Mary waited anxiously for her turn in the empty dressing room. Never had she been so nervous before. This competition was of great importance to her comeback. “If I can win today,” she said to herself, “I can dance on the national stage next month.” Three months ago, her left arm was seriously injured in a car accident. After the medical treatment, she began to recover slowly. She practiced over and over again in order to regain her dancing skills.

“Hi, Mary,” in rushed her friend Jessica. “How is your arm? Is it going to influence your performance?”

“I guess it can be tolerated for I am to win the match.” said Mary with a determined look.

“Admirable! But I hear that a girl called Linda is really gifted and strong. She can be your real well-matched competitor. Come on!”

After Jessica left, Mary decided to practice her most difficult spin (旋转). “If I don’t try harder, I won’t grasp this chance.” She thought. But her arm began to hurt, making her worried. “Mary, what makes you think you have a chance tonight?” she said to herself. After the pain was gone, she continued to warm up.

A slim girl hurried in and put down an equipment bag on the chair. Then, she took out her dance dress quickly and put it on skillfully. Seeing Mary, she smiled politely and said “Hi, I’m Linda. I am the next one to you!” Mary nodded in reply but felt uncomfortable. “This is just my competitor. Because of her, I may lose tonight.” Her mind was wandering when Linda let out a scream, “Oh, God, I can’t find my music tape!” Linda searched her bag but in vain (徒劳). “It may be missing on the way.” With these words, she then rushed out.

Suddenly, Mary caught sight of a black box under the chair where Linda put her bag.

I encountered God the summer I was five. My father had finally grown too sick to get out of bed, so the heat and nervous tension in the air inside the house made it impossible to breathe. I would escape by squeezing under the front porch. All manner of creatures lived there, but I mostly ignored them, with one exception — a little frog who, every time I crawled (爬行) under the porch, stared at me with great, golden eyes.

In late June, the frog finally hopped (跳跃) toward my arm and stared at me, demanding eye contact. Once he had my attention, he opened his wide mouth and said, “Hello, Sophie.”

I should have been shocked, but for some reason, I wasn’t. Perhaps at five years old, I was more receptive to something against the laws of nature. At any rate, I was not shocked that a frog could speak. I had a more pressing question.

“How do you know my name?”

The frog blinked slowly. “I know everything. I am God.”

I spoke, “You can’t be God. You’re too small.”

He extended a long, webbed finger and was pointing to the edge of the porch’s shadow — to the spot where my mother had tried to grow flowers there for years. She had stopped trying when my father’s condition worsened.

“Look there,” commanded the frog, and I stared as a beautiful white flower blossomed as if stretching its limbs after a long sleep. In my five years, I had never seen anything so splendid.

God and I became good friends that summer. I spent every day under the porch, talking to him.

Sometimes I asked God questions. Sometimes he answered. Once, I asked him where Heaven was.

“Heaven,” he said, “is where I live.”

In August, my father’s illness had progressed to the point that I was sent to my aunt’s house in Virginia. I told God I would be back soon, and then waited in Virginia for my father to get better.

A long time ago, there was a huge (大的) apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it every day. He climbed to the tree, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow… He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.

Time went by…The little boy grew up and he no longer played around the tree. One day, the boy came back to the tree and looked sad. The boy told the tree that he wanted the toys but he didn't have money. The tree asked the boy to pick all the apples and sell them. The boy did it and left happily. He didn't come back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy returned again and the tree was so excited. “Come and play with me!” the tree said. “I don’t have time to play. I have to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?” “Sorry, I don’t have a house.” So the boy cut all the branches off the tree and left happily but the boy never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was delighted. “Come and play with me!” the tree said. “I’m said and getting tired. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” “Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the boy cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the boy returned after he left for so many years.

This is a story of everyone. The tree is actually our parent.

5 . Traveling with kids is 90 percent reminding yourself to live in the moment and 10 percent making up your mind to never again leave your house.

I have an uncanny ability to forget this as soon as we return home from a trip and I've finished washing piles of dirty clothes in our luggage and cleaning all the messy caused by the kids. Extremely tired and annoyed, I would actually begin to miss the place we just left!

Family travel is like childbirth, I suppose. Painful, loud, messy, sort of awful, actually, but also wonderful. And you remember only the wonderful—until you’re back on a plane and your kids are fighting over who gets the aisle seat. Then you remember the bad stuff.

Last weekend, my kids and I flew to Texas for a trip we would have nothing to complain(抱怨) about—big hotel, wonderful view.

And yet—we found things to complain about. The pool was bigger in that other hotel! Why do you get to shower first? They call this coffee?! Luckily, I’ve learned to put my metaphorical coat of armor (盔甲) on as soon as we land somewhere, and it forces complaints to bounce off me and land in a pile at my feet.

For three days, genuine fun was had and annoying complaints were heard and ignored. Until it was time to catch a plane and fly home.

Unfortunately, our flight was canceled. We spent hours finding a hotel room. We hit the hotel pool before bed and swam well into the night, my kids making up songs and laughing so hard at their silly lyrics (歌词) and their crazy good fortune to be swimming at 10: 30 on a school night.

And that was when it hit me that family travel is all those things I said before but it’s also a lot more. It’s taking your kids to parts of the world that will open their eyes and finding that actually, yours need opening too. It’s remembering that joy and memories are where you make them, not where you find them.

6 . On Dec.17, 2019, Andrew noticed a balloon’s string was______to a piece of paper. “Dayami,” it read on one side, in a child’s______. Andrew turned the paper over. It was a Christmas______. He wondered whether he could find the girl who had sent this one.

It would be difficult, ______Andrew had a few clues. About 20 miles to the southwest, just across the______, was the city of Nogales, Mexico.

“Based on the prevailing wind, I was pretty sure that’s______it came from,” he said.

On December 22, 2019, he decided to send a private Facebook______to a radio station in Nogales.

To his______, the next morning, Andrew______to one message from the radio station: They had______Dayami, an eight-year-old girl, and her family, who indeed lived in Nogales. Would they be______to arrange a get-together at the radio station?

Andrew went with his wife to Walmat. They bought just about everything on Dayami’s list______the dollhouse (it was sold out). They also bought a few other toys, as they had learned that Dayami had a younger______, four-year-old Ximena.

Then the Andrew drove for 45 minutes, crossing the border into Nogales, and finally met two very______little girls.

Their parents______to the Andrew that Dayami had been writing a letter a Santa and sending it by______for years, but this was the first time anyone had found the note.

“Their eyes were______open with wonder,” Andrew said of the two sisters’ reaction. “Like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this really did work!’”

“It was a beautiful, beautiful experience,” Andrew said. He paused “Quite______for us,” he added.

Andrew, 61, has lived in southeastern Bisbee for more than three decades. Ten years ago, he and his wife______their only child, a son. They have no grandchildren.

“We are now have friends for life,” Andrew said. “And, for a day, that border fence with its concertina wire______away.”

7 . It was a hot, humid summer day, and I had just pulled into the local gas station to fill my tank (油箱). After pumping the_______, I started to walk inside to pay. That is when I_______them. Two elderly women were standing back from their car. There was a mixture of shock and_______on their faces. I looked and saw what they saw: five yellowjackets (小黄蜂) building a nest(巢) around their gas cap. My eyes widened. I_______the ladies' fear.

Yellow jackets had_______been friends of mine. Several times these wasps (黄蜂) had_______me while I was cutting the grass, giving me many stings (蛰) each time I ran over their ground nests. The_______time, however, happened when I was a young boy. A friend of mine and I were running and playing in my backyard. I must have _______on one of their hidden nests again because_______I knew it, both of us were being chased and stung over and over by the yellowjackets while we ran away________. I ran to my mom with________in my eyes. She________ran a cold bath and put us both in it to________the pain and itching before giving us medicine to ________all the poison(毒素) in our little bodies from the stings.

Still, I knew I couldn't let fear stop me now. I________into my back pocket for a paper towel I had there, removed the ________from the gas cap and stepped on it while the angry wasps buzzed around me. Both of the ladies thanked me, and I said, "You're welcome!" with a smile and a happy heart.

In life, you can't let the fear of being stung either physically or emotionally________you from doing what is right. We need to love each other and to change the world for the________. And the only way you can do this is one loving ________, one kind word and one shared smile at a time. Don't let the yellowjackets in your life hold you________. Live! Love! Do good today!

8 . One evening I was going back from a supermarket. As I _______ my car, I noticed that some person stood beside me. He was the one that could be _______ as a bum (流浪汉). It seemed that he was homeless. I _______ that he would ask me for money, but he did not do that. He only said, “Your car is very nice.”

After several moments of _______, I replied, “Thanks.” And then the inner voice _______ to me, “Ask him if he needs help.” After a short _______ I asked him that. His response was _______. I will never forget those simple three words “Don’t we all?”.

It was a true _______ to me. I needed help, just as those in trouble. Although _______ I had money and a place to sleep, I ________ that I needed help too. Then I opened my wallet and ________ him enough money to get some shelter for a day.

________ I understood that no matter how much money, ________, luxury things we have, we all need help. And on the other hand, no matter how ________ you are, how many material problems you have, you still might be giving. ________ it’s just a nice word, it can be ________ to other people.

Maybe that man was just a homeless stranger, but to me he was ________ that. Maybe he was a man sent by God to ________ me that there is one thing, among all other ________, which is very important and irreplaceable for every person. Actually, it is a true ________ and it is called Giving.