Robert and Henry were two friends in the same class. They always played together and went home together. One day, Robert and Henry were going home from school. On turning a cornner, Robert cried out, “A fight! Let’s go and see!”

“No” said Henry. “Let us go home quietly and not meddle with (管闲事) this quarrel. We have nothing to do with it and may get into trouble. Also our parents are expecting to have dinner with us together and I don’t want them to worry about me.”

“You are a coward (懦夫), and afraid to go,” said Robert, and off he ran. Henry went straight home, and in the afternoon went to school as usual.

But Robert had told all the boys that Henry was a coward, and they laughed at him a great deal. From then on, they looked down on Henry and didn’t want to play with him together.

Henry was sad but he wasn’t angry with Robert for his rude behaviour, because he knew that they misunderstood him, and that they ought to be afraid of nothing but doing wrong. Thus, he just ignored the other boys’ laughter and continued to go to school and study as well. However, Robert didn’t invite Henry to go home together with him anymore. Instead, he had some other boys who also thought Henry was a coward. Every day after school, they didn’t go home directly but went to the river or somewhere to play games and had a lot of fun.

A few days later, Robert was bathing with his new friends in a river, and got out of his depth. He struggled and cried for help, but he failed. The boys who had called Henry a coward got out of the water as fast as they could, but they did nothing to help him.

It seemed as if Robert would be dying.

Thus, Robert’s life was saved.

3 . We’ve all had cases where we’ve waited just a bit too long to pay an electric bill or   speeding ticket. But one man, from California by reasonable assumption，who goes by “Dave”，recently took procrastination (拖延) one step further, by paying a parking ticket almost a half-century after it was given.

In December 2018, the Minersville Police Department in Pennsylvania received a letter in the mail. Whoever wrote the letter decided it was best to keep his name somewhat unknown，so he put the return address as “Wayward Road，Anytown California” under the name “Feeling guilty”.

When the officers opened the envelope，they found a brief letter, along with a $5 bill, and a parking ticket dating all the way back to 1974. The note read，“Dear PD，I've been carrying this ticket around for 40 plus years always intending to pay. Forgive me if I don't give you my info. With respect，Dave.”

Even though the initial parking ticket was only for $2, “Dave” must have felt awfully guilty because he left 150 percent，or $3, in interest.

Michael Combs, the Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department, stated in an interview that the same ticket would cost about $20 if it were given today. Combs went on to share that the original ticket from 1974 was given to a vehicle that had an Ohio license plate.

Because there was no system for tracking tickets given to out-of-state cars back then，“Dave” could have gotten away with never paying the $2 fine. But apparently，guilt got the best of him，and he decided to finally cough up the money more than 40 years past its due date.

I once had a cute pet dog calling Jerry. Every day when I get home from school, Jerry would run to the door or give me a warm welcome. I would then pick him up and touch his head gentle. One day, when I returned home away from school, I didn’t see Jerry at the door. My mother told me that Jerry had died in accident. My heart broke when I heard this. In the following two week, I could not help go to his little house, but it was empty. I realized that she had left me. I just hope there are no accidents in the world which Jerry lives now.

5 . John’s parents acquired the washer when he was a small boy. It happened during World War Ⅱ. His family never _______ a washing machine and, since gasoline was expensive, they could not _______ trips to the laundry several miles away. Keeping clothes _______ became a problem for young John’s household.

A family friend joined the army, and his wife _______ to go with him. John’s family _______ to store their furniture while they were away. To the family’s _______, the friend suggested they use their Bendix. So this is how they _______ the washer.

Young John helped with the washing, and across the years he _______ a love for the old, green Bendix. But _______ the war ended. When the friends came to take it back, John grew terribly ________. His mother ________ him and said. “You must remember, that machine ________ belonged to us in the first place. That we ever got to use it at all was a gift. So, instead of being mad at it being taken ________, let’s use this ________ to be grateful that we had it at all.”

The lesson turned out ________. Years later, John watched his eight-year-old daughter die a slow and painful death of leukemia (白血病). Though he ________ for months with her death, John could not begin getting over from the ________ until he remembered the old Bendix.

His daughter was a ________. When he realized the simple fact, everything changed. He could now begin recovering from the death of his daughter. He started to see her as a marvelous gift that he was fortunate enough to ________ for a time. He felt ________. He found strength and recovery. He knew he could get through the valley of loss.

My knees started shaking, yet my body froze. It felt as though my soul left my body and I had no control over it. Anxiously, I looked through the announcement posted on the wall of the locker room; my heart was beating harder and harder as I slowly saw all my friends' names on that list but could not find mine. I just couldn't accept that all my friends were on the team but I was not.

I was so convinced there was a mistake that I went and found the coach. But the coach just said, "There is always next year.” I could feel the hot, bitter tears building in my eyes, and I ran out of the room as fast as I could. As soon as I walked out, I saw my friends crowding into the locker room to look at the finalized team list. I heard them shouting and laughing as I slowly walked away, every one of them jumping around with excitement after seeing that they made the team. I felt dead inside, like nothing mattered.

After school, as I walked to the parking lot to get picked up, I saw all my friends gathered near the lot, celebrating and joking around. I detoured(绕行）around the side of the school to avoid them, trying not to think about being the only one in my friend group not to make the team.

I saw my father's familiar red Mazda pull up near the school lot, and I walked up to the car and got in. He smiled at me, turned on the radio, and started driving home. Then when we got home, he noticed my heavy steps and long face, and asked me what was wrong.

"Nothing. Well, it's just that all my friends made the school team. Everyone! Except me!" I said, not knowing how he would react.

“Well, what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to sit there and wait? "he asked.

Surprised, I didn't know what to say, and I just shook my head and went into my room.

After almost a year of practicing and training, I tried out for the team again.

8 . Double Trouble

When I was eight, I wanted a toy and needed $10 to buy it. But, as usual, I was broken. I decided to ask my 11-year-old sister, Kathleen, for a loan. I went to her room, _______her for the cash. Laughing, she agreed to_______ me the money, but added, “I will charge you 10 percent compound interest every ______until you pay me back.”

“Compound interest---what’s that?” I asked.

“Well, interest is what you call the_______money borrowers have to pay back on a loan,” she explained. “Compound interest means that the interest payments get bigger and bigger the______you take to pay back the loan. To repay the loan, you will need to give me $11 after one month. If you wait two months to pay me back, your______ will grow from $10 to $11. So I’ll be charging you interest on $11. Then I will add that interest to the $11 you already owe me, for a _____of $12.10. That’s what you’ll owe after two months.”

“Sure. I get it,” I said. Though truthfully, I was getting ______.

Kathleen lent me the money, and I bought the toy. My birthday came a month later, and my mom gave me $10.     _____,that was just the amount I needed to buy another toy I wanted ______. I put off paying my sister for a month. After another month, I_______about the loan.

Several months later, on Christmas morning, my sister and I each found a $02 bill in our stockings. I was just putting it into my pocket ______Kathleen tapped me on the shoulder.

“Sorry, kiddo. That’s mine. I’m ______on your debt.”

“Huh?” Then I remembered the loan. “Hey! How can it be that much? I ______borrowed $10.”

“True,” she said, “but interest has been compounding for eight months. Now you _____me $21.43.” She paused, then added. “You can pay me the $1.43.”

I ______to believe that a $10 loan could more than double so quickly. Much to my ______, my sister got her pencil and tablet and showed me exactly how it all added up.

My head _____as I tried to keep track of Kathleen’s ______, but this time, I got the basic idea of compound interest. I ______the hard way that borrowing money can be “double trouble” in no time.

9 . For years going home for the holidays has been bittersweet. I appreciate the opportunity to spend quality time with my mom but it is painful for me to see her house littered with stuff.Clothes bought but never worn, and new items in their original packaging carelessly purchased and never used. It’s evident that seeing the stuff on a daily basis reminds my mom of a time when shopping was her way of spending money.

I didn’t fully understand the extent to which my mom was suffering until this week, when I saw piles of clothes on her bed. “How do you manage to sleep every night with all that stuff, Mom?” I asked. To my horror, she replied, “I do it because I know I have to get rid of all this stuff eventually; I am punishing myself by sleeping with them until I do that. ”

Shocked and upset, I gently explained to her that punishing herself was only to make things worse,and that everybody deserves a place to sleep in peace, no matter what mistakes they’ve made. I suggested she move all the stuff upstairs, leaving her room comfortable to sleep in.

With patience and her slow but steady guidance, I helped her go through some of the piles and move them upstairs. For the rest of the week I stayed there, she was in a better mood and was excited about going through the rest of the house to finally get rid of her stuff—past mistakes and painful times. The items brought back painful memories as we inspected and moved them, but I kept reminding her that removing them would allow her to move on and heal. We finally sold so many things and took bag after bag to charity.

The stuff is just a sign of the destructive patterns of self-hatred on past mistakes. Only through the act of self-forgiveness can we bring about a chain reaction of reorganizing—both of the house and heart.