The Price of a Dream
I grew up poor, living with my wonderful mother. We had little money but plenty of love and attention.  I was   36  and energetic. I understood that no matter how poor a person was, he could still   37  a dream.
My dream was to be a sportsman.   38  I was sixteen, I had started playing baseball. I could throw a ninety-mile-per-hour fastball and hit anything that moved on the football field.  I was also   39 . My high-school coach was Ollie Jarvis, who not only believed in me, but taught me  40 to believe in myself. He   41 me the difference between having a dream and realizing the dream. One particular   42  with Coach Jarvis changed my life forever.
It was the summer between my junior and senior years, and a friend recommended (推薦) me for a summer job. This meant a chance for money in my pocket—money for a new bike and new clothes, and the   43  of savings for a house for my mother. Then I realized I would have to   44  summer baseball to deal with the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell Coach Jarvis I wouldn’t be playing. 
When I told Coach Jarvis, he was as   45  as I expected him to be.  “You have your whole life to work,” he said.  “Your playing days are limited. You can’t   46  to waste them.” I stood before him with my head hanging, trying to think of the   47  that would explain   48  him why my dream of buying my mom a house and having money in my pocket was worth facing his   49  in me.
“How much are you going to make at this job, son?” he asked. “Three twenty-five an hour,” I replied.
“Well,” he asked, “is $3.25 an hour the   50  of a dream?”
That simple question made it   51  to me the difference between   52  something right now and following a dream. I   53  myself to sports that summer, and within the year I was   54  by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play baseball, and was   55  a $20,000 contract. In 2000, I bought my mother the house of my dream!

The other day I decided to teach my son about the power of small acts of kindness. He had won some lollies(棒棒糖) in a prize machine in the local supermarket, so I asked him if he would like to   46  his prizes with another child. He hesitated(猶豫) for a while because he is a(n)   47  boy, but said yes after I   48  him a bit.
A father and his daughter were   49 . I approached the father and asked if my son could give his   50  a lolly that he had won. The father looked at me in   51  and was unsure what to say. I   52  explained that I was teaching my son about the power of kindness. Eventually he said it was okay.
  53 , his daughter, who was looking at us sideways(側(cè)向一邊地),   54  accept the lolly! At this moment, my son was rather embarrassed(尷尬) and then he   55  to me, “We go to the same   56 , Mum.”
Rather than say sorry to my son for embarrassing him and give up this   57 , I put a couple of lollies into their shopping bags and   58  them a great day!
When we left the supermarket, I   59  to my son, “People in the world today are not so open to   60  because their thoughts and opinions have been   61  by the past. However, we can reshape their opinions by   62  small acts of kindness. So don’t be embarrassed. Hey, they may have been standoffish(冷淡的), but I’m sure we left them   63 , moved and inspired in some way. Not only that,   64  the young girl will probably remember you as the boy with a   65  heart when she comes across you at school!”

For John and Amy, birthdays have always been a big deal-a welcome excuse to celebrate life.
When their son, Alex,  36 three in 2005, they invited 20 friends to a nearby park. Not long after that the  37 were brainstorming ways to teach Alex about giving to  38 . “We wanted to do something that would have a(an)  39 on our community, and that our young child could  40 in. We started wondering what  41 fortunate kids do on their birthdays. The next day, we called a local shelter, and learnt that  42 children typically didn’t do  43 to celebrate at all. No cake. No gifts. No party.” The couple said.
Several weeks later,   44 held a party at the  45 for the children who had birthdays that month. They decorated, served cake, and danced with 50 kids. Alex helped to  46 presents.
47 that first party, the couple have turned their simple idea_ 48 Birthday Blessings, a nonprofit that hosts monthly parties at 10 shelters.
To date, Birthday Blessings (birthdayblessings.org.) has thrown more than 500  49 at different shelters and handed out 22, 000 party   50 to nearly 4000 homeless children in and around their community.
Birthday Blessings is 51 entirely by volunteers. The charity（慈善）will take almost anything—toys, clothing, candy, baby items—  52 it’s not used. “These kids never get anything new.” John said, “It makes a big  53 to them psychologically.”
Being “part of this labor love” is 54 making an impression on their son Alex. On his seventh birthday, his grandparents sent a check.   55 it, the first thing he said was that he wanted to give half to the birthday kids.

A few weeks after my first wife, Georgia, was called to heaven, I was cooking dinner for my son and myself. For a   16 , I had decided on frozen peas. As I was cutting open the bag, it   17  from my hand and crashed to the floor. The peas, like marbles,   18  everywhere. I tried to use a broom,   19  with each swipe they just rolled across the kitchen．
For the next week, every time I was in the   20 , I found a pea---in a corner, or behind a table leg. They kept   21 . Eight months later I pulled out the refrigerator to clean behind it, and   22  12 frozen peas hidden underneath．
At the time I found those few remaining   23 , I was in a new relationship with a wonderful   24  I’d met in a support group. After we married, I was reminded 25  those peas under the refrigerator, and realized that my   26  had been like that bag of frozen peas. It had shattered（破碎. My wife had died; I was in a new city with a busy job, and with a son having trouble   27  his new surroundings and the  28  of his mother. I was a bag of spilled frozen peas; my life had come apart and scattered．
When life gets you   29 , when everything you know comes apart, and when you think you’ll never  30 , remember that it’s just a bag of scattered frozen peas. The peas can be  31 , and life will move on. You’ll find all the peas   32 , including the ones that are hardest to find. And when you’ve got them   33  you’ll start to feel whole again．
The life you know can break apart at any time. But you’ll have to   34 , and how fast you collect your peas depends on you. Will you keep scattering them around with a broom,  35  will you pick them up one by one and put your life back together?

Unchangeable Love
One day I visited an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting．I was expecting a quiet view of the splendid    36  ．
A young    37  viewing the paintings ahead of me   38   nonstop between themselves．I watched them a moment and __39___ the lady was doing all the talking．I admired the man's   40  for putting up with her   41  stream of words．  42  by their noise, I moved on．
I met them several times as I moved through the various rooms of art．Each time I heard her constant flow of words, I moved away   43  ．
I was standing at the counter of the museum gift shop making a   44  when the couple approached the   45  ．Before they left, the man   46  into his pocket and pulled out a white object．He   47  it into a long stick and then tapped his way into the   48  to get his wife's jacket．
"He's a   49  man．" the clerk at the counter said．"Most of us would give up if we were blinded at such a young age．During his recovery, he made a promise his life wouldn't change．
So, as before, he and his wife come in   50  there is a new art show．"
"But what does he get out of the art?" I asked．"He can't see．"
"Can't see! You're   51  ．He sees a lot．More than you and I do," the clerk said．"His wife  52  each painting so he can see it in his head．"
I learned something about patience,   53  and love that day．I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without __54_ and the courage of a husband who would not   55  blindness to change his life．And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away, hand in hand．

I recently overheard something that surprised me. I heard that people who win the lottery (彩票)  are__21_for about 3 weeks. And then they go back to their__22__state of being before they won the money.I__23__that they would have been happy for a much longer time.
The reason for this is that__24__we try to change how we feel by using something outside of ourselves，like winning the lottery，or getting a new car or house，it never__25__.The resulting feelings of happiness are often fleeting (飛逝的)．We cannot__26__them for very long.In some way，it may be a good thing.It reminds us that happiness really does come from within and is__27__to us at any moment.True happiness has__28__to do with what is happening outside；it is an inside job.Happiness is a__29__.
We can make the decision to be happy for one day，when we__30__in the morning，every morning.We can find something that brings us great __31__，like sitting outside in the garden under an old tree and__32__the birds sing，or watching the dog or cat play，and just__33__the moment.It is our__34__state and we need only allow it in.At any moment，we can__35__，take a deep breath，and remember who we really are，and why we came here，and that truly is to__36__joy and the aliveness of being.
“Happiness is like a butterfly which，when run after，is always __37__our reach，but，if you will sit down___38__，may fall upon you，”   said Nathaniel Hawthorne，an American novelist.So，today，no matter what is going on in your own__39__，stop and take a few moments to breathe deeply and just__40__to be happy，whatever that means to you.

One of my fondest Christmas memories was also one of our family’s bleakest（最令人沮喪的）.We were just little kids , and on Christmas Day mom   21 us all around her to tell us ,  22  ,that there would be no presents because all we really wanted was to  23  for our daddy.He was very sick . I don’t remember anything else except four little girls surrounding my mother, crying   24  a miracle（奇跡）
At that very moment ,someone   25  loudly on the door.  26  Behind him was a merry group of soldiers from the Army base where my father   27  as a minister . News had  28   that we were in trouble ,and his colleagues knew we needed some  29  .
With all the excitement ,even my dad  30   in a blanket to keep warm , came down and sat in front of a roaring fire in our room to watch his children be  31  by good Samaritants（樂善好施的人）. The presents were unwrapped , and we girls  32   packages and found a doll each and four board games.
What is  33   to me is that I don’t even remember what sickness my father was suffering from.I 34   remember an evening of laughter and  35   There were no expensive toys but    36  moments of friendship and fun given by young men who knew that a family was having a(n)  37  time . They gave their time and their  38  to little children who needed to laugh.
The most important thing in life aren’t things . And what about the true  39   of holidays ? I hope we all are able to remember a thing about the holidays that stirs(攪動(dòng))our heart , that isn’t really a thing at all, but the smile on a child’s face because we take a moment to hug or   40 a tear.

One evening I was resting in a cafe. I  36  a pair of newly bought white leather shoes, which were rather expensive. Then a boy came to me.
He was in a(n) 37  shirt, looking pale and about eleven. No sooner had I begun to speak than he opened the  38  in his hand and took out the tools of shoe-polishing. He  39  down, took off my leather shoes, and began to shine them.
He was busy doing his work  40  heavy rain began to pour down. People rushed to the café for  41  from the rain. More and more people crowded  42  and gradually separated the boy from me.
Hours passed, and it turned  43  . I had no shoes on my feet and  44  where the boy had been. I thought he would not  45  my shoes, and I would have to go home on my bare feet.
When it was near midnight the  46  ended, and there were fewer and fewer people in the café. The café was to be  47  . I had to move to the door, head  48  . just as I went to the gate, I 49  found that a boy of about eleven, looking very familiar, was sleeping at the 50  with his head leaning against a box and his upper body being  51  . he held a package made of his shirt tightly in his arms..
I shook him slightly and woke him up. He  52  up and rubbed his eyes for a while before he recognized me. Then he opened the package  53  , gave me my leather shoes, and apologized to me shyly. I  54  him and wrapped him with his unfit shirt, which had wrapped my leather shoes. On my way home, the  55  of the boy stayed in my mind.

There was a woman in Detroit , who has two sons . She was worried ___28___ them , especially the younger one , Ben , __29__ he was not doing well in school . Boys in his class__30__ him because he seemed so __31___ .
The mother  __32__ that she would , herself , have to get her sons to do better in school . She __33__ them to go to the Detroit Public Library to read a __34__ a week and do a report about it for her .
One day , in Ben’s __35__ , the teacher held up a rock and asked if anyone knew it . Ben __36__ up his hand and the teacher let him __37__ . “Why did Ben raise his hand ?” they wondered . He _38__ said anything ; what did he possibly want to say ?
Well , Ben not only __39__ the rock ; he said a lot about it . He named other rocks in its group and even knew ___40___ the teacher had found it . The teacher and the students were __41__ . Ben had learned all this from doing one of his book __42__ .
Ben later went on to the _43_ of his class . When he finished high school , he went to Yale University __44_ at last became one of the best doctors in the United States .
After Ben had grown up , he __45__ something about his mother that he did not know as a __46__ .
She , herself , had never learned how to __47___ .

I can still remember the first day when I met my best friend． I hid behind my mother and she hid behind her grandmother,   36   to look at each other． But we soon lost the   37    and started playing with each other． In the 7^th grade, I first lost touch with her． She was   38   family problems and I deserted her to be with the “cooler people．”   39   of my new friends liked her as much as I did   40   they knew she had “problems”． However, every summer we would   41   sit at each other’s home and watch soap operas and talk about everything we liked．
It was last year when I   42   the problem． I guess I was just too busy in high school to realize she needed someone there for her． Well, she made a new “best friend” and   43   did I． Then I didn’t know why, but she started cutting herself．
She was diagnosed with clinical depression(抑郁癥)． I was very   44   at first, but with the late night calls, we still stayed in   45  ． I wanted to be there for her since her new best friend   46  deserted her, when people were calling her   47  , but I knew I still   48   her like a sister．
Yesterday she came   49   me and said this,” I never knew what a best friend was   50   I found you were the only person that would stop me from cutting, the only person that ever made me feel better about myself and my   51  ． You don’t know this but I was trying to kill myself one night when you   52   me． I   53   you so much, and you didn’t even know you were   54   me．” We both cried． And I guess a kind of lesson from my life so far is to never   55   your friends．