I can count a dozen friends, all in the 1950s, who adopted a puppy. Actually, I did, too. Last year, I was suddenly consumed by the urgent desire to acquire a seven-week-old Australian shepherd. For one thing, this breed is one of the most energetic on the planet, whereas I am bookish, lazy, and middle-aged.

My trouble with dogs is that I never have the remotest clue what they want, and they never seem to have the slightest idea of what I’m saying to them. He was highly alert, yet unable to grasp a single thing. Kevin’s entire communicative gestures — whether he wanted food, exercise, permission to jump on the sofa, a toy, or, who knows, a conversation about the electric bill — consisted of walking up to me and staring. He did this about 50 times a day, just staring brightly without moving a muscle, and after years of living together, I still didn’t know what he wanted. We coexisted in a state of profound mutual (相互的) incomprehension.

“Sometimes I think,” I wrote in my journal, “it doesn’t matter that I don’t know what he wants, because we have nothing in common. Whatever he wants will be something I don’t want. He probably wants me to go outside and chase squirrels. I don’t want to.”

But one afternoon, there was only Kevin and I at home. My husband was on business abroad for several days and my son was also abroad attending college. I enjoyed my favorite book leisurely while Kevin had a rest or stared at me as usual. It suddenly began to thunder aloud and soon rained cats and dogs. I dashed out of the front-door to fetch the vegetables in my parking lot. The wind was so strong that the front-door just slammed loudly, closed, after I made my way out. Worse still, when I came back with the rescued vegetables, I found the keys were not with me. There was also no backup (备份) of the keys outside my house.

Sometimes, making a decision is hard for adults while easy for kids. The Jackson family had been meaning to buy some new furniture (家具) for ages, but somehow they never got round to it. There were always so many other things to do. Then one day there was a big shout from the room of Jason, 12. The rest of the family ran to see what happened.

Jason’s desk had broken. There were bits of wood and pens and papers all over the floor. And in the middle was Jason! “I was just doing my homework.” he said, “and then -bang! The desk broke. Everything fell over. I was so surprised that I fell over too!” Laughed Jane, 5. “That decides it.” said Mum. “We need to buy some new furniture before anything else breaks. Jane needs a new bed. And Jason needs a desk, so that he can do his homework. ”

So that weekend, the family got up early, and set off for the big furniture store outside town. It was huge. There was so much furniture, some of it was arranged like in a real house.

“Look, I’m playing houses (过家家),” said Jane, crawling ( 爬 ) under a table. Jane loved playing houses. “That’s enough,” Mum said, taking tight hold of Jane’s hand. Jane didn’t like it, but she had to stay close. The family chose a new bed for Jane, who was bored now, and tired. She didn’t say much, while the rest of the family discussed which desk to get. Jason had found one he liked but Mum and Dad couldn’t agree.

“It’s too big.” said Mum. “There’s not enough space in his room.”

“It’s too small,” said Dad. “There’s not enough space for his homework. ”

“I think it’s just right!” said Jason.

“Let’s get a cup of tea while we try and decide,” said Mum.“There’s a cafe in the store.” Dad thought this was a good idea. He needed a sit down, he said, and Jason really wanted a milkshake (奶昔). “What do you think, Jane?” asked Mum. Then she looked round. “Where is she? I think she’s jumping on the sofa!”

But there was no sign of Jane on the sofa. Then Jason wondered if she could be lying on her new bed!

But there was no Jane on the bed. Mum and Dad were really worried now.          

When Jason pushed Jane softly, she woke up and came crawling out. “What were you doing?” Jason asked.

4 . When Joseph Novetske finished raking (清理) leaves in his backyard a few weeks ago, he suddenly stopped. “I happened to look at my hand. No ring,” said Novetske, 80, who lives in Charlotte, Michigan, with his wife, Mary Ann. His handmade gold wedding ring, which he wore for 42 years, had gone missing. Worried, he began to look for it.

The couple searched the yard with no luck and it was getting dark. “I was feeling a little hopeless,” said Mary Ann Novetske, 71.

The following morning on Nov. 5, she posted in a private Facebook group called “What’s happening in Charlotte, Michigan now.” “Does anyone have a metal detector (探测器)?” she wrote in a post, explaining what had happened.

Shortly after sharing the post, Mary Ann Novetske had dozens of responses on her post. That afternoon, eight people showed up at their home, five of whom were strangers, and the other three were neighbors, to look for the ring. A few of them had brought metal detectors.

They searched the large backyard. It was filled with several tall piles (堆) of leaves Joseph Novetske had raked the day before. “They didn’t know us, but here they were,” said Mary Ann Novetske. “It was exciting to see so many people care about this.” Her husband was also touched. “We love community,” he said.

When the search had hit hour three, the group collectively began working on a pile of leaves at the back of the yard. Then Joseph Novetske saw something shiny. “I saw the ring shining because it was a beautiful sunny day,” he said. “There it was!” The searchers were overjoyed. While losing the ring was stressful, the couple said that finding it filled them with hope.

“It was a community hunt,” said Lisa Delcamp, who lives next door to the Novetskes. “We should lend a hand and be willing to step in when our neighbors are in need.”

After his wife died, Ramu was left alone in this world. He was sixty-five years old. With time going by, Ramu’s sadness increased. The more he thought, the stronger his belief became that it was useless to live in this world anymore.

One morning, he went out for a walk and didn’t return to his home. His steps took him out of city and there he saw a bus. He took that bus. After a few hours, the bus was passing through a thick forest and stopped there for a break.

Ramu stepped out' of the bus and headed in a direction. After a while, he heard a voice from the bus calling for passengers to return but he decided not to return. He wanted to get lost in the thick forest.

In the thick forest, even during the day there was slight darkness. Ramu was walking as if he was not conscious (有知觉的). While walking, he went towards the side of a mountain. His steps suddenly stopped at a place where the mountain opened towards a valley below. There he saw the path was blocked by two sticks and a sign written in big letters—DANGER.

He couldn’t understand who would write this in such a thick forest. While looking around, Ramu walked a little further towards the valley, seeing a deep ditch (壕沟) ahead. At that moment, his heart trembled (颤抖).He sat aside, thinking how a moment ago he wanted to die but now he was scared.

With a calmed mind, he started wandering, looking for the person who did this. While wandering, he saw many signs. He saw DANGER/ BEWARE sign at many dangerous places and POISONOUS FRUITS sign was written on many trees.

He realized that if those signs were not put up, anyone could have fallen into one of those deep ditches and lost his life. Seeing all this, Ramu called out loudly, “Brother, who saved my life? ! I want to see you.”

Just then, from behind the leaves, an old man appeared laughing and said, “I have been watching you for a long time. Tell me how did you come here?”

After telling the old man his story, Ramu asked, “What are you doing here?”

It got late, so the old man invited Ramu to his place so that he could return home the next day.

6 . Born on March 21, 1958, in Louisiana, Grant Cardone is not a typical celebrity. He didn’t come from a wealthy family. He’s not a Hollywood superstar, nor does he have some amazing talents, like script-writing, politics or athleticism. However, what he has is something that is available to us all, and that is a determination to succeed.

At the age of 25, Cardone took the first job that he could find. That job was as a car salesman. It was a title and a position that Grant was not very fond of. However, the economy was slow, which meant he didn’t have many options, so he made it work.

Cardone was committed to becoming the best salesperson he could be. So, he invested (投资) heavily in his own self-improvement by reading books and studying his craft and his industry. After committing himself to becoming his very best, his income quickly doubled. And soon thereafter, he became one of the best car salesmen in the country. He eventually moved on to running his own business, and was extremely smart and disciplined (自律的) with his money. Cardone only spent money on what was absolutely necessary for food and housing. He would place anything left over into an investment fund just for the property market.

Cardone’s focus on learning more so that he could earn more, along with having the discipline to invest his extra money, instead of wasting it on useless things, helped him become a self-made millionaire just five years later by the age of 30.

Cardone has since gone on to become a well-known international businessman, speaker and the owner of Cardone Capital, a $ 1.5 billion investment firm. He’s authored the New York Times bestselling books If You’re Not First, You’re Last, and other famous books like The 10X Rule, and Axiom Award winning Sell or Be Sold. In addition to this, he also founded Cardone University, a popular sales training platform that has over 50,000,000 and growing users.

It took Cardone only five years to completely change his entire life. With the right mindset and sufficient willpower, just imagine what five years could do for you.

10 . Katie was diagnosed with a rare cancer three years ago. Doctors gave her 16 months to ________ . But her father ________ to find a clinical trial that could save her life.

Without delay, Katie flew to New York to see if she would ________ for the trial. As she was going through a series of ________ , she found herself missing her mom, who passed away when Katic was a young ________.

On ________ days, her mom would offer energetic hugs that were extra ________ and extralong. Now Katie ________ for one of those special hugs.

Her father was standing in line for her name to be called, and she was sitting in the waiting room all by herself. Then she saw a girl of her age leaning in her mother’s ________ . Katie was so ________and missing her mom and those energetic hugs.

Soon, a nurse called the daughter into the doctor’s room. When Katie ________ her head, the mom was seen standing right in front of her. And she said, “You look like you could use the ________from a mom.” With tears in her eyes, Katie ________ and then she was wrapped in those warm arms.

“It was just one of those moments in life where somebody ________ and gave you something that you needed,” she recalled. This summer, Katie and her family ________ her second anniversary of being cancer free.