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.

After my son, Scott, graduated from high school, he took a job in North Carolina.Two thousand miles suddenly separated me from the person who’d been the focus of my life for 18 years.As the days went by, I missed Scott more and more.I’d always been able to take care of myself, but now I seemed to need Scott’s help constantly, like getting a tool from the top shelf, or moving something heavy.Most of all, I just missed having him to talk to.I was lonely.I knew this day would come.But why does it have to be so hard?

However, a mother spider(蜘蛛) taught me a lesson.

On my way out from my storeroom, I noticed a spider building her web across the top corner of the doorway.I reached for a hoe (锄头), tore down the web, and watched the giant spider run away in the grass.She was back the very next morning, in the exact same spot, busily rebuilding.I stared for a moment, and then reached for the hoe again.Then I twisted the hoe round and round, catching the spider in her own web.I carried her far into my backyard, shook the hoe and watched her fall to the ground and disappear in the bush.The third morning, I stopped short as I entered the storeroom.The spider was back in the same corner, her web almost completed again.I reached for the hoe, but stopped.I thought her persistence (坚持) in building her web should pay off.I stepped back and watched her long legs busily knitting the web.

For the next few weeks, the spider and I were close neighbors.One particularly boring day, I was feeling so down that I didn’t even glance up at my spider as I entered.Suddenly I found a hundred tiny creatures on the floor.I realized that these were baby spiders and the web the mother had built was to protect her young.

As the mother watched from the corner of the web, her young were making their way to the ground safely.

I decided that I would leave this web as a reminder.

3 . One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the rural areas with the purpose of showing him how poor people lived. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a stream that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.”

“Our courtyard reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? It makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.

4 . One day, the sewer line (污水管道) under our house burst. My first _______ was to call the plumber (水管工)．I expected the man to _______ of such a miserable job._______, he simply asked, “The address?”

An hour later, Steve arrived in his truck. I _______ anxiously as he walked down into the damp depths. A few moments later he_______, saying, “It’s broken.”

“Can you fix it?” I asked with a mixture of doubt and _______.

Steve looked at me as if scolding me for my lack of   _______ saying, “Sure.” Then he told me that he had to get a backhoe (挖土机) and   _______the street to the main sewer line and that it wouldn’t be done until evening.

I felt somewhat_______upon driving off in my clean vehicle, leaving Steve to such a(n) ________task. I went into town and visited a few friends.________, around 6 p.m., my curiosity got the better of me. I went home and saw a sweeter________: the newly-paved street and a covered-up excavation across my front garden.

I sat down, lost in________. I was taken by the very idea that, sometimes terrible things might happen to an unlucky homeowner, ________ there is always somebody who is ________in its solution.

5 . Lee Hee -ah was born in 1985 in Seoul, Korea. She has no bones in her left thumb(大拇指). However, as a pianist, she is bringing_________around the world. What does not stop is her_________will.

Hee- ah began learning to_________the piano when she was 6 years old. She could not_________hold a pencil, but her mother thought the lessons might_________her hands. The girl did more than strengthen her hands. She became a concert_________traveling in many countries.

When she plays to sold out concert halls, she includes_________ by Beethoven, Chopin and others in her classical programs. At a 2010 concert in New Zealand, she_________Canada was her favourite country for touring, _________by New Zealand, She did not say what she__________about Canada, but in New Zealand it was the respect to the people with disabilities.

The__________ performer does more than share her love for music. She shares her__________for life. Her body may be incomplete, but her spirit is__________. She is full of belief in her own abilities and is a(n) __________for anyone trying to climb over or__________their own difficulties.

The old man turned away sadly with his eyes filled with tears. Poor Mr. Dev! Indra thought sympathetically. Another day went past and there was still no sign of his family. Indra wondered how children could be so heartless as to abandon a parent like this.

Indra recalled the day when the old man was admitted to her ward (病房). He was thin and delicate. He could not produce his identity card but he could remember the number. The hospital tried to contact his family using the phone number he gave them but it was in vain. He was treated for a lung infection and was now recovering. Soon, it would be time for him to be discharged (出院). Where would he go then? He did not look strong enough to look after himself. Indra threw down the file she was holding as anger rose within her.

“What’s the matter?” asked Poh, Indra’s colleague.

“I’m just upset about old Mr. Dev,” she replied. Poh nodded with understanding. She had been a nurse much longer than Indra. She had seen many cases of abandoned old people and she had learned to control her feelings.

“Don’t worry too much. The hospital will contact the welfare department. Mr. Dev will be placed in an old folks’ home,” Poh said and patted Indra’s arm comfortingly.

Indra sighed. “I know. It’s just that the old man really longs for his family to visit him. He cleans and tidies himself every morning and sits up to wait expectantly. You can see the eagerness in his eyes whenever the door opens. At the end of the day, he goes to sleep with tears in his eyes. You can feel the disappointment as he does. It makes me cry inside. I just could not bear it.”

Poh shook her head sadly, “He needs a miracle (奇迹).”