All of my friends had jobs but I didn’t. That’s because they had a “hook up”. At times, I wished I had a hook up! If I did, I wouldn’t have to go through all those nervous interviews, or waste my ink on those applications that probably got thrown.

One day I asked my grandmother, “Why does no one want to hire me?” She said it was because I didn’t have any experience. How was I supposed to have experience when I’d never had a job before? Even McDonald’s wouldn’t hire me. I applied there so many times. It was a shame.

The Gap was one of the hardest places to apply. Once you filled out an application, the managers would interview you right on the spot. It made me so nervous that I couldn’t talk right. The first question they asked was, “Why do you want to work for the Gap?” Your mind was telling you to say, “For the money.” But you didn’t want to say that because you didn’t want to make yourself sound greedy, even if it’s the truth. So I said, “Because I’m familiar with what the company does, which is selling clothes.”

However, not for long there was another question that always seemed to get me every time, “What can you bring to this company?” I didn’t know, maybe more customers? By the time I got ready to pick it up, I heard them say, “If we don’t contact you in 24 hours, you don’t get the job.”

But if I was asked that question now, I would say, “I’m a hard worker and a very reliable person, and with these kinds of abilities I cannot only do a good job, but I can influence other employees to do so too.”

Despite all the bad luck I seemed to have, I didn’t give up. Eventually, I finally found a summer job.

   It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.

The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries (食品杂货), saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.

I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.

People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity (人性) as a whole. And it has influenced (影响) us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.

   Several years ago，we planned to move out of the city and buy a country house. The first ___________ was finding a suitable country house that we could afford. We started to ___________ the real estate（房地产）listings online and thought we had found a really ___________ one. My wife Catherine went to look at it. I was expecting a positive result. ___________，my wife told me the house wasn't suitable for us at all. While this was not the ___________ of the world，it prevented us from carrying out our plans as we had expected. So，what did we do？Could we ___________ and decide to stay where we were？No. We decided to ___________ looking.

To make a long story ___________，it took us two years of weekly visits to the real estate listings before we ___________ found three houses that might be suitable. The next ____________ seemed obvious-we had to take some time off work and drive down to ____________ these houses. So，off we went and after 15 hours of steady driving，we ____________.The next three days were tight-looking，then looking again and then finally making an ____________. The final story has a ____________ ending-we found our house，and ____________ several months later.

Sometimes, ____________ show up out of nowhere to destroy the best of plans, and some of these difficulties can be the final play. ____________, if you adopt the philosophy that every obstacle has a solution, then you can find your ____________ through. Obstacles will appear no matter who you are or what you are trying to ____________, but it is only those who know there is a solution and keep digging until they find it that will ____________ one day.

   Super-dad Alan Lawrence，a photographer from Utah，has posted some amazing photos of his son flying in the air.

Lawrence said his two-year-old _____ Wil was born with a terrible disease — Down Syndrome，_____Lawrence is determined that this won't _____ him back in life.

When Wil was little，he would lie on his stomach and _____ his arms and legs like he was flying. “It wasn't something any of my other _____ did. My family would always _____ that he was trying so hard that one day he would start _____ ，”Lawrence told USA TODAY.

He decided to make Wi's flight a _____ by using Photoshop to create images of Wil hovering（盘旋）_____ places the family had visited.

The series of ______ ，called“Wil Can Fly”，is part of a 2016 calendar，with half the earnings from sales donated to two Down Syndrome funds.“The series ______ a reminder that people with Down Syndrome can do ______ they set their minds to，”Lawrence said.

Though appearing happy，Alan admitted that he and his wife didn't always feel so ______.“After the doctor informed us that he had Down Syndrome，we had ______. We weren't quite sure what the ______ held for our family，and we were ______ and knew very little about what to expect.”

However，these fears soon ______ once Wil was born. Alan explained:“In the short two years since he ______ ，he has helped our family grow in ways we didn't realize we needed. Our family with Wil is happy.”

And now they' re on their way to ______ this love and knowledge, saying“We want to show the world that you can have a ______ life with a child with Down Syndrome.”

   When I first arrived in Australia at the age of 16 to go to high school for one year and live with a host family，I was completely over the moon about everything. I had been planning for many months. And，even though we exchange students participated in a one-day preparatory meeting，culture shock couldn't be avoided.

Those first weeks are so-called "honeymoon phase I" where you are happy to be in that culture.

However，this feeling didn't last forever. After about two months，differences became more evident. I started missing my friends and family more and more. Frustrating thoughts increasingly occupied my head—Nobody really understands me，and my English is not good enough. I wish people would just be able to speak German for one day！I wish public transportation would work the same way as at home！And so on. I knew it was "honeymoon phase Ⅱ".

Over the next few months，though，I slowly and unknowingly entered the "adjustment（适应）phase". I developed my own little routine，learned to adapt to stress through various techniques，and made many new friends. My English improved dramatically！

I understood Australian culture better and better. That was a major breakthrough for me personally. Every day I felt more and more comfortable with my new home. I adopted many new traits（特征）while also keeping earlier ones from my home country. I would often refer to myself as "having a second nationality". This process which happened over my last few months abroad is called the "mastery phase". My happiest moment was when my dear friend one day said during a conversation，"You are Australian now，Jude！You sound just like us！"

I want to point out that the effects of culture shock are different for everyone and can result in different behavior and feelings. The timing of the different phases also varies a lot from person to person. One thing is for sure though —Culture shock is unavoidable and acceptance is the first step towards adjusting better to a foreign culture.