Catalin Baciu from Romania wanted to make money in Germany. So, he and his wife, Oltita went to Bucharest, the capital city of Romania to get legal papers to move to Germany. However, when they arrived, they were surprised by what they saw. “Hundreds of street children were living in a busy and dirty city of two and a half million people. Many of them were using drugs. They all seemed lost. Most of them were under ten years old. Oltita had tears in her eyes,” Catalin said.

Many of these streets children were orphans (孤儿). They had grown up in the government orphanages, but had run away. They thought any place would be better than the orphanages. But the streets were cold and hard. The winters were freezing. The children had to sleep in warm sewers (下水道) under the ground. Many of the children even became involved with crime and violence (暴力).

The Baciu’s did not like the sight of so many pitiful children in Bucharest. They wanted to leave immediately and go to Germany. However, that night, Catalin and Oltita stayed with a friend in Buchares. “The friend we were staying with was working with street children. I was deeply touched by what he and his fellows were trying to do…they were sacrificing (牺牲) their jobs and lives to save street children,” Catalin said.

After that visit, the Baciu’s completely changed their life plan. Instead of moving to Germany, they began working with street children in Bucharest. They started by opening a home called House of Hope, which provided a warm and loving place for children who needed to get away from the streets. Many hospitals and business workers called House of Hope when they found troubled kids. Everyone knew the House of Hope would help.

   The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has welcomed home two paintings by the Dutch master, more than 14 years after they were ripped (扯) off the museum’s wall in a nighttime theft. Museum director Axel Rueger called their return “one of the most special days in the history of the museum”. The paintings were discovered last year by Italian police while they were searching an Italian criminals’ farmhouse near Naples for evidence of drug dealing. They were in a box and hidden behind a wall in a toilet when they were found.

The paintings were considered among the artworks most searched for in the world. After years in darkness, they can now shine again. They are back on display at the museum before being taken to the conservation studio for repair. Fortunately, they suffered surprisingly little damage as thieves who had climbed up a ladder and broken a window to get into the museum in 2004 ripped them out of their frames.

“It is not only a surprise that the works have been recovered but it’s even more surprising they are in relatively unharmed condition,” Rueger said.

The museum director was on vacation when the call came last year from Italian authorities who believed they had recovered the paintings. He didn’t celebrate right away. He’d had calls like this before.

“I was hopeful but also a little hesitant. Over these years, we had so many occasions when people phoned us, contacted us, claiming that they knew something about the whereabouts (下落) of the works and each time it was false, the trace went cold,” he said. “So… the way has been full of disappointment.” But museum experts sent to Italy to check the authenticity (真实性) of the works quickly turned Ruegers doubts into delight.

Rueger said the paintings are now back at the museum, which is home to dozens of works by Van Gogh. “I’m very confident that everything is safe in the museum from now on,” he said.

   I once stopped behind several cars，waiting at the red light. The wind blew fiercely. Ahead of me stood a young woman alongside the street rubbing her bare hands together and dancing to keep _______. Beside her rested a sign that read，“I have a baby and no _______.”

Homeless and unemployed people are a _______ sight in many of our large cities，and most people drive by without _______ assistance. No doubt they have been _______ that giving them money develops a dependent _______，or that the cash may be used to buy alcohol _______ the food it was intended for. Like me，they may have been taught that one should give money to a local charity，as these organizations can _______ those in need far more effectively.

As I waited for the light to tum green，I felt _______ about that woman. She was ________ in need. And whether or not she actually had a baby really didn't ________. What should I do？

Should I give her money？As I ________，the window of the car in front of me was ________ down and a hand reached out holding a pair of warm gloves. The driver ________ her own gloves and gave them to the woman. I saw the young woman ________ the words“Thank you”and a broad smile lit up her face.

As I hesitated，somebody else ________. As I tried to decide the best way to help，somebody else just did what she could. I made myself a（n）________ that day to always do something. Whether it is big or small，just do something.

Something is almost always better than nothing！Too often we underestimate（低估）the ________ of a touch，a smile，a kind word，a listening ear，or the smallest act of ________，all of which have the ________ to turn a life around.

   Blind people can read. They do so by running their fingers along a line of raised points or dots on paper. Of course, they first have to learn the code（代码）. Here are some examples of it. One dot stands for the letter “A”. Two dots side by side mean “C”. Four dots arranged to look like a box（：：） stand for the letter “G”. By placing the dots in special patterns, all the letters of the alphabet can be formed.

This code was made up by a Frenchman called Louis Braille. Though he could see at birth, he became sightless when he was only three. Braille was cutting leather in his father’s shop. His knife slipped and cut his eye. Infection（感染）spread to both eyes, and he became blind.

At 10, he was placed in a home for the blind. But young Braille had great talent. He became a skilled musician and soon got a job as a church organist（风琴弹奏者）in Paris.

Because he had talent and was quick, he became a teacher at a school for the blind. While there, he heard that a captain had sent messages to his soldiers that they could read at night without light. His messages were in the simple form of raised dots and dashes. This was the clue Braille needed. At the age of 15, he worked out his own six-dot code. Each group of dots is called a cell. The cells are three dots high and two dots wide. For the rest of his life, Braille taught his young flock to read both written and musical works using his code.

For the last 17 years of his life, Braille was ill with tuberculosis. He died at the age of 43.