Saja Pahad, a small village in Chhattisgarh, India, has been dealing with severe water shortages for as long as anyone can remember. With only two wells available, locals were barely able to secure enough water to feed their cattle, let alone irrigate their crops. Villagers didn’t know what to do and the government ignored their difficult situation, but one “crazy” teenager took matters into his own hands.

Shyam Lal was only 15 when he took it upon himself to solve his village’s water problem. He identified a spot in a nearby forest and decided to dig a pond to collect rainfall that could then be used by the entire village. Lal shared his idea with the rest of Saja Pahad, but instead of volunteering to help, they just laughed at his crazy plan and called him a lunatic (疯子). But the young man didn’t let the people’s reaction get him down. Instead, he grabbed a spade (铁锹) and started digging the pond himself. He kept on digging for the next 27 years.

Now 43, Shyam Lal is considered a hero by his community. That small hole he started digging nearly three decades ago is now a one-acre, 15-feet-deep pond filled with precious water that serves the entire village.

“No one helped me in my work, neither the government nor the villagers,” Lal told the Hindustan Times. “It was my dream to secure enough water for the whole village and their cattle.”

The story of Shyam Lal’s determination recently went viral in the whole of India, and prompted authorities in Mahendragarh district to finally acknowledge his achievement. A member of the government recently visited Saja Pahad and offered Lal a $ 156 prize for his contribution to the village.

   When a mom attended school to help her disabled son, her son and the school thanked her in the sweetest way. It wasn't until after his college years that Marty became disabled after __down stairs. When her son __to get his MBA, Judy O'Connor attended every class with him to help him write and __. Every day, Judy would sit by Marty in class, taking notes to make sure of __specific requests, raising her hand so he could answer questions, and silently writing down his __on test days. "After a little while, we found that working together we could __a great deal, " Marty says.

On graduation day at Chapman University, Judy was dressed in black to mix in with the other __. Little did she know she'd soon be the center of __. When Marty's name was called, his mom helped __him to the front of the stage, ___for a picture with Marty as he received his diploma. Over the loudspeaker, a（n）___was made in a voice ___with happy tears: The university was giving Judy an honorary（荣誉的）MBA. " A lump came to my throat. I was proud of my son and ___to be honored, " says Judy.

The mother and the son had joked that Judy was putting in enough work to earn her own ___. To Marty, there was no question that his mom,a retired elementary school teacher with a business degree, had ___earned her honorary MBA.

Perhaps just as important, Judy gave Marty ___. Life as Marty knew it before the ___may have changed, but he encourages anyone in a ___situation to keep up hope. " Just keep an open mind, ___you can make your diversity your advantage and take challenges as a（n）___for growth in your life," he says.

   I am a social worker. I wanted to tell everyone about my very dear friend who passed away a few months ago. I met him many years ago while doing my internship（实习期的工作）in the county prison. He was _________a program he had designed to help prisoners with drug and alcohol problems. He was always _________ new ways to bring hope and help to these men and their _________.One of his favorite _________was the Toy Drive he would run every Christmas for the children of the prisoners. He did this for twenty years _________his sudden death. As Christmas _________，I decided that this tradition had to be _________，for the children as well as the _________ of my friend.

But the file where he kept the names of the people who had helped him over the years had gone _________.I had to start anew（重新）and with very little __________！I started making phone calls，explaining about the project and my __________.I prayed every night that the event would，__________，be worthy of my friend. To my great __________，individuals，organizations and businesses began to come on board and，__________，I had enough toys to give to all the children of the prisoners with some left over for the local community __________！

When Christmas Eve finally arrived，I felt very happy，thinking I had done all I could do and reflecting（认真思考）on what a（n）__________it had been for me. I was bagging up the remaining toys __________ if there was anyone left who might like them. Then my phone rang.

It was my daughter. She __________to explain about a woman she knew in Kentucky who had five children，one seriously ill，no husband，no heating in the home，no toys！Ohh —how could we not help her？

My daughter and I drove all night，from New York to Kentucky，and those children woke up in a nice warm house with plenty of __________！My friend's __________of kindness lived on that year，reaching all the way to Kentucky！

My wife Laura and I were on the beach, with three of our children, taking pictures of shore birds near our home in Alaska when we spotted a bear. The bear was thin and small, moving aimlessly.

Just a few minutes later, I heard my daughter shouting, "Dad! The bear is right behind us!" An aggressive bear will usually rush forward to frighten away its enemy but would suddenly stop at the last minute. This one was silent and its ears pinned back — the sign (迹象) of an animal that is going in for the kill. And it was a cold April day. The bear behaved abnormally, probably because of hunger.

I held my camera tripod (三脚架) in both hands to form a barrier as the bear rushed into me. Its huge head was level with my chest and shoulders, and the tripod stuck across its mouth. It bit down and I found myself supporting its weight. I knew I would not be able to hold it for long.

Even so, this was a fight I had to win: I was all that stood between the bear and my family, who would stand little chance of running faster than a brown bear.

The bear hit at the camera, cutting it off the tripod. I raised my left arm to protect my face; the beast held tightly on the tripod and pressed it into my side. My arm could not move, and I sensed that my bones were going to break.

Drawing back my free hand, I struck the bear as hard as I could for five or six times. The bear opened its mouth and I grasped its fur, trying to push it away. I was actually wrestling (扭打) with the bear at this point. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the fight ended. The bear moved back towards the forest, before returning for another attack — the first time I felt panic.

Apparently satisfied that we caused no further threat, the bear moved off, destroying a fence as it went. My arm was injured, but the outcome for us could hardly have been better. I'm proud that my family remained clear-headed when panic could have led to a very different outcome.