From the time I was a child growing up in New Jersey, I loved spending weekends with my grandparents. I felt1in Granny's small kitchen. We always had peaceful conversations, and Granny always seemed to include some wisdom with every dish she prepared.

    I remember one Saturday morning in particular. After breakfast I asked Granny, "What kind of soup are you making today?" "Vegetable beef," she answered. "And you can help by cutting some carrots." As I slowly cut the carrots, I said, "I've got to give a report next week and I'm scared (害怕的). I don't like standing in front of everybody. What if I forget what I'm going to say?" Or what if somebody laughs?" "And what if you do just fine?" Granny asked. "Have you prepared notes?" "Well, no. That would be a lot of work." "Hard work never2anyone," Granny said. "You could try practising in front of a 3. It's easy to find how well you are practising."

    I pushed the pieces of carrots to the side of the cutting board and went on to complain (抱怨) about schoolwork, friends and family. Granny took it all in, listening4while I talked about so many pieces of grief in my life. "Nancy," she said, "there's nothing wrong with a little trouble in your life. Well, you know, a lot of people don't make homemade soup these days. They say it's too much trouble. But I don't5such a little trouble. It adds flavour to my soup — and to my life. My soup would be pretty bland (淡而无味) without the vegetables, and so would my life if it didn't have the little ups and downs." She smiled and then started washing the dishes. While I helped Granny clean up, I thought about what she had said. I still had a few days to practise my report.

    That Saturday, Granny gave me food for6as well as a bowl of her homemade soup. As I7the meal with my grandparents, somehow my problems didn't seem so big any more. Maybe I could turn a little trouble into something as8as Granny's homemade soup. I would have to work on them. Granny had said hard work paid off.

提示问题:

提示词语: impress, a sports meeting, a school trip, a New Year Party, hurt, take photos, sing, help, moved, confident, happy ...

Dear Tony,

    I'm glad to hear from you. What has impressed me most is

    What impressed you most at school? Write and tell me.

Yours,

Li Hua

—I'd love to, ______________ I'm afraid I have no time.

— I _____________ it yet.

— _______________!

A Beautiful Moment

    When I was in high school, I worked part-time helping Dad sell fruits and vegetables at a market. One day, as I was preparing the fruits, a little boy came by with his mum and sister. He was about eight years old, and the girl, five or six. They were looking at the fruits in front of me. I heard the kids say to their mum (in French), "They're good!" I knew it was French, because I can speak and understand it.

Then I noticed how the mum was picking the fruits. At first I thought she was really looking at the fruits because she was facing them, but then I noticed how much she had to feel and smell each one as she picked them out. And she often asked her son if it looked okay, but looked way above where his face was. Putting what I saw together, I was sure she was blind.

    Both of the kids continued to help their mum pick out the fruits. The son made sure the fruits were not obviously bad, and the daughter handed them to her mum. The woman then felt each one and smiled, and the daughter would put them into their basket. The kids were smiling while helping their mum pick the fruits out.

    Their smile and gentle manner moved me in a way that never happened before. It was so beautiful to see such young kids so willingly help. Most kids of that age would be picking out candies or toys in a store for themselves, instead of helping their mum pick out fruits, as the two kids did.

    It was great to witness the moment, but not so great because I didn't tell the mum how beautiful her children were in their language. This is what I regret to this day.

    When he was a teenager, Hunter Adams was very unhappy, and he spent many years in the 1960s and 1970s in a special hospital for people with mental (精神的) health problems.

    When he left hospital, Adams decided to become a doctor, so he went to a medical school in Virginia, the USA. But when he was there he did things in different ways. For example, He didn't like the doctor's white coats, so he wore shirts with flowers on them when he visited his patients, and he tried to make them laugh. The doctors at the medical school didn't like Adams very much because he was too different.

    But Adams believed that people in hospital needed more than medicine. He saw unhappy and lonely people, and he tried to help them, not just as patients, but as people too. He spent a lot of time with children in the hospital, and often put a special red nose on his face so he looked like a clown and made the children laugh.

    When he finished medical school and became a doctor, Adams opened his own hospital, called The Gesundheit Institute, together with some other doctors. They wanted it to be a place with a different way of working with sick people.

    Hunter Adams became famous during the 1980s, and in 1998, Universal Pictures made a film about his life. It was very successful. In the film (called Patch Adams), Robin Williams played Adams. Williams said, "Hunter is a really warm person, who believes that patients need a doctor who's a friend. I enjoyed playing him."