My kids and I were heading into the supermarket over the weekend. On the way ,we spotted a man holding a piece of paper that said, “   (1)    my job. Family to Feed.”

      At this store, a    (2)   like this is not normal. My 10-year-old noticed him and made a      (3)   on how bad it must be to have to stand    (4)   in the cold wind.

       In the store, I asked each of my kids to     (5)    something they thought our “friend” there would    (6)     . They got apples, a sandwich and a bottle of juice. Then my 17-year-old suggested giving him a     (7)   . I thought about it. We were     (8)      on cash ourselves, but… well, sometimes   (9)   from our need instead of our abundance is   (10)    what we need to do! All the kids   (11)    something they could do away with for the week.

       When we handed him the bag of    (12)   , he lit up and thanked us with   (13)     eyes. When I handed him the gift card, saying he could use it for    (14)    his family might need, he burst into tears.

         This has been a wonderful      (15)    for our family. For days the kids have been looking for others we can     (16)    ! Things would have played out so    (17)   if I had simply said, “No, we really don’t have   (18)   to give more.” Stepping out not only helped a brother in   (19)    , it also gave my kids the     (20)    taste of helping others. It’ll go a long way with them.

 A Heroic Driver

Larry works with Transport Drivers. Inc. One morning in 2009. Larry was   (1)   along 165 north after delivering to one of his   (2)  . suddenly, he saw a car with its bright lights on.   (3)   he got closer, he found   (4)   vehicle upside down on the road. One more look and he noticed   (5)   shooting out from under the   (6)   vehicle. Larry pulled over, set the brake and   (7)   the fire extinguisher (灭火器). Two good bursts from the extinguisher and the fire was put out.

The man who had his bright lights on   (8)   and told Larry he had   (9)   an emergency call. They   (10)   heard a woman’s voice coming from the wrecked (毁坏的) vehicle.   (11)   the vehicle, they saw that a woman was trying to get out of the broken window. They told her to stay   (12)   until the emergency personnel arrived,   (13)   she thought the car was going to   (14)  . Larry told her that he had already put out the fire and she should not move   (15)   she injured her neck.

Once fire and emergency people arrive, Larry and the other man   (16)   and let them go to work. Then, Larry asked the   (17)   if he was needed or   (18)   to go. They let him and the other man go.

One thing is   (19)  —Larry went above and beyond the call of duty by getting so close to the burning vehicle! His   (20)   most likely saved the woman’s life.

Some people collect stamps. Other people collect works of art or musical instruments. But a man in the American state of Maryland collects secrets.

For the past 10 years, people have been sending Frank Warren postcards and other objects with secrets written on them. He now has a million secrets. “It’s a drawing of a lift. And the secret says: ‘I feel guilty when I take lifts for one floor, so I limp(跛行) when I get out.’” Frank said.

Ten years ago, Mr. Warren created an art project called PostSecret. People then began to send him postcards, other objects and emails telling their secrets. Every Sunday, he chooses 10 secrets and puts them on the website.

Mr. Warren says he created PostSecret so people could share their secrets in a safe place. “I was struggling with secrets in my own life. And it was by creating this safe place where others could share their secrets with me, I think that space was something I needed just as much as they did.”

He has published six books full of the secrets whichpeople have shared with him. One secret in each book is his. Eric Perry delivers mail for the U.S. Postal Service. He has brought thousands of secrets to Frank’s home over the past three years. “I have a couple of the books that Frank’s given me and I’ve read them all and my family has read them all and it’s wild!”

The project itself was once one of Frank’s secrets. His wife Jan didn’t know exactly what he was doing until the first book was published. The publisher told him that the address was going to be on the book, and he refused. However, the address was there just because of the contract between them. Actually Warren wasn’t very happy about that.

Some people tell Frank of their secret desire to kill themselves. So he and the PostSecret community have raised more than $1 million to help prevent suicides（自杀）.

 Imagine you've finally landed a job of your dreams in another city. It's everything you'd hoped for, but there's only one problem－housing costs in the area are so high that you're forced to live in a parking lot.

   While this sounds like an impossible situation, this predicament is a reality for one man.

   Brandon, 25, is a software engineer for Google at its San Francisco, California campus.

   "I realized I was paying too large an amount of money for the apartment I was staying in, and I was almost never home," he told Business Insider. "It's really hard to justify throwing that money away. You're not putting money into anything and you are not building it up for a future."

   Since scoring his job in May 2015 following a successful internship, he's been living in a truck on a parking lot a short distance from his workplace.

   The tech worker makes up for the lack of facilities by eating, using the bathroom and showering at work, also charging his phone and computer there.

   San Francisco is home to the most expensive rental market in the US, with the average rental for a one-bedroom apartment coming to $3,590 (24,900 yuan) a month, according to property site Zumper.

   And while some may not be able to handle giving up life's luxuries just to put aside some cash, Brandon estimates that he's saved almost $28,000 since he moved in just over 18 months ago.

   "Not only do I get to invest all of that redirected rent money, but I get to invest all the money I'm not spending on furniture, facilities and buying food," Brandon wrote on his blog.

Today, we’re sending Sally away for a week of summer camp. She never actually asked to go. It was all my idea to sign（报名）her up. She’s nearly 12, and I notice that I’m with my child nearly 24 hours a day.

Living on a farm without any neighbors, I’ve chosen a life that is quieter than a typical family’s But rather than longing for space away from me, Sally has become increasingly dependent on my presence.

What frightens me most is that she has become a “mini-me”. She pursues my hobbies, my dreams and my opinions. And that’s why I pulled her to the summer camp: a nearby wilderness camp called Hawk Circle.

After we ate, we drove to Hawk Circle. Once there, we got a tour of the grounds and were introduced to Sally’s fellow campers. Sally stood by the group of children, holding my hand, horror in her eyes, trying to work up the courage to join in a game of soccer.

“I need you for a few more minutes,” she told me, holding my hand tightly.

I pulled away and walked up to one of the camp workers. “Excuse me,” I said loudly. “I’d like to introduce my daughter to you. Maybe you could help her meet a few of these kids.” He came over to talk to Sally, and I kissed on her cheek·and then my husband and I disappeared before Sally realized we were gone.

It was not until that drive home that I finally felt it. A piece of my soul had been taken from my body. I began to shake. Tears streamed down my face. It took every bit of my strength to keep driving forward.

When we arrived home, I calmed down and reminded myself why I chose this path. I want Sally to have a chance to find herself out of shadow. I don’t want to see only myself in my child. I want to learn who she is. After 12 years of constantly being together, I want to finally meet my daughter for the first time.

I met Billy the last summer before college. He was handsome and his irreverence(玩世不恭) was (1)to me. We liked each other the first instant we met.  (1)   , I was a straight A student and my parents had high hopes for me to  (2)   an Ivy League (常春藤联盟) school. Billy did not concentrate all his attention  (3)  his study and school life. However, we were in love --- so  (4)  teenager love. I still remember we had a plan for prom(舞会). It was understood that we had  (5)  about where we would dance and drink and party together.

This meant one thing to my parents---panic. And it grew as the  (6)  letters began to roll in. Of the eleven schools I applied to, nine accepted me. And one of them was Brown University---the Ivy League  (7)  in 1770 in historic Providence, Rhode Island.

There was no  (8)   that I was drawn to Brown, but Billy (who had joined the army) was  (9)  down south and I had offers  (10)   for me there, too. I was torn between my love for him and my family  (11)  .

One week  (12)   the start of school, my mother had a talk with me. She said I was eighteen years old and I had a  (13)  to make--- one that went  (14)   beyond the choice of  (15)  to attend university.

In August, I  (16)   and drove north to Providence. It took several months to  (17)  that my life was moving on in a way that was completely different from Billy’s. Brown changed my life, opening doors and giving me the  (18)  I now use to think, to learn and to write. Life is always about  (19)  it seems, and the older I get, the more I understand this. Still, there are times when I think of Billy because he taught me about love.

At my heaviest I weighed 370 pounds. I had a very poor relationship with food: I used it to   (1)   bad feelings, to make myself feel better, and to celebrate. Worried about my health, I tried many different kinds of   (2)   but nothing worked. I came to believe that I could do nothing about my    (3)  .

       When I was 50, my weight problem began to affect me   (3)   . I didn’t want to live the rest of my life with this   (4)   weight any more.

       That year, I  (5)   a seminar where we were asked to create a project that would touch the world. A seminar leader shared her   (6)   story —she had not only 125 pounds, but also raised $25,000 for homeless children.

         (7)   by her story, I created the As We Heal (痊愈), the World Heals   (8)  . My goal was to lose 150 pounds in one year and raise $50,000  (9)   a movement founded 30 years ago to end hunger. This combination of healing myself and healing the world  (10)   me as the perfect solution.

         (11)  I began my own personal weight program, I was filled with the fear that I would __  (12)   the same difficulties that beat me before. While the   (13)   hung over my head, there were also signs that I was headed down the right   (14)  . I sent letters to everyone I knew, telling them about my project. It worked perfectly. Donations began   (15)  in from hundreds of people.

       Of course, I also took some practical steps to lose weight. I consulted with a physician（内科医生）, I hired a fitness coach, and I began to eat small and   (16)   meals. My fund-raising focus also gave me new motivation to exercise   (17)  .

       A year later, I  (18)   my goal: I lost 150 pounds and raised $50,000! I feel that I’ve been given a second life to devote to something that is   (19)   and enormous.

Hundreds of people have formed impressions of you through that little device(装置)on your desk. And they’ve never actually   (1)  you. Everything they know about you   (2)  through this device, sometimes from hundreds of miles away.   (3)  they feel they can know you   (4)  from the sound of your voice. That’s how powerful the   (5)  is.

  Powerful, yes, but not always   (6)  . For years I dealt with my travel agent only by phone. Rani, my faceless agent whom I’d never met   (7)  , got me rock-bottom prices on airfares, cars, and hotels. But her cold voice really    (8)  me. I sometimes wished to  (9)  another agent.

  One morning, I had to   (10)  an immediate flight home for a family emergency. I ran into Rani’s office   (11)  . The woman sitting at the desk,   (12)  my madness, sympathetically jumped up. She gave me a   (13)  smile, nodded while listening patiently, and then printed out the   (14)  immediately. “What a wonderful lady!” I thought.

  Rushing out   (15)  I called out over my shoulder, “By the way, what’s your name?” “I’m Rani,” she said. I turned around and saw a   (16)  woman with a big smile on her face waving to wish me a safe trip. I was   (17)  ! Why had I thought she was cold? Rani was, well, so  (18)  .

  Sitting back in the car on the way to the airport, I figured it all out. Rani’s   (19)  ---her warm smile, her nods, her ‘I’m here for you’   (20)  ---were all silent signals that didn’t travel through wires.