1 . The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

My hometown was a place of great beauty and agricultural richness, as well as a place of war and natural disasters. When I was only fourteen years old, I was filled with _________ in spite of the terrible surroundings. The families living here, who tried to make their living from the land, _________ great losses.

I felt sorry especially for the children, but I _________ to be hopeless. I decided wherever I was, I would do _________ to help them. I began knocking on every door and saying to each person who _________ the door, “I know that you are _________ and give the birds that come to your yard a little _________. Please consider me your bird. Give me only a handful of rice each week when I come to your _________. I will take it to the place where it can be given to the _________ children.”

No one seemed to __________ giving me a handful of rice, even when they had little themselves. On Sunday, I would __________ my handfuls of rice to the children.

One day, I came to a house where an old lady lived. I told my story and asked if I could be her bird. The woman called her daughters, and __________ gave me fifty cents, as well as a handful of rice! I began to __________ change and rice from other “bird feeders”, and they gave them to me. Everyone was __________ to help those who were suffering, even only in this small way. “Consider me your bird.” My childish idea didn’t stop the war, but anyway, it was __________ some peace.

2 . A fat man with a camera around his neck and a bottle of sunscreen cream sticking out of his bag, he really did look like a tourist. He sat on the terrace (平台), sipping lemonade and pretending to look at a tourism brochure. His sunglasses masked his eyes, but I knew he wasn't looking at the brochure: he hadn't turned a page for the last ten minutes. As I brought him his dishes, he coughed up a "thank you" and looked at me briefly I tried not to stare at the tiny scar across his left eyebrow.

I walked back inside with my empty tray, shaking my head. He looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. Then it hit me. The car accident. The mysterious stranger who helped me out of my crashed car, just before it exploded. I rushed back to his table. He was gone.

I moved his saucer and found his tip, along with a card: I am deeply grateful to you. The night of your car accident, I was on my way to rob a jewelry store. Saving your life brought things back in a right way. I now live an honest life, thanks to you. God bless you! Mr. D.

I shivered (震颤). The night of my car accident, I was heading for an interview in an illegal dance club. Seeing human kindness through his heroic gesture (英雄姿态) turned my life around and brought faith back into my life. I unfolded the tip he left. Among the singles was a grand (一千块) with a pen mark underlining "In God We Trust. "I said a silent prayer for him and got back to work, smiling.

4 . When Tony took up running as a hobby he was 42 years old. Now 42 years later he’s a national champion and a world record holder.

He never imagined at the age of 84 this is where he’d be, but then he doesn’t meet many people in their 80s who are out training four times a week.

“I can see it’s a bit unusual, yes. But it’s been my life,” he told the reporter. The retired officer runs at a track near his home in Leeds.

At an event in Italy last month he set a world record in the 80 metres hurdles（跨栏）with a time of under 17 seconds. But he sees no reason to slow down and his ambition（雄心）is still to be competing when he passes a hundred.

“I probably won’t be doing a crouch start（蹲式起跑）, but it’s only 16 years away,” he joked. Like anyone his age, he’s had health problems. He’s had a string of severe heart attacks, but doctors have told him as long as it makes him feel good, he should carry on running.

“I can’t let my heart get in the way of my training. When I am sprinting I have to give it my absolute all. My heart is the last thing on my mind. ” he said.

He trains every other day, dances and plays hockey and he recently cuts down on alcohol （酒精）and chocolate. He said “ I’ve heard alcohol can lead to dementia and I don’t want that. I’ve cut down to one glass of wine every other day. I now have to stay as fit as I can be to keep up my lifestyle.”

Tony’s next birthday is next September. And the first thing he wants to do is become the world’s fastest 85-year-old.

5 . Love Is Blind：The Magic of Tabby

In October, 2003 I started my work at my local animal shelter’s Adoption Department. Over the years, more than 50, 000 animals have ________ the doors of the shelter. Most of them, I do not remember. But occasionally there are ________ animals, who touch me so deeply that I could never possibly ________ them. Tabby was one such animal.

Tabby was an ancient Cocker Spaniel, probably 14 years old. What's more, she was blind and deaf. Tabby's chances at adoption seemed ________ at best. After all, there weren’t many adopters coming here ________, “Can you show me all of your really old dogs who are also ________ ?” We had all thought that Tabby would live out the rest of her life at the ________.

One day a woman named Loretta came to the shelter. Her son, Gary, had ________ Tabby’s picture and stories on the shelter’s website at home. They were interested in meeting her! It was the only ________ we ever had from others about Tabby. What could a young child possibly see in a 14-year-old dog who was both blind and deaf？Most boys would want a dog who could grow with them and ________ through grassy fields on summer days. Tabby would ________ be able to do that. But after meeting her, Loretta and Gary decided that she was the right dog for their family. They adopted Tabby!

If Tabby's story had simply ended with her ________ adoption, it would still have been something very special indeed. ________ , it was what happened after her adoption that people might regard as “magic”. Gary ________ from seizures. Since Gary and Tabby met, they became ________. They did everything together. They became so “in tune” with one another that Tabby began to telegraph Gary's seizures ________ they occurred, giving his family a (n) ________ that one was about to strike. What's more, Gary seemed to be having fewer and fewer seizures since Tabby's ________ .

How could it be？Nobody could explain ________ Tabby did it. But those of us who were fortunate enough to know her and her family had ________ the magic, the kind that has its roots in love.

8 . It was Mother’s Day and I was shopping at the local supermarket with my five-year old son, Tenyson. As we were _______, we realized that only minutes earlier an _______ woman had fallen over at the entrance and hit her head on the ground. _______ was with her, but there was blood everywhere and the woman was embarrassed and clearly in shock. _________, a lot of people stopped to help out._______we were walking towards the scene (现场), Tenyson became very_______about what had happened to the old couple. He_______to me, “Mom，it’s not much fun falling over in front of _______.” Seeing that there was a flower stall(摊位) at the front of the supermarket, he added(补充说), “Why shouldn’t we _______the lady a flower？It will make her feel better.” I was ________ that he’d come up with this ________idea. So we went over and told the flower seller ________we wanted. “Just take it,” she replied, “I________ take your money for such a wonderful ________.”

By now medical staff had arrived, and were________the injured woman.We gave the flower to the woman’s husband and I told him it was__________my son. At that, the old man started crying and said, “Thank you very much.” He then turned to me，“You have a________son. Happy Mother’s Day to you.”

The man bent down and gave his wife the flower, telling her who it was from.________being badly hurt, the old lady looked up at Tenyson with ________in her eyes and gave him a little________.

9 . It amazed me—every time I saw Joe, he was smiling. It didn't matter whether he had to stop at a stop light, or if he was the seventh person in line at the bank, and the teller ended her job just before he got there. Joe always smiled. It made me wonder why he always seemed so happy.

Having observed Joe with other people, I noticed something else too. Joe asked people how they were doing, and really seemed to listen to their answers. He showed pity to someone who was hurting, and had kind words, and offered to help in any way he could.

It made me think. What if I tried to smile more? An experiment began when I went to the supermarket. I smiled as I went up and down the supermarket and people I didn't even know smiled back at me. Some even spoke! The little kid in the cart who was giving his mother a hard time saw me smile, he stopped talking and then made a shy attempt at a smile. The man in the cart for the disabled needed help to reach for something, and I got it for him. The smile even transferred over to him, and he thanked me.

As I drove home, I was smiling. Now I know a smile is a small thing, but what if we all tried to smile a few more times each day? I couldn't believe how great I felt. Nothing in my life had changed, but maybe it had. What I had learned was that such a small thing could lift not only my spirits, but also the spirits of those around me. So smile!

10 . The 65-year-old Steve Goodwin was found suffering from early Alzheimer’s. He was losing his memory.

A software engineer by profession, Steve was a keen lover of the piano, and the only musician in his family. Music was his true passion, though he had never performed outside the family.

Melissa, his daughter, felt it more than worthwhile to save his music, to which she fell asleep each night when she was young. She thought about hiring a professional pianist to work with her father.

Naomi, Melissa’s best friend and a talented pianist, got to know about this and showed willingness to help.

“Why do this?” Steve wondered.

“Because she cares.” Melissa said.

Steve nodded, with tears in his eyes.

Naomi drove to the Goodwin home. She told Steve she’d love to hear him play. Steve moved to the piano and sat at the bench, hands trembling as he gently placed his fingers on the keys.

Naomi put a small recorder near the piano. Starts and stops and mistakes. Long pauses, heart sinking. But Steve pressed on, playing for the first time in his life for a stranger.

“It was beautiful.” Naomi said after listening to the recording. “The music was worth saving.”

Her responsibility, her privilege, would be to rescue it. The music was still in Steve Goodwin. It was hidden in rooms with doors about to be locked.

Naomi and Steve met every other week and spent hours together. He’d move his fingers clumsily on the piano, and then she’d take his place. He struggled to explain what he heard in his head. He stood by the piano, eyes closed, listening for the first time to his own work being played by someone else.

Steve and Naomi spoke in musical code lines, beats, intervals, moving from the root to end a song in a new key. Steve heard it. All of it. He just couldn’t play it.

Working with Naomi did wonders for Steve. It had excited within him the belief that he could write one last song. One day, Naomi received an email. Attached was a recording, a recording of loss and love, of the fight. Steve called it “Melancholy Flower”.

Naomi heard multiple stops and starts, Steve struggling, searching while his wife Joni called him “honey” and encouraged him. The task was so hard, and Steve, angry and upset, said he was quitting. Joni praised him, telling her husband this could be his signature piece.

Naomi managed to figure out 16 of Steve’s favorite, and most personal, songs. With Naomi’s help, the Goodwin family found a sound engineer to record Naomi playing Steve’s songs. Joni thought that would be the end. But it wasn’t.

In the months leading up to the 2016 Oregon Repertory Singers Christmas concert, Naomi told the director she had a special one in mind: “Melancholy Flower.”

She told the director about her project with Steve. The director agreed to add it to the playing list. But Naomi would have to ask Steve’s permission. He considered it an honor.

After the concert, Naomi told the family that Steve’s music was beautiful and professional. It needed to be shared in public.

The family rented a former church in downtown Portland and scheduled a concert. By the day of the show, more than 300 people had said they would attend.

By then, Steve was having a hard time remembering the names of some of his friends. He knew the path his life was now taking. He told his family he was at peace.

Steve arrived and sat in the front row, surrounded by his family. The house lights faded. Naomi took the stage. Her fingers. His heart.