3 . It was 1st January, the first day of the year and a holiday for me. I went to the bank to get the bank work out of the way. The bank clerk nodded and I sat in front of him. He was busy filling up entries in his register.

I put my form and booklet in front of him. After waiting for a few more minutes, in which I showed all signs of being impatient, I asked him if my work was done. He shouted, “Nothing is done, and it will take time!”

Just then I saw his morning cup of tea, which had been lying there for the last ten minutes, untouched. The tea had turned almost cold while he was doing his work. Suddenly I felt what this man must be feeling when customers like me come always in a hurry to get their work done. We do not even feel the need to thank them for being there.

So, I told him, “Sir, you please have your tea. I am not in a hurry.” This man suddenly looked up at me and for the first time we had eye contact. I saw a different person there, who was as hard-pressed for time as I always am.

I saw both of us sailing in the same boat. I felt that he was also missing the small things in life like a hot cup of tea or lying in a warm bed for a few more minutes like me. He gave me a rare smile and said, “It is an everyday affair with me; you are not in a hurry but somebody else will be.”

He really touched my heart with his wise words. I felt that all this time I thought of him as a someone who was there for my convenience, but today I suddenly felt a strange communion with him. I vowed to be friendly with people who help me with my work and be thankful that they are there for me.

4 . Having worked at a 7-Eleven store for two years, I thought I had become successful at what our manager calls “customer relations”. I firmly believed that a friendly smile and an automatic “sir” ,“ma’am”, and “thank you” would see me through any situation that might arise, from comforting impatient or unpleasant people to apologizing for giving out the wrong change. But the other night an old woman shattered (粉碎) my belief that a simple and plain response could smooth over the rough spots of dealing with all kinds of customers.

The moment she entered, the woman presented a sharp contrast to our shiny store with its bright lighting and neatly arranged shelves. Walking as if each step were painful, she slowly pushed open the glass door and hobbled (蹒跚) down the nearest aisle. She coughed dryly, wheezing (气喘吁吁) with each breath. On a forty- degree night, she was wearing only a faded dress, a thin sweater too small to button, and black slippers with the backs cut out to expose calloused (满是老茧的) heels. There were no stockings or socks on her blue-veined legs.

After wandering around the store for several minutes, the old woman stopped in front of the rows of canned vegetables. She picked up a can of corn and stared with a strange intensity at the label. At that point, I decided to be a good, polite employee and asked her if she needed help. As I stood close to her, my smile became harder to maintain; her red-rimmed (边缘红的) eyes were partially closed by yellowish crusts (痂); her hands were covered with layer upon layer of dirt, and the stale (陈腐的) smell of sweat rose from clothes.

“I need some food,” she muttered (喃喃低语) in reply to my bright “Can I help you?”

“Are you looking for corn, ma’am?”

“I need some food,” she repeated, “Any kind.”

“Well, the corm is ninety-five cents,” I said in my most helpful voice.

“I can’t pay,” she said.

For a second, I was tempted to say, “ Take the corn. ” But the employee rules flooded into my mind: Remain polite, but do not let customers get the best of you. Let them know that you are in control. For a moment, I even entertained the idea that this was some sort of test, and that this woman was someone from the head office, testing my loyalty. I responded dutifully, “I’m sorry, but I can’t give away anything for free.”

The old woman’s face collapsed a bit more, and her hands trembled as she put the can back on the shelf. She shuffled (拖着脚走) past me toward the door, her torn and dirty clothing barely covering her bent back.

Moments after she left, I rushed out of the door with the can of corn, but she was nowhere in sight. For the rest of my shift, the image of the woman haunted (萦绕) me. I had been young, healthy and proud. She had been old, sick and desperate. Wishing with all my heart that I had acted like a human being rather than a robot, I was saddened to realize how weak a hold we have on our better instincts.

5 . Sudha Chandran, a classical dancer from India, was _________ in the prime of her career — quite literally — when her right leg had to be amputated (截) after a car accident. Though the incident brought her bright career to an end, she didn’t _________.

In the painful months that followed, she met a doctor who _________ an artificial limb made from vulcanized (硬化的) rubber filled with sponge. So _________ was her desire that she decided to return to dancing after she had been fitted with an artificial leg. Knowing that she _________ herself and could fulfill her dream, Sudha began her courageous journey _________ the world of dancing — learning to balance, bend, stretch, walk, turn, twist, twirl and _________ dance.

After every public recital (音乐演奏会), she would ask her dad about her _________. “ You still have a long way to go ” was the answer she used to get _________.

In January 1948, Sudha made a historic ____________ by giving a public recital in Bombay. She performed in such a marvelous manner that it moved everyone to tears while ____________ her to the Number One position again. That evening when she asked her dad the ____________ question, he didn’t say anything. He just touched her feet as a tribute (颂词) to a great ____________.

Sudha’s return was such heart-warming that a film producer was inspired to ____________ the incident into a box office hit, Mayuri.

When someone asked Sudha how she ____________ to dance again, she said quite simply, “YOU DON’T NEED FEET TO DANCE.”

If you have ____________, get up and brush the dust off your knees and move on. A ____________ setback (挫折) is not a defeat. ____________, there’s no such thing as defeat. ____________ is impossible in this world. If you have the will to win, you can ____________ anything. And always remember that the whole world will help you when you want to attain something.

Whenever I heard strangers singing out loud, whether it was in the supermarket or on the street, I used to think how annoying it was. That was until a few months ago.

Recently, my daughter Zoe started her second year of middle school with a new sense of awareness, asking me to fix the “little girl” pattern on her wheel-chair seat. Not wanting her to stand out at school, I spent hours filling in pale yellow stars with a black marker, eager to erase whatever childish signs I could.

Shortly after, Zoe got really sick and had to miss 20 days of school. This meant our days were filled with rushing between hospital appointments and meetings with the school, as we tried to make sure she didn’t fall behind on her schoolwork.

I felt pulled back to a time when she was little and her sickness was a huge part of her life. Back then, it seemed like Zoe lived in hospitals, as she spent so much time in them. No matter how sick she got, however, she always had a positive attitude.

But this was different: Zoe was no longer singing like she normally did. Zoe usually sang all the time, whether she was playing, riding in the car, or just doing her homework. There was no need for a radio in our house; Zoe provided the music for us.

Consumed (被折磨) with my motherly worries, it was more concerning to me than her sickness.

One day, however, I heard her beautiful voice as I was cooking dinner. I stopped what I was doing and just smiled. “Pure delight,” I thought to myself. Her voice slowly grew stronger, and soon, both the car and the house were filled with her music once more.

How had I not noticed her singing had completely stopped, weeks and weeks ago? Now, thankfully, she’s back in school, smiling and singing, and I’m thankful for each and every song she sings.

These days, whenever I hear a stranger singing a song to themselves, I don’t get mad. Instead, I smile, as I know that by singing out loud, they’re simply sharing their happiness with the world.

7 . When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground. I was living in Conyers, Georgia the summer it all happened. I was a second grader, but my best friend Stephanie was only in the first grade. Both of our parents were at work and most of the time they let us go our own way.

It was a hot afternoon and we decided to have an adventure in Stephanie’s basement. As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes. I ran downstairs, and spotted a red steel can. It was paint. I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green.

“Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day. Get some paintbrushes. We are fixing to paint.” She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work. We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard. There on the road in front of my house, we painted big stripes (条纹) of colors across the pavement. Stripe by stripe, our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow. It was fantastic!

The sun was starting to sink. I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car. It was my mother. I couldn’t wait to show her my masterpiece. The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother’s face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble.

My mother shut the car door and walked towards me. Her eyes glaring, she shouted, “What in the world were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors’ trees, but this! Come inside right now!” I stood there glaring back at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted (侮辱) my art.

“Now go and clean it up!” Mother and I began cleaning the road. Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement.

Though years have now passed, I still wonder where myrainbowhas gone. I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away. I guess we all need some sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful.

9 . When school started on that warm August day, I ________ myself into all the sports I did, including volleyball. I decided to become ________ and stopped eating completely. Soon I began losing weight, ________ thrilled me, and I even grew to love the ________ that came with my poor diet, for it meant that I was winning.

As the season progressed, things had become ________ between my head volleyball coach, Coach Smith, and me. Feeling something was wrong with my ________, she talked with me and tried to persuade me to eat ________ a healthy way. We then argued constantly. Later, my hunger started to affect my ________. I was so tired that practice and games were becoming a struggle. One afternoon, with ________ in her eyes, Coach Smith asked me what I had eaten. I told her ________ yet, and I wasn’t going to. She looked at me, hurt in her eyes, knowing her efforts are ________, and walked away.

A couple of weeks later I ________ a formal dinner for our volleyball team. I stood there as my coach managed to say something nice about me. I realized suddenly that I had ________ my senior year by being disrespectful, and probably hers as well. So that evening I wrote her a letter ________ and thanking her.

Then one Saturday, as I was reading in the library, I felt someone ________ take my arm and say softly, “Lynn Jones, how are you doing?” I looked up and saw the familiar face. “Thanks for the letter,” she said. “It ________ a lot.”

When I think of a coach, I think of someone ________ me, someone who gives instruction—not a friend. But Coach Smith is different, and, like any other good friend, she ________ my problem persistently even when I hated her for it at that time. ________ I didn’t deserve her kindness, she gave it anyway. I will forever be grateful for her help and now for her ________.