Never have I learned as much English in my life as I did last year. It was because of Ms. Ben and I truly ______ what she was doing. It might not seem as a big   ______ to some, but to me it is. I have never met a woman so ______ and so determined to teach her students.

I never really wanted to work for good ______ in English class. I never knew how to study English and never understood some of the grammars. I can remember trying to stealthily get out of the classroom before Ms. Ben ______ me and shouted across the ______, “Samanta, are you coming to extra help during lunch?” It was a nightmare---she would always caught me with my one ______ out of the door, it never ______. Even then I just thought of it as a thing I HAD to do. It was funny to see how everyone would be in her room during lunch and then again after school. She would ______ everyone to come every day, just so we could do our homework in ______.

Many of the students thought of her as a bit of nag(啰嗦）, but inside they knew that she was right and ______ her. Many of her tests were hard at first, but as the year ______, so did I. I knew that it was because of her.

Even outside class, she was caring as ever. She always wanted to know what was going on in my (and everyone else’s) life, and she was always looking ______ everyone’s best interest.

Ms. Ben is a ______ woman with a sense of humor that you just have to laugh at. When exams were approaching, she was more ______ than ever about everyone doing well. Many of her previous students scored high, and so she ______ the same from us. Day after day there were students in the classroom ______ problems. When it was time for our big test, I knew I was ready. I walked out of that test with my head ______. I knew that I was a ______ and Ms. Ben had made me that way. I thanked all the hard work that she put into ______ me and my fellow students.

Two years ago，I donated my kidney(肾)to my brother.I considered it a complete life­changing experience，not only for the two of us ______ for the entire family.We ended up ______ from surgery(外科手术)at a friend's home in Baton Rouge，LA．His ______ to us was unforgettable.We had received so many _______.We had gotten food donation from so many people who ______ us something beyond physical comfort.

Now my brother is back on his feet and is living life ______ normal.Last April，he ______ to give back to the community(社区)by ______ money for the Medical Association through cycling 180 miles from Houston to Austin.I felt greatly moved，tears in eyes，______ that my kidney gave him a second chance in life and that he is now living beyond what he imagined ______ to be.Recently，our mother suffered from breast cancer.______ she was the one who took care of me and my brother，we wanted to do something in her ______.My brother，my sister and I are going to ______ next year for the Cancer Society，______ my brother and I will be joining in the half marathon in honour of our mother and this will be our good chance to be kidney donation ______ as well.

We ______ during our surgery that several thousand people die from kidney disease every year.Patients would be on the ______ list for kidney donation and many of them end up in death because of the ______ of kidney donors.If my brother and I can ______ others to do the same thing I did，maybe more lives will be saved.______ only I had more kidneys，I would do it again for other people.

On June 23 1970, I had just left the Army after completing my one-year duty in Vietnam. I was on plane returning home in Texas. I had been warned about the______of our fellow countrymen. There was no_____ welcome for us when we came home from that unpopular war.

I sat, in uniform, in a window seat, ______eye contact with my fellow passengers. No one was sitting next to me, which added to my______. A little girl suddenly appeared in the passage. She smiled and, without saying a word，______handed me a magazine. I accepted her______, her quiet“welcome home". All I could say was “Thank you. ” Her small gesture of ______was the first one I had experienced in a long time.

I always believe in the connection between strangers when they reach out to one another.That girl______has no memory of what happened years ago. She might have been told to do that by her mother. It doesn't matter______she gave me the magazine. The______ thing is that she did.

Since then, I have followed her______and tried in different ways for different people, to______for them. Like me on that plane ride long ago, they will never know why a stranger gave a hand. But I absolutely know that my______since then are all because of that little girl. Her kindness of offering a magazine to a tired , scared and lonely soldier has been______all through my life. I have to believe that my small______have the same effect on others. And to that girl, now a woman, I would like to say again: thank you.