2 . When our first son Brendan was born in Sydney in 1966, we planted a golden elm tree in our front yard.It and Brendan _________ together and when we _________ the house, eight years later, the tree branched (长出枝条) out over our heads. We were _________ we had to leave it behind when we moved to New South Wales.

A young couple bought our home and were _________ it.Over the next 37 years, when travelling to Sydney, my family _________ couldn’t help stopping to see the tree. With time, the golden elm grew more beautiful.The owners still loved the home and seemed not to _________ at all that we didn't completely leave them alone.

Recently on the way to Sydney, my husband _________ to see how the house and the owners were getting on. It had been about ten years since we had last _________ and the tree had been removed some years earlier._________, the owner, Gillian, suggested she would contact (联系) us some time in the future, so my husband gave her our ____________.

When I heard about her ____________ message, I wondered what she meant. One day in December, we had a phone call from Gillian. She wanted to drop something in to us for our ____________. I told Brendan that there was a mysterious gift being ____________ for him that day, so it was indeed ____________ when Gillian handed him a package containing two carved wooden bowls. Gillian had asked a local woodworking company to make the ____________ from a piece of the trunk of the golden elm, which she had ____________ several years earlier. My husband’s ____________ had driven her to follow through with her idea.

What a pleasure it was to ____________ that package. We were ____________ by her thoughtfulness (体贴), and amazed that her long­term plan actually did ____________.

3 . I was waiting in line at the gas bar when two small white cars drove in out of nowhere and _______ right in front of me. I wish I could calmly _______ this new situation, but I can’t. I was overcome with anger.

I got my tank filled up and drove _______ to a snack bar to grab a burger. As I sat in my car _______ an above-average tasty lunch, I was still angry about the gas pump fiends (魔鬼).

Suddenly I remembered something. I was in line at a grocery checkout and my items had been rung up _______ I discovered I had left my card in my car. I apologized and the cashier suggested I go get the card and come back. When I made it through the _______ to her again, she told me my $14 or so in _______ had already been paid for. A young man, who had a young boy with him, seeing my _______, offered to pay for my stuff.

I went into the parking lot to see if I could find my _______. I couldn’t. But as I was about to get into my car, another car ________ beside mine and a young man with a boy got out.

“I heard you were looking for me,” he smiled. “I paid your bill.” I thanked him greatly and apologized for not having any cash on me. ________, my young friend, who had a car older and more ________ than mine, said he didn’t want to be paid back. He was just glad to help out.

He more than ________ the two friends at the gas bar. And I am glad I have my ________ of him and what he ________ did to counteract my anger.

4 . At age 10, McCullough got a glimpse of her dream job. It sparkled in the eyes of the Packard Children’s nurses who cared for her brother Matthew, who had brain cancer. As a child, McCullough spent hours at her brother’s bedside. “I looked up to the nurses. I found their unconditional commitment to my brother’s care remarkable,” McCullough says.

As a young girl, McCullough practiced nursing by caring for her brother, a desire born out of her intense love for him. She would rub his back, bring him drinks, and even help adjust his lines. She was a natural. Her parents said that she was very caring and always put people first from a young age.

When Matthew passed away, McCullough became even more committed to becoming a nurse. She took steps through the years to make her dream come true. In high school, she volunteered at cancer centers and hospitals. “My becoming a nurse is 100% in honor of Matt. I felt the need to channel my grief and turn that tragic moment into something positive,” McCullough says.

Over time, McCullough realized that she didn’t just want to be a nurse. She wanted to be a pediatric oncology (儿科肿瘤) nurse at Packard Children’s. McCullough wanted to give back to the hospital that had done so much for her brother.

Despite feeling like school never came easy, McCullough persisted (坚持) and got into a respected nursing school. She feels like she worked 10 times harder than other nursing students at the university. She traded going out and spending time with friends for the library.

In college, each step brought McCullough closer to her dream. She worked as a nursing assistant at Stanford Health Care for adults with cancer. Then, she transferred to Packard Children’s and worked as a nursing assistant in the Pediatric Transplant Center.

Today, She’s a nurse on the same unit that cared for her brother years ago. She is one of those nurses she admired so much as a child. She finds the time, even on very busy days, to truly be there for patients and families to make them feel loved and welcomed.

A few years ago when I was looking for a small dog to add to our family, I contacted the local SPCA(Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and got the name of a woman who was fostering(领养，代养) some rescued Maltese dogs for them. I called the woman, and my husband and I drove to her home. As I looked around, I noticed a cute Maltese named Casper. My husband and I decided we would like to adopt him.

The foster mom asked us if there were any way we would open our hearts to Casper’s friend, Kato, as well. She told us that the two boys, who had only each other for comfort, had recently been rescued from a puppy farm, where they had spent the first seven years of their lives. When the local SPCA shut down the puppy farm and seized all the dogs, Kato and Casper had been put in her foster home.

She told us that when she first picked them up, their fur was in such terrible shape that they hardly looked like Maltese dogs. They were brown, whose fur was wet and dirty, and their paws were swollen. For seven years, they were locked in a dark doghouse and the only human contact these boys had was when they were thrown their food.

Hearing all this, I turned and looked down at the little Maltese named Kato. But he’s so ugly, I thought. And he isn’t even friendly. He barked angrily when we looked at him. When I reached for him, he pushed himself against the back wall of his doghouse, whispering. Still, I felt a tig at my heart and agreed to take Kato also. As we drove home, my husband and I worried that maybe we’d taken on too much. We’d never had dogs that had been so abused(虐待) for such a longtime.

The first day at our home was very difficult for the two dogs.

Though difficult, I did everything I could think of to help these dogs.

All I knew was that, when I heard a young girl’s voice in distress, I had to do something. It was on a flight to Iceland with a dear friend with cancer. He asked me to accompany him as he traveled to get some medical scans in Europe. We were all settled in for a long flight, off on an adventure to a hospital in Holland where I would support him.

It wasn’t long before I heard a man belittling (贬低) a sobbing girl directly behind me. I couldn’t ignore what was happening. This was obviously a girl in a very dangerous situation. My friend didn’t hear any of it, so he had no idea what I was thinking. I was witnessing, with my ears only, a guy verbally abusing a girl who was crying uncontrollably: “… fat… retarded(迟钝的) . What did I see in you?” Her boyfriend continued to upset her with no regard for her tears. He didn’t care. He was controlling her, and this was his intention.

I noticed the napkin used for my water cup and recognized it was something I could write on. If I could get a note to her without him seeing, maybe this would help her understand she needed to run away from him FAST.

This was happening behind me, so I thought, I could wait until he went to the bathroom and passed her the note. I glanced behind me periodically, and he finally left. I didn’t know what she looked like. I didn’t know if our eyes ever met. All I knew then was she now had a note from someone who cared, with my e-mail address, asking if she wanted to contact a total stranger who had observed her desperate situation. It was so dangerous that I couldn’t even risk sharing my phone number and taking a chance that it would land in her boyfriend’s hands.

Sometimes, there are situations we cannot ignore. My dad taught me to never leave a place wishing I had done or said something. That was going through my mind. I actually did something and I wished it could make a difference.

I did get a response from this young girl, revealing there was not only verbal abuse but physical abuse as well.

It turned out that my note had started getting the girl on the path to saving herself.