1 . My brother and I were driving home together and we were deep in conversation. Because of his _________, my brother took a wrong turn, taking us towards a _________ and we had no way to turn back. _________, my brother paid the bridge fee and drove on. He was clearly frustrated by the mistake and the _________ waste of $4.

We eventually reached an exit slipway and, as we took it, my brother _________ a beat-up black car parked by the side of the road. A young guy was standing nearby _________ someone. I was busy trying to figure out which _________ we went next but my brother _________ and asked the guy if he needed any help. And he did. He had a(n) _________ tire and needed a tool to get it off. My brother gave it to him, then proceeded to help him __________ the tire. After we had finished the job he thanked us again and again, pulled out $20 and tried to give it to us. “No,” my brother said. “We were never __________ to even get on that bridge. We took a __________ turn. But now we know why we did. It was to help you. Thank you for turning our mistake into a(n) __________ to serve.”

What I loved most was watching my brother throughout this __________. He was able to see a chance to help even in an otherwise __________ situation, which can only come from a calm mind and an open heart.

4 . Once a rich and clever boy had practically everything a boy could want, so he was not interested in most toys. Because he couldn’t get a very old mirror, he convinced his parents to buy it from a mysterious old man. When the mirror arrived home, the boy went to see his reflection in it. His face looked very sad indeed. He tried smiling and making funny faces, but his reflection continued with its sad expression. “What a terrible mirror! It’s the first time I’ve seen a mirror that didn’t work properly!” the boy jumped violently.

That same afternoon he went into the street to play and bought a few toys, but on his way to the park he saw a little girl who was crying her heart out. The girl was crying so much and looked so lonely that the rich boy went over to help her and to see what had happened. The little girl told him that she had lost her parents.

Together the two set off in search of the girl’s parents. As the little girl wouldn’t stop crying, the boy spent his money buying her sweets to cheer her up. Finally, after much walking, they found her parents who were much worried and were looking for her everywhere.

The rich boy said goodbye to them. As it was getting late, he decided to head for home, without being able to play. At home, he went to his room, and noticed a shining light in the corner, the same corner he had left the mirror in. Seeing this, he went over to the mirror, and realized that the light was coming from his own body, so radiant (闪亮的) with happiness he had become.

And so he understood the mystery of that mirror, the only mirror which could faithfully reflect the true joy of its owner. He realized it was true. He felt very happy at having helped that little girl. And since then, each morning when he looked in that mirror and failed to see a special shine, he knew what he had to do to bring it back.

5 . One of life’s challenging aspects is being in need of assistance and having no one to turn to. For many of us, asking for help is _______. We may feel as if we are _______ a personal limitation that the world would not have known about. This is why I started the Helping Movement, a free online tool.

I noticed that there were many opportunities to volunteer your time to help specific organizations. _______, there was no way to volunteer time for people’s individual needs. The Helping Movement fills this _______ by giving people the opportunity to ask for help from the community and a way for volunteers to people in need.

Just recently a local resident, Helen, was asked to _______ all of her collected life belongings from her basement by the end of March or her landlord (房东) would have been _______ to deal with the items _______ fire code issues. These items mean the world to Helen and to _______ any of them would have been depressing. After _______ for a place to store her belongings, she was able to secure an affordable storage unit in Newfield; but her next challenge was moving all the items filling her basement across town without ________ to a truck or manpower.

Helen ________ the Helping Movement and explained her problem. The Helping Movement recruited (动员) six volunteers, including myself, and one truck to move her belongings. Helen was amazed at the amount of support total strangers were ________ to give her without asking for anything in return. The entire move took only about five hours, but the ________ will be remembered for a lifetime.

Helping others gives you an opportunity to ________ people’s lives, including your own. When other people ________ you, it will change the way you look at yourself and at the same time, helping others will create a more peaceful world.

9 . Medha Pappula, an eighth-grader at Brambleton Middle School, is using her skill set to solve a problem — bullying. She recently earned an award from National Bullying Prevention Center (NBPC) for her anti-bullying (反霸凌) efforts in software development and animation (动画).

Pappula, 13, said she discovered that a classmate had experienced cyberbullying, which was painful for her to learn about. “Even though I didn’t experience it, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, even my worst enemy,” Pappula said.

Then she developed a program that recognizes when digital and text-based messages include bullying language. The program takes a message, and then recognizes signs of bullying and gives a rating to the cyberbullying, the teen said. If the rating is high, she said, “the program can be used to carry out things like removing that message or reporting it.”

Pappula first designed and tested the program for Discord, a popular community-based messaging platform (平台), and said she plans to develop it for even bigger platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

In addition to this program, the NBPC awarded Pappula for a three-minute animated video about Unity Day, which she created and shared on YouTube last October. Unity Day, according to the video, was started by the NBPC in 2011 to raise bullying awareness among school-age children. Schools encourage their students to wear orange on Unity Day, as it is “a color that is connected with safety,” the website reads.

Pappula visited different websites to develop her animation skills several years ago. She spent more than a month creating her 2-D animated video using an animation software called Krita. The effort paid off, as nearly 6,000 people have already viewed the “Unity Day” video on YouTube. Along with being posted to the NBPC webpage, her animation was also shared by Cartoon Network. Moving forward, Pappula hopes to continue to work with the NBPC and to use her skills to lift those around her.

10 . Rain was beating down on my car as I drove slowly down a less-traveled road. Suddenly the steering wheel jumped in my hands as one of the tires burst with a bang. It was impossible for me to change that tire! A thought that a passing motorist might stop disappeared at once. Why would anyone? I knew I wouldn’t. Then I remembered that a short distance up a little side road was a house. I started the engine and drove slowly until I came to that house.

I sounded the horn. Then the door opened and a little girl about eight stood there. I rolled down the window and called out that I needed someone to change the flat tire because I was disabled and couldn’t do it myself. A moment later, the girl came out with a raincoat and a hat, followed by a man who called a cheerful greeting. I sat there, comfortable and dry, and felt sorry for the man and the little girl working so hard in the storm. Well, I would pay them for it. The rain seemed to be little now, and I rolled down the window to watch. It seemed to me that they were awfully slow and I was beginning to become impatient. Finally, it was done and then they were standing at my car window.

He said, “This is a bad night for car trouble, but you’re all set now.” “Thanks,” I said. “How much do I owe you?” He shook his head. “Nothing, madam. Cynthia told me you are on crutches (腋杖). Glad to be of help. There’s no charge.” I held out a five-dollar bill, but he made no effort to take it and the little girl stepped closer to me and said, “Grandpa can’t see it.”

A blind old man and a child! They were just working with cold, wet fingers for tools in the dark — a darkness that for him would probably never end until death. I don’t remember how long I sat there after they said good night, but it was long enough for me to search deep within myself. I realized that I was filled with self-pity, selfishness, indifference to the needs of others.

Helping others is a way of life, one that I am trying to follow. It isn’t always easy, but the value is there. I am trying now not only to climb 14 steps each day, but in my small way to help others.