13-year-old Frank had received many presents he wanted. But Frank was not __36__ because this was his first Christmas without his brother. Frank said to his parents that he would __37__ to see a friend. __38__ it was cold outside, Frank put on his new jacket and took presents on his new sled(雪橇).
As Frank walked, he saw a house with the __39__ hanging over a fireplace. A woman was seated near them __40__. The stockings reminded Frank of the ones beside him and his brother. A sudden thought __41__ Frank.
So he knocked on the door. “__42__?” the sad voice of the woman answered. “May I come in?” “Please” she said, seeing his __43__ full of gifts, and thinking he was making a collection, “but I have no food or gifts for you. I even have __44__ for my own children.”
“That’s not why I am here,” Frank replied. “Please __45__ any present you like for your children from this sled.”
“Why, God bless you!” the __46__ woman answered. She chose until the stockings were full. “Won’t you tell me your __47__?” she asked. “Just call me the Christmas Scout,” Frank replied.
The visit __48__ the boy touched, with an unexpected __49__ in his heart. He understood that his sorrow(悲傷) was not the only sorrow. He __50__ all the gifts, including the new jacket.
“Where are your presents, Frank?” asked his father as he __51__ the house. “ I handed them out to other children.”
“Frank, how could you do so?” his mother asked in anger. The next morning, he came downstairs and __52__ his parents listening to Christmas news on the radio. Then the announcer spoke: “Merry Christmas! Several families __53__ their children were made happy by the gifts from a boy. No one could __54__ him.” Frank felt his father’s arms go around his shoulders, and he saw his mother smiling __55__ her tears.

Long long ago, there was a small village．This village had a  31  tradition．At the beginning of every year, any boy who had reached the age of majority (成年) was given land and money to build a home．The boy had to  32 his home before winter．If his home failed to endure the cold weather in winter, the villagers could not  33  him in any way．
One  34  , Paul and Marc reached their majority．They  35 their land and money and decided to search nearby villages for ideas on building their homes．In each village, they found the nicest   36  and talked to the owners．Each owner gladly offered  37 ．
After Marc saw several homes, he  38 the best ideas and went back to his own land．Paul, however, continued collecting more ideas．Soon he had so many great ideas that he began to  39  some of them．But he always believed he could find even better ideas in the next village．
Marc began building his home．He had several false starts,  40  his home gradually rose from his land．By fall, Marc had finished his home．It wasn't perfect，but it was strong and he could  41 it later. Paul enjoyed all the beautiful homes and  42  with home owners．The first snow came and Paul, realizing he was running out of time, 43   back to his land．He built the best home he could in the time he had, but it was weak．The first winter storm destroyed his home and he froze to  44 ．The villagers mourned for him．
Marc survived the winter．Each year, Marc searched for other good ideas he could use to make his own home look better．He became a leader in the village,  45  a family, and lived a happy, content life．

I used to work as a waitress in a little restaurant. I felt frustrated then so I had been   31 that period. I hadn’t told anybody except my employer. Somehow a   32  had overheard (無意中聽到) my saying that I had to go to another   33 . As I passed her table, she   34  me a card with her phone number on it. She explained that she lived in Sydney and that I should call   35  I needed any help.
Some weeks later, it was time for   36  appointment(約會(huì)) in Sydney and I flew there. I was   37  as I had never been there before and didn’t   38  anyone else there. So I   39  to ring the lady who had given me her   40  number, even though I had only met her that once.   41  I had arrived, she was very excited and came   42  to meet me. She gave me a bed and a meal and took me to my appointment the next day and afterwards, she took me back to the   43 .
She treated me so   44  that I offered her a gift to express my   45  but she refused. She said “Your   46  to me is to offer your help to another when it is   47 .” Over the months we kept in touch but then for some reason our communication got less and less   48 .
I always felt I wasn’t giving enough to others as a   49 , but she had told me that I gave her very much and the way I   50  people was a gift. I now give a hand to others every day even if it is only a smile to those who have none to give.

She was a four-year-old girl with very fine golden hair when I first met her．She was carrying a bowl of    1   ．I was 29 at the time and suffering  from the flu．
Her mom and I had been friends for many years．Finally that friendship grew into care，from care into   2 and marriage．Marriage brought the three of us together as a    3   ．At first，I was afraid to be a“stepfather”.Therefore，I tried not to come between my future daughter and her   4    father．I acted in that way in order to be liked．However，  5   she was growing up, I found it increasingly hard to  6  with her．
Once her school required every parent to write an open and    7  letter to the children．I wrote a letter about a little golden-haired girl who had brought me a bowl of soup when I needed    8  ．
A week later，all the parents got together with our children in a classroom．The students were allowed to make a few speeches．I was   9   to hear what my daughter would say．
Finally，my daughter determinedly   10   her way up to the microphone．She said something like others and then   11   ."There are people and things we sometimes take for granted that we shouldn't，at this very moment，I just want to say…I love you，father．”
Immediately people around me started    12   at me，and patting me on the back as though they also understood the depth of that unusual speech．For a teenage girl to say    13  in the front of a room full of people，“I love you”，took a great deal of courage．Since then I have come  to understand that I didn't need to have any   14  about being a stepfather．I can still  15  honest love with the same little girl I met so many years before-carrying a bowl full of what turned out to be kindness．I can also be friends with the girl-my dear daughter．

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s came to the hospital. I heard him saying to the nurse that he was in a hurry for all appointment(約會(huì))at 9:30.
The nurse had him take a  31 in the waiting area,  32 him it would be at least 40 minutes  33  someone would be able to see him. I saw him  34 his watch and decided, since I was   35 busy—my patient didn’t  36 at the appointed hour, I would examine his wound. While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment.
The gentleman said no and told me that he  37 to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his  38 . He told me that she had been   39  for a while and that she had a special disease. I asked if she would be   40 if he was a bit late. He replied that she   41 knew who he was; that she had not been able to  42  him for five years now. I was  43 , and asked him, “And you  44 go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”
He smiled and said, “She doesn’t know me, but I know who she is.” I had to hold back   45  as he left.
Now I  46 that in marriages, true love is  47 of all that is. The happiest people don’t  48 have the best of everything; they just  49 the best of everything they have.   50  isn’t about how to live through the storm, but how to dance in the rain.

I was on the shoulder of a busy highway in Chicago, looking at my tool-box and spare tire (備用輪胎). I had   31  tires before—that was not a big deal—but I was   32  about being approached by another person while stuck on the side of the road, or being   33  by a passing car.
As I bent into the trunk (后備箱), I heard a man’s   34  from behind and to my left. I had no idea what he said,   35  when I heard his voice I screamed and ran toward the   36  building. After a moment I realized he wasn’t  37  me, so I turned to see what he was doing.
38 , I saw a minibus full of boy scouts (童子軍隊(duì)員). They then   39  in front of my car. And I heard the man tell the boys to remove the spare tire from my trunk to   40  my flat! As I timidly (膽怯地) walked back, I could hear him speaking to the   41 .
“See, boys,” he said to them, “this young lady is terrified, and for good   42 . Thousands of young women are   43  every year. She did the right thing   44  like that.” He then told the boys how they, as men, are   45  not only for   46  and protecting them. After he made that  47 , he gave step-to-step instructions on changing a flat on the side of the road   48 .
The boys learned a lot that day, and so did I. I’m so grateful there are   49  men in the world. I saw one,   50  our youth to be honorable, making the world a safer place for women, for everyone.

Mackenzie Hughes had just returned from school and was waiting for her older brothers to arrive home. She was home alone  1  a man started knocking on the front door, turning the handle and trying to  2 .
She’s 12 years old and she was  3 . So she dialed 9-1-1 and reached the operator Rachelle Berry. After a brief talk, Berry  4  what was happening. “OK, hang on, OK? Can you get in a  5 ?” Berry asked. Mackenzie told Berry that her phone --- it wasn’t cordless (無繩的) --- wouldn’t reach into the cupboard. “Will the phone reach under your bed?” Berry asked  6  . “No,” Mackenzie said.
“Can you hide under a  7  and pull your bedspread over you?” That’s  8  what Mackenzie did. She hid under her blanket, holding the phone and listening to Berry’s voice.
Berry talked quietly, which  9  Mackenzie. It helped, too, when Berry told her to think of something  10  . “Try not to cry,” Berry told Mackenzie during the call. “ I know it’s  11  . Do you have something you can hold onto?” Mackenzie struggled to  12  tears. She couldn’t  13  anything without showing her hiding spot. “ It’s OK,” Berry said. “You’ve got me here with you.”
“He’s in my room,” Mackenzie  14  . “Now be quiet, OK? Just don’t talk,” Berry said. For much of the call, Berry dropped her voice to a whisper,  15  the intruder (闖入者) might hear her voice over the phone.  16 , the man came into her room, then left.
Berry told Mackenzie that the  17  were on their way. Minutes later, they arrived and  18  one man in the backyard and another man in a getaway car.
On Thursday morning, the Emergency Communications Bureau gave Mackenzie its Hero Award for her  19  . Berry also received high praise. And then it was off to school for Mackenzie. But first Berry had something to  20  to the middle-schooler: a cordless phone.

Ever since I was little, my favorite season was winter. I loved to play in the snow and enjoy the hot chocolate.
____36_____, winter never gave me the special gift of snow on my birthday. I would ask my grandmother ____37____ it didn’t snow on my birthday. She would laugh and tell me I asked too many questions. ___38____one day, she promised that she would make it snow on my next birthday.
That year, ____39____ my birthday, my grandmother died.  I was sad but angry because she had promised to make it snow. The day of my sixth birthday, I woke up and ran to the window, hoping to see just one snowflake. But there was no snow. I felt mad at my grandmother. She had broken a promise.
But my sixteenth birthday, I had lost all hope of getting my snow, even though I still wished for ___40____. During my party, I stayed with my friends and family and was truly happy. I ___41___ the best time ever! Then I saw the white snow ____42___down all around. I was so excited that I ran around screaming and laughing. My friends all laughed ____43___me, but I didn’t care.
When I ___44____home, my grandpa said he had a gift for me. I was ___45___ because he had given me a gift. It was a small white box, which looked old. I opened it. There was a crystal snowflake(水晶雪花) with a card that said, “Happy Birthday.”
How could this be? My grandpa said it was my grandmother’s final ___46____ on my “sweet sixteenth”. I cried.
I was ___47_____ that my smiling grandmother angel was and had been watching over me.

The Florida sun baked my shoulders as I worked along the I-595 freeway near Fort Lauderdale, picking up rubbish. I paused to  36  the sweat off  my forehead and look up at the cloudless blue sky.“  37  can’t it rain?” I thought. That would  38  things down.
I thought about my  39  , who were probably sitting in an air-conditioned  40  right now. I’d had some problems in school,   41 my parents decided to let me  42  full-time with my dad, We both worked for my uncle, who had taken  43  of a maintenance（道路養(yǎng)護(hù)）company. It was up to us to keep the roads  44  of rubbish. The job was 45  and dirty, especially on hot days  46  this. I wondered why I ever agreed to do it.
We continued our  47  route along the I-595,  48  for the overpass bridge. Then I noticed an area where some  49  were broken on the ground. It wasn’t like that before.
“Dad! Pull over! I want to  50  something out.”
I jumped off the truck and rushed to the bridge. Something was telling me to  51  …there wasn’t much time.  52  I saw a Toyota that  53  upside down in the tree. Maybe it was a stolen car that somebody  54  there, I thought. Then, just at that  55  , I noticed something moving. It was a bloody leg poking out of the driver’s side window!
“Help!” a lady moaned.

When I was in college twenty-five years ago, I spent four summers working in 36 at a luxury hotel in downtown Chicago. 37 , I was a maid.
I did not enter the world of housekeeping enthusiastically. My friends had 38 jobs such as making ice cream, selling goods at the mall, or life guarding at the outdoor pool. I had been hoping to get a job as an office lady for a famous company: 39 pay, air-conditioned office, the gold standard for summer jobs, as most of us dreamed of. When that 40 , the only option left was to take a train ride downtown each morning to work as a maid.
It was tiring work, cleaning up to eighteen rooms a day. My 41 attitude reflected my disdain(鄙視) for cleaning toilets, 42 bed sheets, dusting, eight hours a day for the comfort of total strangers who 43 left a tip. I thought it was beneathme. My maid work was average 44  the day I was assigned to the eighteenth floor.
That was Lorena’s regular floor. The only time another maid set foot on it was on Lorena’s day off. If you left any water 45 on the mirror, or a hair on the bed, Lorena would hunt you down when she 46 , as I found out firsthand. She’d ended her lecture to me with “ 47 some pride in your work.”
She did. And so did Rosalie, Helen, Annette, and all the other experienced maids. Their devotion to doing a good job and their belief that their work was a 48 of their character stuck with me throughout my 49 career after graduation. I learned a lot from them during those four summers.
Not a week would go without one of them 50 some firm but friendly advice: “Where’s your commode brush? You don’t have one? How do you expect to get that bowl clean?”
Their pride in a job well done was reflected in how they treated 51 . They left the building at the end of the day in nice dresses and 52 makeup. They looked like they could have been attending an afternoon tea. And, 53 often, they were smiling and laughing, cheerfully greeting their co-workers a good evening. When you work with happiness and 54 , a job will be well done. I believe there is 55 in any job if you work hard and try your best.