbies will share similar attitude and we are more likely to be accepted by people like ourselves or even, we think we may be safer with people who look like us. Sometimes that’s true but it’s a pity if we always stick to the same people, the same group. The danger in always staying in our comfort zone (舒适区) is that we just recycle the same opinions, the same tastes and the same ideas. We lose the chance to learn something new, find out about interesting things, hear funny stories and discover difference.

When we always stick to the same people, how can we ever break down the barriers which prevent us from getting to know people with different ideas? And how can we avoid the ignorance (无知), which too often leads to prejudice (偏见) and even fear? If instead you want to live in a society that opens to changes and new things and different opinions, be the cat among the pigeons.

Move out of your comfort zone. Go and sit next to someone different. And don’t just sit there in silence. Say hello. Ask a question. Start a conversation. That’s how we make friends. That’s how we learn about people. That’s how we open our minds to new ideas. That’s how we live an exciting life.

66. 随着生活水平的提高，人们开始重视自己的生活质量。越来越多的人开始热衷于养宠物。可爱的小动物给人们带来了无穷的快乐，然而，对于那些不喜欢动物的人来说，宠物的存在会给他们的生活增添很多烦恼。请结合此话题，写一篇英语作文，谈谈你的看法：人们该不该养宠物，为什么？

Nowadays, more and more people are fond of keeping pets because they can bring pleasure. But others don’t think so. They think it’s terrible to do it. In my opinion, ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________