I was walking along a busy road when I noticed a young man standing near the crossing selling toys. ______ I would hurry past such sellers. But I found this young man was ______, so I stood for some time without crossing the street. I wanted to see how he sold his things.

Soon, a young mother with a little girl came by and the child set ______ eyes on one of teddy bears. The mother asked for the ______ and it was only one dollar. She ______ out a 10-dollar note from her handbag and told the young man that she was giving him 10 dollars and wanted the ______ back. I was wondering how he was going to do it. He told the young mother to put the money in the bag ______ around his neck and take out her change.

I realized that this young man depended on believing people not to cheat him. There was no way for him to know ______ someone would take out more than they should have. I was so ______ . I bought a car model from him that I did not need. As I walked down the street, I gave the car model to a kid walking with his father.

I kept thinking that the world would be a better place if we could all learn to ______ others more, like the young blind street seller.

People in Los Angeles are known for their love of cars. The city is very large, and its public transportation is slow. So people drive everywhere. But now, a group of bicyclists are trying to get people out of their cars and on bikes.

Devon Fitzgerald says he has to be careful when he rides his bike in the streets. “A lot of people are in a rush, and it's very difficult to keep careful, for they would rather care for their speed than your safety.” Although riding a bike to work can be dangerous, he prefers it to a car. “It's much simpler than driving a car. For example, I don't have to worry about parking.”

Roger Rosas drives to work. "You always have to make sure you look to the other side because someone would rush across by bike. Or you can easily get into an accident. "

To make bicycling safer, some people who live and work near each other are riding to work together, which they call a "bike train". Nona Varnado helped create the group L. A. Bike Trains. "You're in a big group. If you're afraid of riding alone, you can now ride with experienced riders. " Nona said that people would feel safer by riding together in a group.

I still remembered my first day of second grade. I was led to a room. No teacher yet. Girls talking. Boys trying to kill each other.

I took some paper and a pencil, picked a desk, and went to work. Minutes later, a girl came over and sat on top of my desk.

“What're you doing?” she said.

“Writing to 100,” I replied.

“Is that you can do?”

“No,” I said.

Then I rose from my seat to get my pencil sharpener. I had no idea that when I stood, the desk would fall over and hurt her leg.

Her name was Jane. From that day on--she was my best friend. Wherever we went--to school or church or basketball games, Jane saved me a seat or I saved one for her.

Many years later, after college, I moved to California and married. Jane stayed in our hometown to be a social worker. We were friends for more than 50 years. After her death seven years ago, I still think of her often, especially at the start of the school year.

TV ads try to tell us what children need for school—new shoes, clothes, backpacks. But really, children's needs are simple. Besides the basics—to be fed, cared for, and loved—they need the gift of friendship.

For years, I feared how people saw me. But one day, I finally understood. I didn't need to be smart or pretty or popular. I just needed to be kind.

My grandson Henry recently finished his preschool and received a prize for “Friendship”. Even an Olympic medal wouldn't make me prouder! I think children need to know that they are loved. They need to know that they have all they need and the best way to win friends is to be one.

The winter of 1948 was very difficult for our family of eight living in Knoxvile, Tennessee. Unfortunately, Dad became ill and soon was out of a job. I was only 8 years old and my younger brother, Buddy was 7. After school we went to pick coal(煤) that fell from the coal train along the railroad near our home. When the train slowed down, we ran alongside it. After the train passed, we picked up the fallen coal.

One day, the train stopped for a short time unusually. My brother and I were digging around in the snow when the train's fireman came to the window and shouted to us, “Why are you boys digging in the snow? Are you looking for gold?” he laughed.

“No, sir,” I replied, “We are finding coal.”

“Why doesn't your daddy buy coal? It's really dangerous here.”

“Our daddy is very sick and we have no money to buy food and coal,” I answered.

The fireman turned and went inside. After a moment, he shouted again. “Hey! Bring that coal bucket(桶子) here. I got something for you.” Then the fireman filled our bucket with clean coal. We were happy with his gift, and we knew we could go home early that day.

He smiled the kindest and warmest smile I had ever seen. “You two boys come here the day after tomorrow and I'll throw off some coal.”

Two days later, Buddy and I stood by the railroads as the train slowed down. The fireman waved to us, then disappeared. Suddenly, some coal and a piece of red cloth came out. In the red cloth were two pieces of bubble gum(泡泡糖) and a new one-dollar bill.

All that winter, three days a week, we received a bucket of coal, a gift and, sometimes, money. I never knew the person's full name, but to our family, he was a guardian angel.

Our grandparents seem to have magic powers sometimes. Give them a Chinese lunar calendar
38． they will know what the weather will be like days or even months later.

What’s the
39．? They are following the 24 Solar Terms (节气), which are an important part of Chinese culture. Last year the United Nations
40． it to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (人类非物质文化遗产).

The 24 Solar Terms began during the ancient periods. At that time, most Chinese people made
41． living on farms. So weather changes were important for them. But of course, they had
42． weather report or Internet to help them.

But people found a way. They studied the sun’s movement and also
43． attention to other natural changes
44． air temperature, water and plant growth.
45．, they worked out the 24 Solar Terms to mark the changes.

The terms became their guide to farming work. For example, the solar term jingzhe (惊蛰) is when insects wake up
46． a long sleep in the cold winter. Farmers take it as a sign of warm weather and get busy working.

The 24 Solar Terms is regarded as China’s
47． great invention, after paper-making, printing, the compass and gunpowder. Now, it is still widely used in daily life even in the age of technology-based modern farming.

荆州将举办国际龙舟赛，正在招募志愿者。假如你是王华，你希望成为其中一员。请用英语写一封自荐信，必须包含以下要点：

My name is Wang Hua. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours sincerely,

Wang Hua