On a Monday morning, Harry, 49, was singing to songs playing on his car’s stereo (立体声响). His daughter, Catherine, 16, was sitting beside him, worried that her classmates would notice her coming to school in her dad’s old car.

For Harry, this car was his great pride. It was his first love, which was passed down from his father. But for Catherine, it was a shame, and she hated it whenever her dad drove her to school in that car.

As Catherine stepped down from the car, she heard a loud noise from behind. “Hey, look! Old daddy, old car!!” some boys laughed. Later, when Harry came back to pick Catherine up, he was told she’d already left. He was shocked and immediately drove home. “Dear, I was waiting for you outside school. When did you come home?”

“My friend Peter dropped me home in his new car. Come on, Daddy, you cannot expect me to always come home in your old car.” Catherine started advising him to buy a new car and do away with his old car.

“This is not just a car; it’s a treasure box of memories. I bought this car when I married your mother. I took you to Disneyland in this car. So many memories…” At this point, Harry could not hold back his tears and stormed out to get in his car. Sometimes, when he felt low and sad, he just talked to his car as though it were a living being. How deeply Harry loved that car! Several years later, Harry died. He passed his treasured car down to Catherine, and in his last letter, he had asked her not to sell it at any cost. Catherine parked it in the garage (车库) and forgot about it. One day, she just happened to bring it out to help her with an emergency (紧急情况). As Catherine drove to her office, she attracted a great deal of attention. It had been quite a long time since anybody had seen such a classic car on the streets.

That evening, a car collector walked up to Catherine after seeing her in the street.

Catherine knew the deal could bring her some money, but she changed her mind.

In 2020, when she was just 10 years old, Angela Zhao entered her first piano competition. On the day of the event, each participant had to go up onstage one by one and perform their piece in front of a panel of judges and an audience. At first, Angela was excited and confident, as she had been preparing for months, practicing diligently every day under the guidance of her piano teacher.

However, as her turn approached, doubts began to flood her mind. “What if I played the wrong notes? What if I forgot the notes? What if I just mess up?” Angela remembered thinking.

As these worries raced through her mind, Angela watched another girl perform. The girl played beautifully. Angela couldn’t help but feel kind of jealous y and admiration. Once the girl finished, she walked off stage to where Angela was waiting   and did something unexpected.

“She looked at me and smiled with a thumb up.” Angela said. The simple gesture took Angela by surprise. “Her smile made me think that today I'm just right and I can perform on the stage.”

Encouraged by this act of kindness, Angela took a deep breath and walked out to the piano. She sat down, closed her eyes for a moment to steady herself, and then began to play. As her fingers moved over the keys, she felt a sense of calm wash over her. The notes flowed effortlessly, and she lost herself in the music. When she finished, Angela looked up and saw her competitor clapping for her, a genuine smile on her face.

Seeing such a show of support has stuck with Angela over the years. “As a competitor, she gave me respect and helped a shy girl to face the stage,” Angela said. If she could talk to that girl again, here’s what Angela would say: “You changed a moment of my life, and your kind smile remained in my memory. And I’ll take that smile at a precious gift.”

注意：

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Several years have passed, but Angela always takes a moment to reflect on the power of a simple smile.

Angela’s experience also inspired her to help others.

Stephen Crane was traveling from the United States to Cuba as a newspaper reporter One night, his ship hit a sandbar and sank in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Florida. Most of the people onboard got into lifeboats. Stephen Crane was among the last to leave with three others: the ship's captain, the cook, and a sailor named Billie.

These four men climbed into the only remaining lifeboat which was so small that no one believed it could float very long before they would ever reach the shore. But the men fought the seas bravely, with all their strength.

The small lifeboat bounced from wave to wave in the rough seas of the Atlantic. The four men in the boat couldn't see the sky. The waves rose too high and pushed the open boat violently. Every man thought each wave would be his last. The Waves were huge, and each created a problem in guiding the direction of the boat.

For two days, since the ship sank, the four men had been struggling to each land. but there was no land to be seen. The boat had only two wooden oars(船桨). Billie directed the boat's movement with one oar. Stephen Crane pulled the other oar. The captain sat in the front of the small boat and kept telling Billie when to turn the boat.

As time went by, they could see more and more seagulls.

After searching the sky for a long time. Stephen Crane finally found the lighthouse.