My mom only had one eye. I hated her. She was such an embarrassment.

She ran a small shop at a flea market, and collected old clothes and some other things to sell for the money we needed. Once during elementary school, it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed and wondered how could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ignored her. The next day at school, my schoolmates asked me, “your mom only has one eye?” and taunted me.

I was so angry with my mom and wished that she would just disappear from this world. So l said to my mom, “Why don’t you have the other eye?! If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock!” My mom did not respond, I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, I felt so good to have had said what I wanted to say. Maybe it was because I was full of anger then and there, I didn’t think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.

For the words I had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at me in the corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty. I told myself that I would become successful in the near future and get out of that house for good, so I studied very hard. Later I got accepted by the Seoul University, I left my mother and came to Seoul to study. Then I got married there.

I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I am living happily as a successful man. I enjoy the life in Seoul because it’s a place that doesn’t remind me of my mom past. This kind of happiness was getting bigger and bigger, until one day someone knocked at my door. It was my mom! And still with her one eye! It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom’s eye.

I screamed at her, “Who are you? I don’t know you!”

After the funeral (葬礼), the neighbor gave me a letter saying, “My dearest son...

2 . Sumiel, a 71-year-old, was no stranger to the struggles of kidney (肾) disease. He was on the transplant list (移植名单), but no matches had yet _________. So he continued with his treatments at a medical center 30 miles from home.

One day, he took a taxi home after his _________ with the doctor. As they set out on the 40 minute _________ to Sumiel’s home in Salem, he and the driver, Letts, got to _________. Sumiel mentioned that he’d enjoyed _________ and helped others in his community before. But he was doing less these days because the treatments left him_________ tired. Then Sumiel revealed that he was _________ a kidney giver. Letts said, “I’d like to see if I could be a _________ to give you a kidney.” Sumiel agreed, though he didn’t _________ much of it as they kept driving.

Letts was __________ to his word. He got in touch with Sumiel just a few hours later, and by the next week, Letts had__________ the kidney transplant program. After a month’s long screening __________ — including an interview, sharing medical records, and testing the __________ were: Letts was an ideal donor, and he and Sumiel were a perfect match.

Fourteen months after they ended up in the same taxi by __________, Sumiel and Letts had their surgeries. It was a __________. They kept in touch and looked forward to the day they could reunite.

5 . Last Sunday, our family went to a nice restaurant. The meal was ____ and we all had a good time just being together. When the waitress ____ the check I looked down at it. The gift card (代金券) covered almost all of it. I reached into my wallet to get enough cash to cover the rest. I saw two ____ in the front of it. The first would cover the rest of the bill and give the ____ a nice tip. The second bill was much larger so I reached down to ____ the first one.

At that moment my ____ flashed back to 30 years before. I was working in a restaurant. It was long hours of hard work for low ____. I went home just barely making enough to feed my young family. I also ____ how more than once I saw the waitresses ____ about how they were going to pay the rent and buy their kids the things they needed. I saw the ____ in their eyes and the sadness in their faces at the end of the day.

I was back in the present ____ my fingers touching the smaller bill in my ____. I smiled, pushed it back down, and ____ the much larger bill. I ____ it around the gift card (代金券) and covered both of them with the ____. As we all got up from the table I ____ them to the hard working waitress. “You keep the ____”, I said with a smile and a ____ heart.

We are all one family in this world. We live together, rejoice (庆祝) together, and suffer together. Do your best to be ____ then. Do your best to be a good person. Do your best to replace the ____ with joy.

Sarah Thompson lived at Number Six, Elm Street.She loved living here.The community was warm and friendly. All her friends were around and the smells from the neighboring bakery were sweet! However, one problem emerged — Sarah’s parents planned to move.With her mum expecting twins, they needed an additional bedroom. “This house is too small,” said her mum.The following day, a “For Sale” sign was hung on Sarah’s door, casting a shadow over her and her closest friend Mia.“What should I do, Mia?” said Sarah in low spirits.

Mia frowned (皱眉头). “Has your house got problems? Number fifty’s got problems and no one wants to buy it.” Sarah stared at number fifty.It looked all right to her. “What kind of problems?” she asked.

“Oh, mice and coldness and really horrible wallpaper.” Sarah sighed.Her house was warm and clean and it had just been repainted recently, which was an unfortunate contrast.

Mrs. Green lived next door to Sarah in a big house that had once been a grocery store.Just then, she came out, followed by her cat Whiskers.

“I’m sorry to hear that you’re moving,” Mrs. Green said with sympathy. “So am I,” Sarah grumbled (发牢骚) in response. Mrs. Green offered a comforting pat on Sarah’s arm. “Never mind. Your house might take months to sell.”

However, a few days later, Sarah came home from school and found a man in the living room. His name was Mr. Anderson and he expressed keen interest in buying the house. Sarah’s heart sank when Mr. Anderson said he wanted to come back for a second visit on Sunday morning.

At school, Sarah asked, “Mia. Does your elder brother still work in the fish shop?” Mia nodded. “Good. Listen, I’ve got a job for you...”

Sarah whispered her plan to Mia.

Sarah’s parents got very angry and asked for an explanation.

7 . The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we hadn’t already known. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.

“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.

She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...”

“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious about what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I always enjoyed listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and took delight in the attention bestowed (授予) upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet.

I’ll never forget what she taught us.

“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.”

At the end of that year, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep.