The pea incident happened when I was eight. My grandmother, my mother and I were having lunch at a restaurant. I _________ a Salisbury steak. But when served, it was _________ accompanied by a plate of peas.

I have always hated peas. It is a complete _________ to me why anyone would voluntarily eat peas.

“Eat your peas,” my grandmother said.

“Mother,” said my mother in her _________ voice. “He doesn’t like peas. Leave him alone.”

My grandmother looked at me and said the words that changed my life: “I’ll pay you five dollars _________ you eat those peas”. Five dollars! And only one plate of peas stood between _________ and the possession of that unimaginable amount of money. I began to _________ the awful things down my throat and finally swallowed the _________ one of them. My grandmother handed me the _________. “I can do what I want, Ellen, and you can’t stop me,” she __________ to my mother. My mother glared at her and also glared at me __________.

Several days later, at dinner, my mother offered me some steaming peas and I, of course, __________. My mother fixed me with a cold eye as she __________ more peas onto my plate. “You ate them for money,” she said, “You can eat them for love.”

Oh, despair! Now, too late, I realized that I had been __________ in a terrible place from which there was no __________. “You ate them for money. You can eat them for love.” Did I eat the peas? You bet I did. I ate them that day and every other time they were served thereafter.

When I was driving on the highway, a big storm came. The rain began to beat_______     against my car windows. I had to stop and_______my car along the roadside. Sitting in the car with boxes of_________in the back seat, I was_______of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina hit Houston when I was fourteen years old. I was_________that it would destroy my neighborhood._________it missed ours, while leaving many parts of the city in _______. From the TV, I saw a reporter_______the homeless people inside the Houston Astrodome(体育馆). Many of them were in dirty and_________clothes, and some had no shoes on their feet. I noticed a little boy behind the reporter__________an old teddy bear. Suddenly, I knew I had to do__________.

The next day, my friends__________me at our volunteer club and we came up with a plan to________some used toys and give them to the kids at the Astrodome. I hoped they would bring some________to those homeless kids. We________the word to our schools and other organizations. Three days later, our club was flooded with new toys! When we__________the Astrodome with our gifts, children__________toward us from all directions.

My cell phone brought me back to the present. To my joy, the storm had________“Hector, we have had more__________because of the tornado.” “Well, I’ve brought a lot of clothes for them. The__________kept me late, but I'll be there soon!" I turned my car into the suddenly heavy traffic. I knew that any small act of kindness would make a big difference.

I’ ve been living in China for 6 years. I am ______ to say that I have a talent in finding the cool ______ local spots. As a ______, I am never fed up with eating various Chinese foods and other cultures. What’s most important is ______ the real country and culture. So I always try to find something representing ______ culture, and offering an interaction with the locals.

My reputation for doing this has ______. I’m often asked to give people ______ . Since I am fluent in Chinese, I could ______ people for this and become somewhat of an official tour ______ . I choose not to, ______. Because to me, the most important thing is making sure that the tourist has the most ______ experience. It is also about creating a lifelong ______ with that person, and with the locals we interact with during our time together. These tourists could spend much money on the guided tour that is ______ to the local culture. I choose to give them an experience that’s deeper and opens their ______ , all for free.

You can do the ______. When you have someone ______ your hometown, don’t just take them to the tourist spots. Show them the places with great ______ to you. Show them your heart through the places you show them and the experience you give them. There’s always something ______ in almost every town there. If you don’t have any spots in your hometown that you like, ______ to find the good where you live. If you do, you will also find it in your- self. It’s a time that both you and the tourist will never forget. Don’t ______ the experience, but thoroughly enjoy every moment with that person. The tourist and your heart will thank you for it.