1 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.

She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9­year­old daughter Bailey.

He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.

Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”

After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.

My mom only had one eye. I hated her. She was such an embarrassment.

She ran a small shop at a flea market, and collected old clothes and some other things to sell for the money we needed. Once during elementary school, it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed and wondered how could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ignored her. The next day at school, my schoolmates asked me, “your mom only has one eye?” and taunted me.

I was so angry with my mom and wished that she would just disappear from this world. So l said to my mom, “Why don’t you have the other eye?! If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock!” My mom did not respond, I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, I felt so good to have had said what I wanted to say. Maybe it was because I was full of anger then and there, I didn’t think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.

For the words I had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at me in the corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty. I told myself that I would become successful in the near future and get out of that house for good, so I studied very hard. Later I got accepted by the Seoul University, I left my mother and came to Seoul to study. Then I got married there.

I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I am living happily as a successful man. I enjoy the life in Seoul because it’s a place that doesn’t remind me of my mom past. This kind of happiness was getting bigger and bigger, until one day someone knocked at my door. It was my mom! And still with her one eye! It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom’s eye.

I screamed at her, “Who are you? I don’t know you!”

After the funeral (葬礼), the neighbor gave me a letter saying, “My dearest son...

4 . I sat down at my desk and started writing a letter of thankfulness, but when it came to actually putting the letter into the mailbox, I ________ I couldn’t do it. I suddenly felt a sense of ________ and insecurity (不安).

The letter was to an old teacher with whom I kept in ________ on Facebook. For months, I read about what she ________ on her Facebook page, which helped me to live my life differently. Her volunteer work wasn’t huge. ________, she was doing small, local good deeds. Gradually, she changed my views on the world and for some reason, I felt I should let her know how her example ________ influenced me.

I could have easily sent her an email, but that seemed not enough for such an important thank-you. That’s why I ended up ________ the letter. But now here I was, standing before the mailbox, unable to put the envelope inside. What was stopping me? It suddenly hit me that I was ________ of being too nice. I guessed I felt strange because it wasn’t like she was my best friend or a relative. Maybe my letter was too heartfelt. Thinking this over, I put the envelope in the mailbox ________.

Weeks later I received a Facebook response from her. It turned out she was going through a hard time and my note ________ a lot to her. She said she had no idea that she was playing such a big ________ in others’ life.

Not only did this letter make her happier, but her ________ increased my joy as well. I was so excited that it had such a great influence on her that I decided to write a(n) ________ letter to someone each month. Now it’s easier for me to ________ the goodness in others and be more ________ for this beautiful life I’m living.

Albert Einstein, the genius behind the theory of relativity, has     1     (recent) been making headlines again.     2    , this time it is not for a new scientific breakthrough, but for a handwritten note he gave a messenger 95 years ago.

In October 1922, Einstein was delivering a series of     3     (lecture) in Japan when he received a telegram     4     (inform) him that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Though pleased with the news, the Nobel winner decided to continue with his Japanese trip instead of heading to Stockholm to accept the honor.

While in Tokyo, he wrote a note in German, saying, “A quiet and peaceful life will bring more happiness     5     the pursuit of success…” Perhaps he had no loose change to tip a messenger     6     came to deliver the message, so he gave him the note, and told him, “Maybe if you are     7     (luck), the note will become more valuable than just a regular tip.”

Earlier this year, the messenger’s nephew decided     8     (hand) it to Jerusalem-based Winner’s Auctions (拍卖) and Exhibitions. The note     9     (put) up for auction, which might bring the     10     (own) a surprising $1.56 million from a European buyer. It was a record for an auction of a document in Israel and the wild-haired scientist deserved it.

Anna had a car accident when she was a teenager. She     1     (lose) her arms because of that. What’s     2     (worse), when she was 20 years old, she lost her parents. Her sister, who is ten years older than her, told Anna she’d take care of her. However, Anna refused to    3     (live) with her. Instead, Anna said she’d take care of     4     (herself). She managed to enter college and studied very hard. Four years later, Anna graduated and was offered work. Once she     5     (write) in her diary, “I am quite lucky.     6     I lost my arms, I still have my legs.”

Anna lost her arms     7     she chose to face it in a positive (积极的) way. Instead of feeling sad every day, she decided not to let it hold her back. She has taught us a good lesson.

When something bad happens to us, we have two     8     (choice). One is to complain, and     9     other is to face it bravely. Just choose     10     (wisely). If you decide to be brave and strong, new hopes will come.