Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food, as they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks.

One day, Ali took Zahra’s shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it a secret.

Zahra agreed, and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra’s school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.

Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city. When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.

The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted, he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finishing line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞)with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.

Ali looked up and saw the other boys running ahead. Refusing to give up. He ran as fast as he could. He dashed across the finishing line and won the fourth prize. Thinking he would let his sister down, Ali couldn’t help crying. Just then, he suddenly heard the announcement from the broadcast that he won the third prize as the runner who knocked Ali down was disqualified for breaking the rule. Holding the shoes close to his chest during the award ceremony. Ali felt happy as he eventually won the shoes for his sister.

Filled with pleasure, Ali walked home quickly.

3 . Every year on my birthday, a white gardenia (栀子花) was ________ to my house. But no card or note came with it. Calls to the flower shop were always ________ — it was a cash purchase. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender’s identity and just ________ the beauty and sweet scent of that one magical, perfect white flower lying in soft pink paper.

But I never stopped ________ who the giver might be. My mother ________ to these guesses. She asked me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness who might be showing ________. I had more ________ imagining that it might be a boy I fell in love with or one who had a crush on me even though I didn’t know him.

One month before my high-school graduation, my father died. My feelings ________ from sorrow (悲伤) to fear and anger: my dad was ________ some of the most important events in my life. I became completely ________ in my coming graduation, the senior-class play and the ball (舞会). But my mother would not hear of my losing any of those things. Mother and I had gone shopping and found an impressive dress, but it was the ________ size. When my father died, I forgot about the dress.

The day before my ball, I found that dress — in the right size — hanging over the living room sofa. It was ________ to me so lovingly. I didn’t ________ if I had a new dress or not. But my mother did. She wanted her children to feel ________, filled with a sense that there was a beauty even in the face of ________.

My mother died ten days after I was married. The following year the gardenia stopped coming.

Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money to buy food. As they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks (盯着他们) .

One day, Ali took Zahra’s shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it secret. Zahra agreed and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra’s school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.

Ali heard about a long-distance race that was held for the boys in the city. When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.

The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted, he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided (碰撞) with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.

Ali looked up and saw the other boys rushing ahead. Refusing to give up at this point, he jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could. He dashed across the finish line and won the fourth prize. Thinking he would let his sister down, Ali couldn’t help sobbing. Just then he suddenly heard the announcement from the broadcast that the runner who collided with Ali was disqualified (被取消资格) for breaking the rule.

He finally managed to win the third prize.

5 . My faith in human nature has never been so great as it was last weekend after our family get-together in the town of Vail.

On Saturday, we all went to the market right in the middle of the town. Near the end, we all _______ at the fountain near the bridge, and the kids waded (蹚水) around in the fountain until we _______ . This is one of the busiest walking streets.

After we returned to the hotel late in the afternoon, my 7-year-old son Ponder _______ that nowhere could he find his backpack, which _______ his Gameboy and his watch. After a thorough _______ we determined that he must have left it at the fountain.

Ponder has never lost anything. So we just take for granted that he needs no guidance on managing his _______.

He was upset, not about the Gameboy, but about the watch. “But Dad,” he said, through massive _______, “they don’t make that kind of watch anymore.” We were all very sad.

Our dinner reservation was at a restaurant just on the other side of the bridge, so I _______ him that we would not only search the area around the fountain when we went back for dinner, but we would also find the police and ask them if the backpack had been _______ .

As we exited from the parking garage, we could see the fountain as we walked down the long staircase. I saw something black ________ there, but it was right next to a woman standing by the fountain, so I could not ________ what it was or if it was hers.

“See it, Dad?” Ponder shouted. “Don’t get too excited because that may not be it,” I said. But that was it. It had been five or six hours since we left the fountain, and it was still there. There was no ID in it, and it looked like someone had looked through it and then set it right out where all could ________ it.

I literally ________ when we reached it and it was his! Everyone in our party was blown away by this “miracle (奇迹)”. In my wildest ________ , I would never have imagined that this could happen nowadays.

What a charmed life, eh? I believe this was a perfect lesson for a child in losing something important. . . lose it and feel the full ________ of that loss, and then to miraculously get it back.

I was visiting my sister Mary, who has two boys, aged seven and five. They were throwing a ball around the living room. She asked them several times to stop, but they didn’t listen to her. Finally, one of the boys threw the ball and knocked over a lamp. She shouted loudly at them for several times. Then, she sent them to their room. She looked at me and said, “They never listen to me.”

Carmen

Your sister needs to be clear to her children what behaviour she expects. She should tell her boys, “Don’t throw the ball in the house. If you throw the ball again, I’m going to take it.” Then she needs to do what she says. Her boys will soon learn to listen to her.

Dr. Bob

I walked into my two-year-old daughter’s bedroom and found her coloring on the wall again with her crayons. I told her, “No! No! Never write on the wall with your crayons. You can only write on paper.” My husband thinks I was too easy on her and that she needed a punishment. What’s your opinion?

Debbie

You dealt with the situation well. Children this age are too little to understand the relationship between their actions and a punishment. Use this as a warning; it’s time to babyproof your home. Now that your little one is more active and curious, what else can she reach? Check her room and your home for crayons, paints, medicines, cleaning products, and other things that might interest her.

Dr. Bob

8 . Young boys often dream of superpowers to solve their problems. “If I could just click my fingers, my homework would be done,” many have imagined. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster put their ideas down on paper.

It was 1933, and while the country was in the throes of the Great Depression, Cleveland was thriving. Jerry and Joe, growing up in a middle-class neighborhood, became friends on the high school. They escaped potentially embarrassing encounters by becoming crazy about comics.

Joe was the artist and drew all the time, using bits of any kind of paper he could find. He hung out at newsstands poring over magazines, especially Amazing Stories, and then recreated them at home with a pencil or pen. Jerry was the storyteller and the more ambitious of the two. He describes how the creation of Superman came to him in the middle of a sleepless summer night: I hop out of bed and write this down, and then I go back and think some more for about two hours, then get up again and write that down. The inspiration for Superman’s origin story started taking shape, and the next morning, I ran to Joe’s place and showed it to him, we just sat down, and I worked straight through.

As is often the case, when we experience something traumatic in life, we deal with the feelings through creative expression. Jerry’s father had owned a store and died during a robbery. A young child might process that experience by wishing something could have prevented it. For Jerry, out came the Man of Steel, who had superpowers and bravery to protect innocent people. Creating storylines must have helped Jerry with the grieving process.

The story of Superman has inspired kids for generations. It has calmed their fears and driven their dreams. Most importantly, the Man of Steel has inspired us all to find our superpowers and use them to help others.

9 . A 23-year-old woman has achieved an unbelievable feat that many of us dream of — visiting every country on Earth.

Lexie Alford was born into a family of travel agents, which gave her the opportunity to ________ places such as Cambodia, Dubai and Egypt during her childhood, according to Forbes magazine. She began saving up at age 12 to ________ her goal of visiting all countries. By her 18th birthday, she had travelled to 72 nations. In October, 2016, she realized she could see the ________ nations on her list in time to set an official record. Many people ________ her travel on social media platform Instagram, so she decided to chase the world record partly to ________ others.

“________, in the beginning, I simply wanted to push the ________ of what I thought I could do with my life and see as much of the world as possible in the ________,” she told Forbes. “It wasn’t until things started getting really ________ that I realized I was inspiring people around me, especially the ________.”

“I also loved visiting Northern Pakistan, for the natural beauty of the mountains and kindness of the locals were astonishing,” Lexie Alford said. “The most pleasant surprise about travelling to all these misunderstood areas of the world was that the countries that I had the ________ expectation for ________ being the most incredible.”

“My ________ for young people is to believe that you will ________ it if you’re determined. And it’s only a matter of ________.”