Teachers are a gift, especially Troy’s teacher, Donna. She always goes above and beyond for her students, but what she did for Troy’s family is truly beyond selflessness but a miracle(奇迹).

Donna is one of those teachers who pay close attention to the students in their classroom. She began to notice something odd in one of her elementary students, Troy. He was not active in class like he had been. Troy used to be a passionate student in class, engaging with teachers and his friends. Being a helping hand to the teacher and classmates, Troy was always welcomed by everybody. However, he was all of a sudden so shut down and his behavior was simply not the same. He seemed to be silent all the time, and his eyes lost light of desire for knowledge and passion for any activities. Donna grew very concerned and wondered if there was something going on that affected his performance at school. So, she reached out to Troy’s mom to express her concerns.

And that was when she discovered something wrong. For the past year, his mom had been in stage-five kidney(肾)failure. She was in pain every day and desperately needed a new kidney. But she had a rare blood type, so finding a match for a kidney transplant was virtually impossible. Her condition had been a very long and anxious journey. It had been so painful for the family, and it had definitely made an impact on Troy. And in class, he had been silently carrying the pain his mom was going through at home.

The news broke Donna’s heart. She knew that she just had to do something. She was there as a loving friend to help Troy with his studies, but she was also there for his mom. Donna researched how to become a kidney donor and discovered that she had the same rare blood type as Troy’s mom. She got tested and, surprisingly, she was a match.

When Donna told the news to Troy’s family, everyone was surprised.

Soon the kidney transplant took place.

When my mom announced that my dad had fixed the old car in his garage, I felt excited—I had wheels! I called my friend Steph and made plans to have dinner at her house the next day.

The following morning, I woke up early and put on a black skirt and jacket. “Aren’t you dressed too lightly?” Mom asked. “There’s a snowstorm coming.” “I’ll be inside,” I replied as I headed out.

As I began the forty-minute drive, I was in high spirits. However, halfway there it started to snow like mad. Cars slowed. The sound of a siren announced the approach of an ambulance and I pulled aside to let it pass. As I inched back into my lane, the traffic light ahead turned red. I stopped.

When the light turned green, I pressed on the gas, but the old car died. I tried to start it. One click, then nothing. Before I could do anything else, two young men raced over from the nearby sidewalk. I rolled down my window a little.

“Give us a second,” one of them said, “We’ll help you out of here.” Soon, they began pushing the car. With their guidance, I steered into a parking spot in front of a grocery store. “You’ll be fine now,” they said, and before I could even thank them, they walked into the grocery store.

The snow was falling faster now. I called Steph on my cellphone to cancel our plan. Next, I called my parents to come and get me. Now all I had to do was wait, but I was very hungry and cold. I sighed, regretting not taking my mom’s advice.

Just as I sat waiting in the car, I noticed a man walking towards me. It was one of the men who had just helped me. I rolled down the window at once.

In a small town, there lived a young girl named Emily. She had a deep passion for table tennis and dreamed of becoming a professional player. Despite her young age, she was determined to work hard and make her dream come true.

From the moment when Emily picked up a table tennis paddle, she was impressed by the sport. She spent every spare moment practicing her shots, focusing on her footwork and mastering different techniques. Each time she stepped on the court, she was eager to improve and pushed herself to the limit. Unluckily, Emily faced a visual impairment (缺陷) that threatened to slow her progress. She was born with a condition that affected her sight. Some people doubted her ability to play table tennis and said, “Emily, your impairment is a disadvantage. It is impossible to play table tennis well!”

But Emily refused to let their doubts consume her. With solid determination, Emily turned her impairment into strength. She used her other heightened senses to her advantage, relying on touch and sound to anticipate her opponents’ moves. While others relied on sight, she developed an incredible sense of intuition (直觉) and strategy.

Emily finally excelled in table tennis, achieving incredible milestones and representing her town in many competitions. She became an advocate of the sport in her town. However, Emily decided not to settle for winning in her comfort zone but to challenge for something higher. She joined a training team guided by a world-class coach, which brought together the world’s top table tennis players.

In the training team, Emily went through a series of trials. She carried out high-intensity training. She needed to improve not only the batting skills but also perseverance and the sense of teamwork. Her coach often encouraged her and said, “Anyone, regardless of ability, could find success.”

A few years later, Emily’s efforts paid off. She got her chance. As a member of the national team, she took part in an important international competition. That was the stage for her to show her skills, and it was also the important moment for her to realize her dream.

In the competition, Emily found herself facing a strong opponent, Lily.

After the competition, Emily’s story spread throughout the table tennis community.

Dave had loved basketball for as long as he could remember and he had never had a day without playing it. At primary school and junior high school he joined basketball clubs, attended training programs and watched basketball games, from which he learned the moves of the star players, wishing to play in a professional team like them and shine on the court.

Now as a senior high school student, however, his dream of becoming a professional player was dimming (变暗) because he was only of average height. He had to give up the hope of joining the school team. The guys on the school team were all tall boys who played matches and won honors for the school. They were like heroes. Dave watched them play and cheered them but he knew he would never be one of them.

Dave felt it a pity not to be tall enough, but this didn’t stop him from pouring his passion into basketball. He just played for the love of the sport. He played in the school gym with other boys or by himself every day, even during holidays and weekends, when it was open for two hours in the morning. He enjoyed every minute on the court making every effort to play better.

It was one Saturday morning. Dave was playing in the gym by himself, as all the other boys were busy with other weekend affairs. Then he noticed a tall boy approaching. It was Lankas. Everybody knows him as captain of the school basketball team. “Hi, Lankas,” Dave greeted him. “My name is Dave.” “Hi, Dave,” Lankas replied as he got closer. “Nice to see you here. Do you need an opponent to play against?” Dave was shocked, frozen right there, unable to believe his ears but somehow, he answered, “Why not?”

I watched with interest as my husband worked on his casting technique with his new fly rod (假蝇钓鱼竿). Fly fishing has always been an inviting sport to me because it requires more activity than just standing and waiting for a fish to pull your floater underwater.

I was asked to watch over the other four fishing poles he had brought with us. They were baited (装诱饵) with live shrimp and had colorful floaters moving up and down on top of the water. I wanted to try my hand at casting the line too, but it was his pole, and I figured I would wait for him to wear its newness off.

He worked for a while and then complained that maybe he was throwing the line too hard and said he needed to work on his casting efforts. I made fun of him by saying something like: “You’ve got to put your whole self into it.”

I had watched fly fishing on TV, and it seemed to me that when people fly fished, they used their entire body to work with the rhythm (节奏) of casting and pulling the fly through the water.

I couldn’t stand it any longer. I wanted to see if I could cast the fly rod the way I had seen it done on television, so I jumped at my chance. “Could I try the fly rod?” I asked. “Sure,” he said, “but it is hard to do. I will probably have to help you.”

I picked up the long pole with the yellow rope-looking line and caught the extra line in my left hand while drawing the pole back with my right hand. The bait was pulled awkwardly backward through the air. I immediately threw it forward. It dropped into the water, but it wasn’t smooth. I tried again and again until I could feel a rhythmic movement.

After a while, the line was sailing easily. My husband was truly impressed when he saw me casting, and I was becoming sure of myself.

I decided to try one nice, long, smooth casting motion. 

The next thing I knew, I was face down in the water.