The Depression was still going on, but I was in good spirits. I was going to graduate from elementary school, yet my mother   __  (1)  __   dressed me in shorts. Most of my classmates had given up   __  (2)  __   shorts. For the graduation ceremony, all the boys were   __  (3)  __   to dress the same way—white shirts and dark-blue wool pants.

I waited a week before I told my mother. I   __  (4)  __   Iˈd better break the news to her as gently as I could.

“Mum，” I said, “about   __  (5)  __   …”

“Yes？” she answered.

“Theyˈre going to give me the first-prize medal，” I said.

She looked   __  (6)  _   her shoulder at me and smiled. “Thatˈs wonderful, babe. Dad and I will both be there, and weˈll be the __  (7)  __   parents in the place.”

She must have seen by the look on my face that   __  (8)  __   was wrong. She turned her back and said, “So？”

“So, I have to get   __  (9)  __   pants，” I said.

“Babe, we donˈt have the   __  (10)  __   for new pants right now，” she said very quietly. “You know that.”

“OK，” I burst out. “Then I wonˈt go to graduation. Plus, Iˈm   __  (11)  __   away from home！” 

The following Saturday, when my mother said, “Letˈs go shopping，” I knew she had   __  (12)  __   the problem. We walked a short way and stopped at a place I had never   __  (13)  __   before. My mother said, “ __  (14)  __   here.” She entered a storefront that looked like a   __  (15)  __. She came out about ten minutes later, and we went to the pants store. I was holding the new pants   __  (16)  __  under my arm when my mother went to pay for them. I saw her   __  (17)  __   a tiny brown envelope from her purse. There were four   __  (18)  __   new one-dollar bills inside.

About halfway home, I   __  (19)  __   down at my motherˈs hands. It was then that I saw the wedding ring that had always circled her ring finger was   __  (20)  __   there.

I remember the first day when I saw Sally playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she struggled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. She seemed so  (1)  , but she managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her     (2)  nobody could.

I began to notice Sally at other times, basketball in hand, playing  (3)  . She practiced dribbling (运球）and  (4)  over and over.

       One day I asked Sally why she  (5)  so much. Without a moment of hesitation she said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a  (6)  . I’m going to play college basketball and I want to be the best one. I believe that if I am  (7)  enough，I will get one. My father has told me that if the dream is big enough，the facts don’t  (8)  . ”

       I  (9)  her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her team to  (10)   . One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting on the grass, her head  (11)  her arms. Slowly and quietly, I  (12)  and sat down beside her. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Oh，nothing,” came a soft reply, “I am just too short. ” The  (13)  told her that at 165 cm she would probably never play for a top team一still less she would be  (14)  a scholarship--so she should stop dreaming about college.

       I felt she was extremely  (15)  . I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were  (16)  . They didn’t understand the _    (17)  of a dream.

       The next year, Sally was seen by a college basketball coach after a big game. She was  (18)  offered a scholarship and  (19)  to the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had  (20)  and worked toward for all those years. 

       It’s true： if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count. 

Yesterday I was walking along a busy road when I noticed a young man standing near the pedestrian crossing, selling toys.

Usually I would   (1)   and hurry past such sellers before being approached to buy something. But I found this young man was  (2)  , so I stood for some time without crossing the street. I wanted to see   (3)  he sold his toys.

   (4)  , a young mother with a small child came by and the child was   (5)  by one of the toys in a large box that made a noise. The young mother asked for the  (6)  and it was charged only one dollar. She   (7)  a 10-dollar note from her purse and told the young man that she was giving him 10 dollars and wanted the   (8)  back. I was wondering how he was going to give it back. He told the young mother to put the money in the bag  (9)  his neck and take out   (10)   change he owed her. She then out her hand into the bag and took out the balance while I was  (11)   her like a hawk（鹰）.

I realized that this young man depended on   (12)  people not to cheat him. There was no   (13)  of him knowing if someone took out more than they should have done. I was so   (14)   by how this disabled man believed in people that I bought a toy from him I didn’t  (15)  at all.

He said it cost one dollar and I, too. told him that I had only a 10-dollar note. He told me to do the   (16)   thing. So I put my 10 dollars in his   (17)  . I put my hand in, but didn’t take any change. I hope he will find that he has more   (18)   than he should when he gets home. As I walked down the street, I saw another kid walking with his father,  (19)   I gave him the little toy. Then, I walked on, hoping that two people would have a   (20)  smile on their faces that day.