2 . With his leg lame and his teeth uneven, the boy thought of himself as the most unfortunate child in the world. He _________played with his classmates, and when asked to answer questions, he always _________his head without a word.

One spring, his father brought home some saplings (树苗).______of his children would plant a sapling and he promised, "Whoever ________ his sapling best shall get a gift." The boy certainly wanted to get the gift.______seeing his brothers and sisters watering the trees, he_______ an idea: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So watering it once or twice, he never_______ it.

Several days later, he was _________ to find it not only didn't die, but also grew so many fresh ________. Compared with those of his brothers and sisters, his appeared greener. His father kept his _______, bought the boy a gift and said he would become an outstanding________ after growing up.

From then on, the boy slowly became_____ and confident. One evening, he suddenly________ his biology teacher once said that plants ________ grow at night. Why not go to see the tree?

When he came to the courtyard, he found his father working near the tree! Immediately he ________: Father had been secretly ________ his tree! He returned to his room, tears in his eyes.

Decades passed. The boy didn't become a botanist. ________, he became the U.S.__________. His name was Franklin Roosevelt.

________ is the best nourishment (滋养品) of life. ________ it is just a bucket of water, it can make the tree of life grow well!

4 . When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person. When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why, he said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow (浅的）roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important. So he never watered his trees. He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They’re very big and strong now. I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray (祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won’t be beaten down.

5 . Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. _________ man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon. His bed was next to the room’s only _________. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

They talked for hours _________. Every afternoon when the man by the window could sit up, he _________ pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The other man felt his world would be _________ and brightened up by all the wonderful world outside.

The window overlooked a _________ with a lovely lake. Ducks played on the water while children _________ their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm in flowers. A fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the _________.

As the man by the window described all this in delicate _________, the other man would close his eyes and __________ the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing __________. Although the other man couldn’t hear the __________, he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window pictured it with __________ words.

Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the nurse arrived, __________ to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and had the body taken away.

The other man asked to be __________ next to the window. Painfully, he sat up to take his first look at the world outside. __________, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself.

He slowly turned to look out of the window. It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have __________ his roommate to describe such wonderful things outside. The nurse __________ that the man was blind. “Perhaps he just wanted to __________ you.”

Shared grief is half the sorrow, __________ happiness when shared, is doubled.

6 . I started volunteering at a soup kitchen several years ago. The original reason I was going was to ___________ community service hours for school. My plan was to __________ go there a few times and get my service hours, but it taught me a lot. The typical volunteer there served __________ to people.

Basically, I was ____________ serving bread and juice to whoever wanted it, which was a simple task. Some of the people were homeless, and some of them were __________ families. All of them were people in need of a hot meal and a place to __________ for an hour or several minutes. ____________ some of them looked like they weren't behaving well, we always took care of them.

The first time I went there was right before Christmas. For the people coming to the soup kitchen, it was not exactly a ____________ time. It made me think about my happy Christmas and made me feel how__________ I was. Unlike them, I have a home and I don't __________ cold or hunger. At that point, I decided that I ____________ wanted to go back there. I couldn't offer them much, but I could always offer my time and ____________. The experience also gives me a feeling of ___________. Whenever I go there , people are __________ that I showed up again . They know my name and they know that I am more than happy to ___________ them. It truly feels good to know that you can ___________ someone's day. I've realized that the feeling of doing good for people can be a better ___________than any amount of money. You can't buy that feeling.

I have never ___________ a single second of my volunteering. It ___________ me that dozens of cities have made it illegal to set up a soup kitchen. But I will continue my volunteer work and find more ways to show my ____________ to people in need.

8 . One day, I was visiting Dubai, traveling with a few passengers in a bus. At our first stop, I got out to take some pictures. At our second stop, I noticed that I had _______ my shoulder bag at the first stop. The worst part was that my passport (护照), visa (签证), and other _______ things were inside that bag. I was very _______, as I had to return to India the next day.

During this process of searching for my bag, I came into contact with so many_______ whom I found to be involved in my situation and _______ to me. The tour guide helped me to locate a taxi _______ I could travel back to the first stop to find my _______. The taxi driver stayed with me for almost 3 hours. He gave me his mobile phone so that I could _______ others. He took me to the nearest police station and helped me in communicating with the _______. He gave me constant (不断的)________ words by saying, "Nobody loses their goods in our country; don't ________; you will find your bag."

A local man, who actually found my bag, ________ the bag and found a number to a travel agency(旅行社). He ________ them and sent his driver to a common place from where I could get my bag back.

There was real ________ inside me that day. I kept thinking of what would happen next. Could I find my bag ________? What would happen to me ________ my passport and visa? When I got my bag, I even wasn't able to say a ________ THANK YOU to all the people who helped me in such a(n)________ situation. I don't even know their ________. I will never forget their faces and their ________. The world needs more humans like them and I decided to try to become one of them.

9 . As I was taking a walk with my mom，I asked her，"Have you taken the senior bus yet?" I held my breath as I waited for her ____．"Oh，yes，I have，"she said．"How was it?" I said the words as_ ___ as I could to show my excitement，even though I sensed the answer was not going to be ____．She sighed heavily，"No one ever ____ on that bus．They all sit there quietly and look sad．I only see about thirteen ____ old ladies and men." My ____ for her situation grasped my stomach．

My dad had recently passed away, and his sudden leave made my mother _____and frightened. For fifty-seven years, my dad had walked by her side. Mom never learned to ____, so Dad drove her everywhere. Now，her wheels were gone，as one grandchild so properly ____ her situation．I knew she needed great ____ to make the decision to take the senior bus. However, I firmly believed the ____ wouldn't last too long, for Mom was so outgoing and active that she could chat with almost everybody whom she met in the street．

Several days later，when I came to visit her，I asked. “Do they talk to you now? " She ____ and there was a sparkle in her eyes. It didn't take genius to figure out that the ____ had changed．"It was silly that all of us must sat there ____ saying a word．So one morning when I ____，I greeted them and then remarked what a nice day it was．Soon，they began to ____ and we chatted happily．Now we are friends and always have some good ____ on the bus，"she replied．

My mother held the key to the ___ _of the other lonely people on that bus．A smile and some ____ words were all it took．She sowed tiny seeds of ____ for herself and her friends on the bus．

10 . A little girl ran to her bedroom and pulled out her piggy bank (储蓄罐) from a secret drawer in her closet. She took the change from it and counted it carefully three times.

She carefully placed the coins in a jar and twisted on the cap. She took the jar and slipped out of the back door. She made her way six blocks to a drug store. She waited patiently for the pharmacist (药剂师) to give her some attention but he was too busy attending other customers at that moment. She tried several times to get his attention but failed. Finally, she took a quarter from her jar and hit it on the glass counter, which was finally able to get her some attention.

“What do you want, little Miss?” the pharmacist asked the tiny girl in the front of his counter. “My brother is really, really sick and I want to buy a miracle,” the girl answered back. “I beg your pardon?” said the pharmacist. “My brother is really sick and my daddy says only a miracle can cure him now. So, I want to get a miracle for him. How much does it cost?” “I’m sorry but I can’t help you. We don’t sell miracles here, little girl,” the pharmacist said, softening a little.

Next to the little girl was a tall well-dressed man. He lowered himself and asked the little girl, “What kind of a miracle does your brother need?” “I don’t know,” the girl replied with her eyes in tears. “I just know he is very sick and has something bad growing inside his head. Doctor says he needs an operation. But daddy can’t afford it, so we need a miracle to save him now. I can use all my money to save my brother.” “How much do you have?” asked the man. “One dollar and twelve cents, it’s all the money I have now, but I can get some more if needed,” the girl answered in a whisper. “Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the man. “That is the exact price of a miracle for a little brother. Take me to your brother. Let’s see if I have the miracle your brother needs.”

The man was a famous nuerosurgeon (神经外科医生). He was just the right person needed to save the little boy’s life. The operation was completed without any charges and it went successfully.

Her mommy wondered how much it would have cost. The little girl just smiled, but said nothing.