Last Saturday David was taking a walk in the park near his home when he noticed a woman with a boy of about eight years old. When David passed them, he heard the woman yelling: “How stupid you are! You’re good at nothing.” David stopped and looked at the little boy. The boy said nothing. He just stood there, looking upset.

David was reminded of his English teacher Mrs. Brown in middle school. After he entered middle school, David lacked self-confidence because he was often made fun of by others. He was often told that he was good at nothing, which David believed.

But one day it all changed. That day, in an English writing class, Mrs. Brown asked them to read a novel. They were asked to write a new chapter of the novel after they finished reading it. A few days later, David handed in his story. He didn’t give it much thought. But the next day to his surprise, the comment “well done” from Brown came into view the moment he turned to the page where the story was written. When David read that, he almost burst into tears. He had never expected to be praised. He suddenly gained some self-confidence.

That day after he returned home, he wrote another short story and gave it to Mrs. Brown the next morning. And again he was praised. David became very interested in writing. He often wrote short dories and asked Mrs. Brown to read them and correct them for him. Mrs. Brown always gave him good advice to improve them. One year later, David joined the school newspaper and became an editor of it. He gained his confidence and was hopeful about his future.

He succeeded in entering college and kept writing. Several years after graduating from college, he had his first book published, becoming famous as a writer in his country. And he owed his success to Mrs. Brown’s encouragement. Without her encouragement, his life might be very different now.

Inspired by his own life story, David decided to do something for that boy.

The mother was ashamed when she heard that.

5 . Exercise and I had never had a good relationship due to my fear of sports. From a young age, my dad _______ me into a dozen sports. I didn’t like any of them, _______.

When I entered the University of Regina, my dad _______ telling me “You have to find a way to stay _______.” or “You don’t want to get the Freshman 15, do you?” So I _______ to give swimming a shot, but I _______ managed to go to the pool twice during the fall semester (学期). Worse still, I was _______ to convince myself that’s OK.

The spring semester came. A friend of mine _______ me if I wanted to try Zumba (尊巴) with her. All I knew about Zumba was that it was basically a kind of exercise: dancing to Latin pop songs. It didn’t sound too bad, but I couldn’t be _______.

I went, and that was it. Zumba became my ________ of tea. The instructor would always say, “Don’t worry about the steps. Have fun. Do your own thing.” That removed my ________ of sports. I didn’t have to be ________. I didn’t even have to be good. I just needed to ________ the music and move. Zumba did ________ me from the Freshman 15, and it also did so much more. It let me make ________ with my unpleasant past about physical exercise, and enjoy staying healthy.

It took place in a teacher’s family. One day, Ben was playing basketball in the living room after school, when he accidentally threw the ball at a vase sitting on the shelf. The vase dropped to the floor and a large piece broke off. What made Ben more upset was that the vase was not a common decoration but an antique (古董), which was handed down through generations from the 18th century. It was also his mother’s favourite possession. To cover his terrible action, the terrified boy glued the pieces together hurriedly and put the vase back to its place.

As the mother herself dusted the vase every day, she naturally noticed the cracks (裂纹) that evening. To her surprise, the repair work was actually very good. At dinner time, she asked her boy if he broke the vase. Fearing punishment, the suddenly inspired boy said that a neighbour’s cat jumped in from the window and he couldn’t drive it away no matter how hard he tried. It raced around the living room and finally knocked the vase off its shelf. His mother was quite clear that her son was lying, for all the windows were closed before she left for work each morning and opened after she returned. However, in the face of her son’s nervous eyes and the suspicious looks of the other family members, Ben’s mother remained calm. She realized she shouldn’t just simply blame and punish her son for lying. She came up with another idea.

Before going to bed, the boy found a note from his mother in his room, asking him to go to the study at once. The boy thought he would now be punished but, as he had already lied, he was determined to deny everything to the end, no matter how angry his mum became.

In the study, calmly bathed in the light, his mothers face showed no sign of anger. On seeing her son push open the door and cautiously enter, she took a chocolate box out of a drawer and gave him one.

The mother said, “This chocolate is a reward for your imagination: a window-opening cat!”

Now with some chocolates in hand, the boy’s bad attitude disappeared.

8 . Every April, I find myself troubled by the same concern—that spring might not occur this year. The landscape looks dull, with hills, sky and forest appearing gray. On May 3, I awoke to a green so amazing as to be almost electric, as if spring were simply a matter of pressing a switch. Hills, sky and forest revealed their purples, blues and green.

Then there was the old apple tree. It sits on an undeveloped lot in my neighborhood. It belongs to no one and therefore to everyone. The tree’s dark branches stretch out in unpruned (未经修剪的) abandon.

Until last year, I thought I was the only one aware of this tree. And then one day, in a bit of spring madness, I set out to prune (修剪) a few disorderly branches. No sooner had I arrived under the tree than neighbors opened their windows and stepped onto their porches (门廊). These were people I barely knew, but it was as if I had come uninvited into their personal gardens. My mobile-home neighbor was the first to speak. “You’re not going to cut it down, are you?” she asked anxiously.

Soon, half the neighborhood joined me under the apple tree. It struck me that I had lived there for five years and only now was learning these people’s names, what they did for a living and how they passed the winter. It was as if the old apple tree was gathering us under its branches for the purpose of both acquaintanceship and shared wonder.

Just the other day, I saw one neighbor at the local store. He remarked how this recent winter had been especially long and complained of not having seen or spoken at length to anyone in our neighborhood. And then, he looked at me and said, “We need to prune that apple tree again.”

9 . An 11-year-old boy from Nigeria impressed the world with an online video of his ballet dancing in the rain. Then something_________followed.

Madu is one of the 12 students of a dance school. Daniel, the school founder, is teaching children for free and hopes to “change some commonly held_________about ballet.”

Gracefully spinning among a group of girl dancers, Madu_________. While his mom wanted him to become a priest (牧师), the boy pushes himself hard to be what he_________to be.

“I love dancing and it gives me a great feeling. People think ballet is only for girls, but I want people to_________that a boy could do the same,” Madu said.

The video of Madu_________his ballet skills in the downpour got _________from millions including Mrs. Harvey, director from a top US dance school, who decided to_________.

She_________Madu with a full scholarship to her school and offered Daniel an online course for free to ____________his teaching.

Both Madu and his teacher went____________at the surprise! “Sorry for disappointing mom. I love the ____________but not the prayer and I’ll never give it up,” the boy____________.

____________，when you nourish (滋养) your dream with love and____________, opportunities will find their own way.

I remember the hot summer when my friends and I discovered ice cream sandwiches at the corner store. They were ten cents apiece, a lot of money back then. I don’t remember how we came to buy one and taste it, but we were mad after that. Of course, none of us had any money. Whether we rode our bikes, or played ball, or sat and played cards, we talked and dreamed about those soft, creamy sandwiches.

My dad worked nights, coming home to join us for breakfast, and then sleeping till late afternoon. When he came home one morning, I heard the jingle (叮当声) of change in his pants and something ugly slowly came into my mind. That change was just what we needed, what I had to have. All day long I kept coming into the house and listening at his door. When I heard his sleeping sounds, I cracked the door. And there hanging at the foot of the bed were those pants. I slipped in and took a handful of change. It was enough for my friends and me to buy an ice cream sandwich, which we ate like greedy pigs. And I became a hero to my band of friends.

That went on every day for about two weeks. I had gotten good at slipping in and slipping out, and then ran to my friends and we headed to the store.

One day there was no change in dad’s pocket so I felt for his wallet, hesitated a moment, and then took out two whole dollars. I had been okay with taking the change, but those dollars made my face hot. Even before we began enjoying sandwiches, my stomach felt sick. The importance and joy I had felt buying for my friends was gone. If dad knew what I had done, he’d kill me.

Early that afternoon, I hid myself in our basement, crying.

In a moment I would never forget, he said, “Son, I’ve known since the first day you took the money.”