After stepping out of the international plane, I realized my 10-hour sleepy voyage finally came to an end. Sitting on the bus, I was waiting anxiously for it to start. A woman, sitting next to me, and her daughter both seemed _______ . She told me that her daughter had an upset stomach and would throw up（呕吐）continuously；_______ the mother had lost her _______ . Apart from a significant amount of money ,the purse also had her cellphone and a phone number of an important _______ , a person she was traveling 90 kilometers to meet for discussing an urgent matter which had to be _______ by the next morning.

I handed her my cellphone _______ and told her that she could make any call she wanted. I also _______ a bottle of water I had in my bag to relieve her daughter of her _______  

After making several calls, they finally _______ to the official. They turned to look at me ________ and thanked me many times. The woman tried to pay for my _________ , but I jumped to do it before her _________ I knew she had lost her money.

The next morning, I received a _________ from the mother, saying that they couldn’t tell how my _________ act touched them. They were so considerate that they had taken down my number to thank me. I was _________ to be thanked in this way. I never thought my simple offer _________ so much in her heart. And I thought of how many opportunities for _________ we had lost by focusing on cellphones and being _________ from the reality around us - _________ with easy access may make a big _________ to others.

   Shortly after the war，my brother and I were invited to spend a few days with an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had rented a cottage in the country，although he rarely spent much time there. We understood the reason for this after our arrival: the cottage had no comfortable furniture（家具）in it；many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked（渗漏），making the whole house terrible.

On our first evening，we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories which our uncle had to tell of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed；but I could not stand missing any of my uncle's exciting stories.

He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had once had when there was a loud crash from the bedroom above，the one where my brother and I were going to sleep.

"It sounds as if the roof has fallen in！"cried out my uncle，with a loud laugh.

When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door，we could see nothing at first because of the thick clouds of dust which filled the room. When the dust began to clear，a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had fallen down，falling right onto the pillow（枕头）on my bed.

I was glad that I had stayed up late to listen to my uncle's stories，otherwise I should certainly have been seriously injured，perhaps killed.

That night we all slept on the floor in the sitting room downstairs，not wishing to risk our lives by sleeping under a roof which might at any moment fall down on our heads. We left for London the very next morning and my uncle gave up his cottage in the country. This was not the kind of adventure he cared for either！

   I left England for Sydney in September. It was a career move for my husband, and our 20-year-old daughter was feeling adventurous and decided to come, too. However, just before leaving England, my 79-year-old mother suffered a stroke (中风). Being strong and independent, she continued to live at home with the help of social services. But she couldn’t look after the garden. I thought how wonderful it would be if there was an organization offering volunteer help. Friends asked me what I planned to do in Australia, and I told them I would be looking for a volunteer position with a gardening charitable organization. Imagine my surprise when I found just the organization I had been looking for — Easy Care Gardening (ECG)!

There are several reasons why I volunteer for ECG. Firstly, as a newcomer to Australia I meet many people who, like me, volunteer some of their time. We cover a large age range, but all love gardens and helping others.

Secondly, through working with ECG I have been lucky enough to explore Sydney’s North Shore that I might not have had the opportunity to visit otherwise.

Finally, there are all those wonderful people we call “clients (客户)”, but they are more like friends when we visit them often and tend their gardens. What great people I have met, and the stories they have to tell — the family histories, where they come from and the reasons for immigrating to Australia. I find it a privilege to have access to private gardens which, in many cases, have been the joy of their owners for many years. Each one is individual and reflects the character, needs and the history of each family. Indeed, the gardens reflect the multicultural and historical background of Sydney.

   After a year at sea, 16-year-old Laura Dekker can finally say, "Mission accomplished！"Last month, she finished a daring trip around the world aboard her 38-foot boat, Guppy. Dekker, who is from the Netherlands, traveled more than 30,000 miles all by herself. She is the youngest person ever to sail around the globe alone.

Dekker had wanted to take on this challenge when she was even younger. She first tried to set sail at the age of 13, but a court in the Netherlands stopped her. They said that she was too young to make such a risky trip by herself. But Dekker insisted she had the navigation skills and patience of an adult sailor.

She finally started on August 21, 2010. During her trip, Dekker battled loneliness, storms, and worries about pirates. But she also got to surf, scuba dive, and started a new hobby: playing the flute. Although Dekker didn't spend all of her time at sea—she stopped at ports along the way—she did spend her 16th birthday on the open ocean. To celebrate, she ate doughnuts for breakfast.

But Dekker didn't sail into the record books. Guinness World Record and the World Sailing Speed Record Council no longer recognize records for "youngest" sailors. They dropped the category in 2009 to discourage children from attempting such dangerous feats(壮举). But that didn't stop Dekker, who was born on a yacht(大游艇) during a seven-year world voyage undertaken by her parents.

Dekker doesn't mind that she won't hold an official record. She says it was a personal goal, and she is happy she achieved it.

"I am not disappointed at all that Guinness World Records won't recognize my attempt, "Dekker wrote on her website, "I did not start on my trip to achieve any record. I did it just for myself."