One day, Anna was walking home from school when she suddenly came across a homeless cat. Looking at Anna from the bushes, the cat caught Anna’s eyes at once.

“Hey, kitty... Are you hungry?” Anna asked softly and reached into her schoolbag for her lunchbox. She took some pieces of beef and held them out to the cat. The cat stepped forward and ate the beef next to Anna. A short while later, Anna started to touch the cat as it at e the beef. The cat began to lick (舔) Anna’s hand when all pieces were finished. “That was the only food left with me.” Anna said in a soft voice. As she got up, the cat began walking around Anna, hoping to play with her. “Sorry, kitty. I have to go home.” Anna said.

Later that evening, Anna saw the cat sitting outside her yard through the window. She immediately ran out to it. “Kitty, what are you doing here?” Anna asked as she playfully touched it. The cat meowed (猫叫) in delight.“Let me see if my mom minds taking you in.” Anna said.

Anna ran back and told her mom about the cat. “Are you crazy, Anna? We don’t have enough money to support ourselves. I’m sorry, but it's a NO!” Mom turned her down. Anna understood what mom meant and went to say goodbye.

But when she got outside, she noticed a heavy storm was coming. She hoped the cat would look for shelter somewhere, but it just sat there. She realized it was still waiting for her, so she went out into the rain, trying to lead her friend to shelter. “Come on, kitty!” Anna said, but it wouldn’t move. It stayed right by her side. The rain began to pour down harder.

Just then, Mom opened the door and asked them in.

The following week, Anna was busy looking for the cat’s owner.

Just as many families do at a point, Catherine chose to add a new family member by adopting a pet. Shortly after her daughter Kate’s birth, Catherine decided she wanted a close bond with a dog for Kate. Thus, Catherine called the dog shelter close by to inquire about adoption. After hearing about the available animals, she chose a Doberman Pinscher. Once they signed adoption papers, they named the dog Khan.

Catherine was hopeful this would provide valuable lessons for her baby, such as sharing, learning to love and responsibility to care for animals. She was looking forward to having the dog join the family.

Hearing of Khan’s rough background, Catherine immediately loved the dog. She was overjoyed to bring this special dog back to her family. Of course, she realized there were obvious risks of bringing a large, potentially dangerous animal to her young baby. But if she had not adopted Khan, he would have been killed just a week later. So, this was Khan’s new life and second chance, and the family was hoping for the best.

Everything began smoothly. They trained Khan during the first few days. However, something abnormal occurred on that fourth day when the dog acted completely out of character.

It was a day that began with the usual playtime in the yard. Although baby Kate had her parents watching from a distance, they did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Kate and the new dog had been making a habit of playing out like this. They were playing merrily with each other. When Catherine raised her eyes to observe the two, she found something unusual. Kate and Khan paused suddenly, not being loud or crazy, and started to run through the backyard grass together. Catherine watched the two even closely. Surprisingly, things had changed within an instant.

Khan began acting wildly all of a sudden.

Obviously, it was Khan who saved her baby but he barked weakly and then fell down with dying eyes.

Rob was fifteen years old and still living on his father’s farm. He loved his father. But he did not realize this fact until just a few days before Christmas when he overheard what his father had said to his mother.

“Mary, I hate to call on Rob in the mornings. He’s growing so fast and he needs his sleep. I wish I could manage things alone.”

“Well, you can’t, Adam, “Rob’s mother replied firmly.” Besides, he isn’t a child anymore. It’s time he took his turn.”

“Yes,” his father said slowly. “But I sure do hate to wake him.”

When he heard these words, Rob felt a sudden realization: his father loved him! He had never thought of it before, taking for granted their blood relations. Now that he knew how much his father loved him, there would be no more loitering (虚度) in the mornings and having to be called on again. He got up, stumbling blind with sleep, and pulled on his clothes.

A thought then struck him like a club. Why not give his father a special gift? He could get up earlier, creep into the barn (畜棚) and get all the milking done. And then when his father went in to start the milking, he’d see it all already done. Yes, that’s what I’ll do, he thought, so I mustn’t sleep too soundly. He must have checked forty times, striking a match each time to look at his old watch. At a quarter to three, he crept downstairs, careful of the creaky boards, then let himself out.

The cows looked at him, sleepy and surprised. It was early for them, too. But they accepted him calmly as Rob brought some hay (草料) for each cow and got the milking pail (桶) and the big milk cans.

Rob had never milked all alone before, but it seemed almost easy.

“Rob, we have to get up!” his father called, opening the door.

In the first grade in senior high school, I was extremely shy, I had friends, but it just wasn’t in my personality to be very outgoing, even when I knew someone. I was afraid I would do or say something wrong, so usually I just smiled and listened to other people’s conversations.

I did well in school and I loved to write. However, I would escape into my writing, where I could be myself and never had to worry about what other people thought of me. In my stories, I was never shy, I often imagined that I was the main character in the story. My teacher, Mrs. Sather, always encouraged me to write more and be myself. She told our class to go after our dreams and dig in with great efforts. I thoughts he was one of the first people to see my inner strength.

One day, she showed us a play she had written and announccd that our class was going to perform it. “I’ll begin to choose all the performers tomorrow” she said, “I need someone who is not afraid to be onstage in front of a lot of people to play the lead part of Dorothy. Anybody wants to try?” A few excited hands shot up -mine, of course, was not one of them and Mrs. Sather smiled. “We’ll talk more about it later,” she said. Then the bell rang and my classmates slowly left the classroom.

“I will never do that,” I thought. But after rereading the play, I was deeply attracted by the story and couldn’t help imagining myself to be the main character Dorothy. There seemed to be a new person inside me, a much more daring, outgoing person who had been hidden all along, just waiting for the opportunity to appear. However, I still felt shy and could never picture myself acting in a play in front of two hundred people. Having struggled for a few minutes, I still did not know how to make the decision.

When I was packing my schoolbag, Mrs Sather asked me to go to her.

One week later, it was time for me to perform on the stage.

It was Emily’s turn to tell her class where she went this summer. She stood up proudly.

“This summer I went to Bradley,” Emily announced. “It has a big market there. My mom bought a painting and I got a second-hand skateboard. What an impressive trip it was!”

“That’s not a trip,” Frank shouted loudly to his partner. “It’s only half an hour from here. My dad and I often go to Bradley to buy tools for his repair workshop.”

“Frank, no interrupting,” said Miss Clare, their teacher. “And Bradley has a fine market. I’m glad that Emily shared her experience with us. Go ahead, Emily,” Miss Clare smiled warmly at her, encouraging her to continue.

But not feeling proud of her family’s trip to Bradley any more, Emily just felt embarrassed and dropped her head, saying in a low voice that it was finished. In the hope of not being noticed, the little girl hurriedly back to her desk with a red face.

She listened as Peter talked about his cruise to Greece and Mary’s trip across the Atlantic to Ireland. She also heard about John’s horseback ride through the Great Canyon. It seemed as if everyone but her had taken a big trip over the summer. “I never get to anywhere,” Emily thought to herself. A sense of loss clouded her the whole day.

After school, things went worse. One of the wheels on Emily’s skateboard came loose. Now she couldn’t even skate. Sitting on the sidewalk, Emily tried to fix her wheel but in vain, during which Miss Clare happened to pass by.

She walked up with a smile, asking, “Why are you sitting here?” Emily lowered her head, tears welling up inside her eyes. “Want to talk about it?” Emily nodded, trying to avoid Miss Clare’ eyes. Bending down, Miss Clare said gently, “You know, Emily, we don’t always have to travel far to learn anything.”

At this moment, Frank was walking by and saw them.

“I can fix it,” Frank said with confidence.