I was working in a store three years ago. I remember one girl who started ________ there a few months after me. I remember always meeting her. I don't know ________ but for a strange reason we would never talk. We would just see each other and smile.

She would ________ smile in a really happy way until one day when we got to work in the same department again. She ________ as if she was the happiest girl in the world. But I had a ________ feeling. So I went up to her and asked, "What's wrong with you? " She answered, "Why? " I said, "I could feel you're very sad today and you're trying to hide it. "

She was shocked as if I had ________ her deepest secret, so we started talking. She told me why she was feeling like that and why she was ________ to hide it and we had a good time together. Time ________ and we became good friends. She'd always tell me I had changed her ________ in so many ways, but I could not imagine how it had happened. I would just smile, not understanding what she ________ by that.

Today this girl is one of my best ________ . I really don't know what I would do without her. She has been there for me in every possible way a friend could be.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you ________ know when you're helping yourself. I ________ this girl never knowing that at the same time I was helping myself by finding a（n） ________ friend.

So the next time you see a stranger and he looks as if he needs ________ who will listen to him, listen to what he has to say. You never know, you might just end up helping yourself.

“This used car is beginning to be a pain,” I thought to myself. First , the battery had _________ in the first few months. Then a recall (召回) _________ had arrived in the mailbox shortly afterwards. This meant driving it to a car dealership (经销商) 25 miles from my home and siting for 2 hours while they _________ the faulty parts on it.

Now here I pulled in my car. I _________ the key and walked into the waiting room. Every chair was full and TV was on loudly. I decided to try something a little _________. Then I walked down the road to an opposite restaurant. I started off at a _________ pace. It felt good walking in the sunshine.

I reached the traffic light and saw I wasn’t _________. A black dog with a bright purple collar was standing next to me. He seemed _________ to cross the road but afraid to do so. “Wait!” I said _________ to him. He looked up at me with ________________ brown eyes. Just then the light turned green. “Come on!” and the dog ________________ me. As we ran across the street he ________________ me once more before his nose caught a ________________ scent in the air. I could tell from his happy walk that he was headed home.

There is no ________________ series of events. We are all connected by events we can’t even imagine, and connected by ________________ in a billion different ways.

When my sister Diane began playing the violin, she was seven. How did she sound? Terrible. But she didn’t ________. At twelve, she asked our parents if she could________a full-time music school. They said no. Actually, everyone agreed that my sister didn’t have talent.

I was better at my ________. My teacher had told my parents that I had a great gift. So my parents found the best piano teacher in the area to ________ me. But the only time when he was available was Saturday at 3 pm. Back then, I was ________ by the British TV show. The Avengers, which was________every Saturday at 3 pm. I let nothing take up my The Avengers hour. So I ________ this amazing opportunity. Today, I don’t even have a ________ in my house.

My sister became an engineer, but she ________ stopped making music. When she was in her 40s, she changed her career. She went back to college, got a________ in music education, and became a music teacher. She starts kids off on their first instrument and gives them all the encouragement and support she never ________.

Recently, she and a pianist friend put on a recital (音乐演奏会). A big crowd of friends and family ________ for her. As she played, I looked around at the ________ . Everyone was obviously enjoying the music. It occurred to me that I was the only person who remembered that 7-year-old kid making those ________ sounds and knew how far she had come, despite everything.

Talent is________ . But enthusiasm is even more important.