Eric was working in a selling business. He had been on the road visiting people for more than a month without going home. He couldn’t wait to get back to see his wife and children. It was coming up on Mother’s Day, and he usually tried to make it “back home”, but this year he was just too busy and too tired. The day when he was driving in a small town, he saw a flower shop. He said to himself, “I know what I will do. I’ll send my mother some roses.”

He stopped and went into the flower shop and saw a young man talking to the girl in it. “How many roses can I get for fifty dollars?” the boy asked. The girl was trying to explain that roses were expensive. Maybe the young man would be happy with something else.

“No. I have to have roses,” he said. “My mom was badly sick last year and I didn’t spend much time with her. I want to get something special. It has to be red roses, because that is her favorite,” He was stubborn.

The girl in the shop looked up at Eric and was just shaking her head. Something inside of Eric was touched by the boy’s voice. He wanted to get those roses so badly. Eric had been blessed (幸运的) in his business, and he looked at the girl and silently said that he would pay for the boy’s roses.

The girl looked at the young man and said, “OK, I will give you a dozen red roses for your dollars.” The young man almost jumped into the air. He took the flowers and ran out of the store. It was worth more than fifty dollars just to see that kind of excitement.

Eric ordered his own flowers and asked the girl to have it delivered to his mother. After that, with a relief he drove down the road. Not long after his driving, he saw the boy walking to a graveyard (墓地).

Eric stopped his car and followed the young man.

Eric went into the car in tears.

6 . It was Sunday. I had one last patient to see. I _________her room in_________ hurry and stood at the doorway. She was an older woman, sitting at the edge of the bed, _________to put socks on her swollen feet. I crossed the threshold, spoke quickly to the nurse, and glanced at her chart (表格) noting she was in stable condition.

I was almost in the clear. I leaned (倚靠) on the bed looking down at her. She asked _________ I could help put on her socks. _________, I began to say something like this: “How are you feeling? Your sugars and blood pressure were high but they’re better today. The nurse mentioned you’re _________ to see your son who’s visiting you today. It’s nice to have family visit from far away. I bet you really _________ seeing him.”

She stopped me _________ a strict voice.   “Sit down, doctor. This is my story, not your story.” I was _________ and embarrassed. I sat down. I helped her with the __________.

She began to tell me that her __________ son lived around the corner from her. She just had this one child but she had not seen him in five years. She believed that the stress of this contributed __________ to her health problems.

After hearing her story and putting on her socks, I asked her if there was anything __________ I could do for her. She __________ her head no and smiled. __________she wanted me to do was to listen.

7 . As a young man, Al was a skilled artist. He had a wife and two fine sons. One night, his oldest son developed a stomachache. Thinking it was only some common illness, neither Al nor his wife took the condition very seriously. But the illness became serious, and the boy died suddenly that night.

Knowing the death could have been prevented if he had only realized the seriousness of the situation, Al’s emotional health was weakened under the effect of his guilt. To make matters worse, his wife left him a short time later, leaving him alone with his six­year­old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were more than Al could handle, and he began to take in a lot of alcohol and became an alcoholic．

As the alcoholism progressed, Al began to lose everything he had—his home, his land, his art objects, everything. Eventually Al died alone in a San Francisco motel room.

When I heard of Al’s death, I thought he was a loser because he ended his life with nothing material to show for it.

As time went by, I began to change my judgment. You see, I knew Al’s now adult son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most caring, most loving men I have ever known. I watched Ernie with his children and saw the free flow of love between them. I knew that kindness and caring had to come from somewhere.

One day, Ernie told me, “From my earliest memories as a child until I left home at 18, my dad came into my room every night, gave me a kiss and said, ‘I love you, son.’”

Tears came to my eyes as I realized what a fool I had been to judge Al as a failure. He had not left any material possessions behind. But he left love to his son, who became one of the finest, most giving men I have ever known.

8 . One morning a deer rushed into a courtyard where a little boy was playing. The deer hooked the boy’s clothing with its antlers (角). This scared the little boy so much that he let out a loud cry which brought his mother running out to see what was happening. She came out just in time and saw the deer running off towards the mountains with her little boy.

The mother was so afraid! She ran after the deer as fast as she could, and not too far away，she found her son sitting on the grass safely. Seeing his mother, the little boy laughed and reached out his arms to her. His mother held him tight. She was so happy that she cried.

She hurried back with her dear son. When she got home, she was amazed at what she saw. The huge tree behind her house had fallen down while she was out running after the deer. The whole house was destroyed under the tee’s great weight.

Then the mother remembered the day about a year before when a deer, fleeing from a hunter, had run into her house. She felt sorry for the frightened deer, so she covered it with some clothes and let it return to the forest.

The deer seemed to understand that she had saved its life. When leaving, it kept bowing its head to her, as if it were thanking her for her kindness.

She never imagined that the deer could remember her help. It somehow knew the tree was going to fall and kill her and her son, so it came back to save them.

When the mother remembered all this, she said, “Saving the life of another is the same as saving the life of your own.”

9 . At 12, my father decided to take me on a trip to France. I had never been out of the country before, so I was very excited. My aunt, my father and I went around with my father showing us all the unbelievable sites in Paris. None of us spoke much French but we loved the city.

We had taken the subway all over the city and were congratulating ourselves on our mastering what is honestly an excellent subway design that is pretty easy to follow. We decided to visit Versailles by train. We chatted happily along the way until my father realized we were far into the French countryside and no one around spoke English.

We reached the end of the line and felt afraid when everyone finally left the train. An old man and his grandchild noticed us and came to help. He spoke no English, so in broken French we tried to explain. When he finally understood, this great man settled his grandson and showed us to the correct train and then boarded with us.   

Later we knew the truth that there was a train transfer (转乘) and he didn’t want us to miss it. This kind man rode a train for an hour and a half out of his way to make sure that three Americans got where they wanted to be. He refused to let us pay for his ticket. He did it all with a gentle smile and patted our hands gently at the stop. Then in his quiet way, he boarded the train to return the way he had come.

What impressed me most was the man and his kindness during the amazing trip. Some Americans think the French are rude for some reason, but I always try to persuade them to change their minds with this very story.

David was a normal boy, but he had been born deaf. He was well known to everyone in the town, and they were all very fond     1     him. Unfortunately, he always seemed to be treated     2    (different) from everyone else. 

David didn’t like this very much. But the person     3     disliked this the most was his friend Michael. Michael decided that things had to change. So he managed to persuade other people in town     4    (choose) one day as the festival for deaf people this year. During that whole day everyone in town would have to wear earplugs(耳塞). The day     5    (call) “The Day of Silence”. When it arrived everyone stuck plugs in their ears. As the hours passed, people began to realise     6     difficult life was for the deaf. Soon no one thought of David as a deaf person.    7    (use) his usual gestures, David was the one who could communicate best with everyone. They were     8    (surprise) at his ability to find solutions to almost any problem. They realised all David needed was a little     9    (much) time than others to communicate. That was the only difference. 

It was on this day that everyone realised they have to give people a chance to show how     10    (use) they are.