Medical bills were piling. Kids needed glasses, cars needed repairs, and the dog needed surgery. On top of that, Christmas was almost ______ us so presents needed to be purchased.

But all of that was   ______ when my husband, Brian, was waiting in our local tire shop to have his six truck tires   ______ on a snowy night. He overheard the tire salesman ______ a young mom with 3 children that she was in serious ______ of all new tires, as each one was completely ______ down. ______, the young mom said she didn’t have the money to replace more than one tire on her car.

On hearing that, Brian ______ to pay for a tire to be installed, ______ of the one tire this woman was able to purchase. Brian knew that even though it was just a start, the young mom would be much ______ driving on the ______ roads with a balanced set of two new tires than they would with just one new tire.

The young mom was so surprised that she ______ choked up. Eyes filled with tears, she thanked Brian and pulled away.

My husband is a naturally modest, ______   man who feels rewarded in the giving, not in the________ in life. So imagine his unexpected ______, when he later discovered the salesman had ________ the entire amount spent on the ______ tire to his bill! ______ the seven tires my husband bought, the salesman only ______ him for six.

The simple act of one man making the decision to share what he had, rather than worrying about what he would ______, changed things that night.

As an adult, several happy moments often come to mind. But one of my happiest _______ is the thing that happened when I was young. I _______remember it because of the total happiness I felt.

It was our second grade class picnic day. I _______ that we wore play clothes. That would _______pants for little girls when in those days we were required to wear uniform on _______ school days. We were taken by bus to a local park where we_______. On the way home, I got off the bus at a corner a few blocks_______ the bus reached the school. Nobody was home when I got there, so I _______ to clean up the living room to surprise my mommy. Those are the unremarkable（平凡的） _______of that memorable day. When I think about it now, I can understand why it was so ________ to me.

First, on that day I ________fear and truly enjoyed playing at the park. Before the day was out, I was confident about ________ the heights of the sliding board(滑梯) and soaring ________ and about swinging(荡秋千) high on the huge swings. I had always been________ about the two things before. Because of my new ________ and my ability to do what the other children were doing, I was ________by them. When my teacher told the________ to drop me off near my home I ________ the respect from her knowing I was strong enough to go home alone. I also cleaned the living room and received my mother’s ________ as a result.

Those were the simple elements that made me happy ________ that bright day sixty years ago and that make me happy today.

On a cold afternoon in January 2017, Kate Will, 10, got off a school bus in Lenexa, Kansas, near the apartment building where she lives with her family. When the ________ pulled away, Kate saw police and emergency workers attending to ________ of a three-car accident that had happened at a busy crossroads nearby. Kate ________ a small crowd of onlookers across the street.

She noticed that a (n)________ woman was trying to ________ with an Emergency Medical Service worker using sign language, but he couldn’t ________ her. “I heard him ________ an interpreter,” Kate says.

She ran over to the paramedic (护理人员) to ________ — her mother, a former sign language interpreter ,had _______ her and her sisters how to ________ (no one in the family is hearing-impaired).

“She said, ‘I sign. Can I help?’” says EMS captain Chris Winger. “I was ________.”

Kate was able to ________ to the emergency worker that the woman’s neck was injured and tell them the name of the local hospital she preferred. “She looked really ________,” says Kate. “I’m proud that I got to do ________ to help.”

When her mother, Susan Milidore, 36, heard about Kate’s ________ actions, she wasn’t surprised. “It’s in her ________ to help,” says Susan. “I was impressed that she recognized the ________ of the situation and took charge. Most adults wouldn’t have ________ that.”

A few weeks later, paramedics ________ Kate with a gold coin and a certificate of appreciation at her elementary school.

“My mom always says that you ________ know when sign language might come in handy,” says Kate. “That day, it did.”