1 . It was a busy morning and I had several things to do before it became too hot to be outside the house. As I was walking by the side of a busy road, I saw an old lady, maybe in her 80s standing dangerously close to the traffic. Although my mind was preoccupied (心事重重的), I thought to myself that I should warn her not to stand so close to the disordered traffic rushing by.

When I reached the place where the old lady was standing, I noticed that she was trying to get the attention of passers-by who of course were too busy to take note of her. She kept pointing to the middle of the road. When I tried to gently move her back further away from the busy road, she said that she was standing there because she had dropped her house key in the middle of the road and was unable to open her house without the key. I looked around and no one seemed to be interested in the two of us. I knew I was getting late but decided to help.

The traffic was busy on the road with people on their bikes and office goers in cars as well as school buses rushing with school children. It was the worst time of the day to cross a busy road without a traffic light. I asked the old lady to stay at a safe distance, took a deep breath, and I myself carefully stepped onto the road waving my hands madly almost expecting to be hit by an oncoming vehicle. At first one lane (车道) stopped and then I moved further on to the middle of the road continuing to wave my hand. Just then a school bus was approaching me and I bravely stepped in front of it to stop it.

The driver seemed so angry that he shouted at me.     1    

I carefully helped the old lady leave the crowded street.     2    

2 . A couple of months before I started high school, my parents gave me the greatest gift any teenage boy could ask for: a cellphone. I lived on that phone all summer with my face buried in its screen. I ignored my family and my surroundings. Being connected was more important than being present.

So, you can imagine my displeasure when I learned what my dad had planned for our family vacation that year. “This year,” my dad said, “we’ll be doing something special. We’re going camping!” His excitement was met with a disappointed sigh. It wasn’t my dream vacation because mind was on my phone. I was so buried in the screen, in fact, that the first time I can remember truly looking up was when we drove across a bridge on the way to our campsite.

I stared out the window and saw redwoods towering above us, their branches threatening to pierce (刺破) the blue sky. I saw a roaring river, with slivers of silky black water appearing between crashing white rapids. The air blowing into the car from the open windows was hot. But none of that mattered to me. The reason I had looked up was for something far more serious: my phone no longer had service.

The last hour of the drive was increasingly tense. My dad announced that he had chosen a campsite that had no cell service, and that my phone would be useless until we returned home. I would be trapped in the forest for four days with no way to contact the outside world! I went through the full cycle of teenage emotions during the first day of the trip. I raged. I bargained. I begged. I flip-flopped (转变) from a depressive state to anger and back.

I went to bed angrily that night. But when I awoke in the morning, something had changed.

The author, a ______ boy, shared a four-day family vacation in which he was separated from his cellphone.

I was a single mother in my 30s who lived down and out with my daughter Peggy in a small apartment, struggling hard to make our needs meet.

One day, I headed to the downtown for an interview. I sat down in the streetcar, and there against the seat was a beautiful silk umbrella with a silver handle decorated with gold scrolls, among which there was a name carved.

On impulse (冲动) I determined to find the owner myself. I got off the streetcar in the heavy rain and thankfully opened the umbrella to protect myself . Then I searched a telephone book for the name, I found it immediately and called it, waiting patiently, and then a lady answered.

“Yes,” she said in surprise, with extreme excitement. “It was my umbrella which had been stolen a year ago.”

So appealing was her pleasure that I forgot I was looking for a job and went directly to her small house. She took the umbrella, with teary eyes, explaining with choking voice that the umbrella was given by her parents, now dead. Her happiness at retrieving (找回) this special possession was such that to have accepted her reward would have spoiled something, so I refused her offer and left.

The following months were hard. I could only obtain temporary employment, for a small salary. What was worse, I had just lost my last job before Christmas, with only fifteen dollars left. Unless a miracle happened, I would be homeless in January, foodless and jobless. I had prayed steadily for weeks, and there had been no answer but this coldness and darkness.

The air was full of Christmas merriment, with the bells ringing and children shouting in the bitter dusk of the evening. But there should be no Christmas for me, I knew, no gifts, no remembrance whatsoever.

Thinking of this, I couldn't control my tears on my way home, but I managed a smile so could greet my little daughter. She opened the door for me and threw herself in my arms, screaming joyously and demanding desirably for her Christmas gift. There I stood, frozen, overwhelmed by misery.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Peggy rushed to answer it, calling that it must be Santa Claus.

Suddenly, a note attached to one package caught my eye

5 . Peter, a 5-year-old boy, showed such great interest in seashells that he would rush to pick them up with his 3-year-old sister, Shirley. They screamed out their joy as Peter collected his treasure into his pockets. For Peter, sea shells lay shining on the peaceful beach, waiting for him, just like stars twinkling (闪烁) in the sky. As waves touched them, they seemed to be flowers blooming (绽放) in gentle wind.

One day, Peter was wandering through a market with Shirley with some shells in his pocket. Suddenly Peter found his younger sister was lagging (落后) behind. He stopped and looked back, finding Shirley standing in front of a toy shop and staring at something with great interest. The boy went back to her and asked, “What do you want?” Shirley pointed at the doll, wearing a smile on her innocent face. Peter held his younger sister’s tiny hand, walking into the shop. He tiptoed (踮起脚尖) to reach for the doll, and like fulfilling an elder brother’s duty, gave the precious doll to Shirley. Holding tightly the doll, the sister was very happy.

The shopkeeper was watching everything and enjoyed seeing the mature (成熟的) behavior of the boy. Now the boy came to the counter and asked the shopkeeper, “How much does this doll cost, Sir?” The shopkeeper was a cool man, who had suffered from something in his life. So he asked the boy with love, “Well, what can you pay?” Peter reached into his clothes for money that was intended for these two little kids’ breakfast. Having counted the money, Peter put it with care on the counter, asking again, “Sir, is it enough for my little sister’s doll?” The amusing scene just in front of the shopkeeper eventually brought a smile to his face. Shaking his head slightly, he replied, “My boy, I am afraid it seems not to be enough.”

It was summer, and my dad wanted to treat me to a vacation like never before. He decided to take me on a trip to the Wild West.

We took a plane to Albuquerque, a big city in the state of New Mexico. We reached Albuquerque in the late afternoon. Uncle Paul, my dad’s friend, picked us up from the airport and drove us up to his farm in Pecos.

His wife Tina cooked us a delicious dinner and we got to know his sons Ryan and Kyle. My dad and I spent the night in the guestroom of the farm house listening to the frogs and water rolling down the river nearby. Very early in the morning, Uncle Paul woke us up to have breakfast. "The day starts at dawn on my farm," he said. After breakfast, I went to help Aunt Tina feed the chickens. while my dad went with Uncle Paul to take the sheep out to graze (吃草). I was impressed to see my dad and Uncle Paul riding horses. They looked really cool.

In the afternoon, I asked Uncle Paul if I could take a hose ride, and he said yes, as long as my dad went with me. I wasn’t going to take a horse ride by myself anyway. So, my dad and I put on our new cowboy hats, got on our horses, and headed slowly towards the mountains. "Don’t be late for supper," Uncle Paul cried, "and keep to the track so that you don’t get lost!" "OK! " my dad cried back. After a while Uncle Paul and his fam house were out of sight. It was so peaceful and quiet and the colors of the brown rocks, the deep green pine trees, and the late afternoon sun mixed to create a magic scene. It looked like a beautiful woven (编织的) blanket spread out upon the ground just for us.

Suddenly a little rabbit jumped out in front of my horse. Dad and I found it was so cute that we decided to chase it. After a while, we were completely lost in the forest. There was nothing left in our sight but the trees. “We may not be able to make it back to the farm house in time for supper.” I thought to myself. After a series of fruitless attempts to find a way out, we felt hungry and tired.
We had no idea where we were and it was getting dark. We got stuck in the forest. And an unexpected shower added to the difficulty of us in finding a way home, for all the tracks we had made disappeared because of the rain. I was almost on the edge of breaking down when my father said, “Don’t worry, my son. I remember there is a river near the farm house. Find the river and we will be back home.” Finally, we found the river and got back to the house along it. Needless to say, we ate a late dinner.

9 . Jenny was a nurse in a children's hospital. One evening there was a big dance at the hospital. Most of the doctors and nurses would be there, but some of them had to be let to look after the children. Jenny was not among the________ones who were free to go to the dance. She enjoyed dancing very much, so when she had to start________that evening while her friends were getting ready to go to the dance, she felt very sorry for herself. She went to each sick child one after another and said good night. Finally, she came to a little boy called Tommy. Tommy was only 11 years old, but he already talked like an adult. Poor Tommy had a very serious illness, and now he was hardly able to________any part of his body except his hands. But he was always happy and always thinking about others instead of himself. When Jenny came up to his bed, he said: "I'm very sorry that you have to________the dance because of us. But we're going to have a party for you. If you look in my drawer(抽屉), you'll find a piece of cake. I saved it from my supper today, so it's quite________. And I'd get up and dance with you myself if I was able to. "Suddenly the hospital dance seemed very far away and not at all important to Jenny.