Unit 1That was a time when life was difficult for everyone. My family could barely get by on my small income from driving a cab. One late night I responded to a call for a cab ride. To my surprise, when I arrived at the address, I found it was a frail old lady who was awaiting me. After she got into the cab, I engaged her in conversation. I learned that she was going to the hospice. Her doctor said she did not have very long. The old lady told me to drive through the downtown area. She pointed at some old buildings, telling me those were the places where she used to work or live. When the cab finally pulled up in front of the hospice, I didn’t accept her fare. In the rest of the day, I was lost in thought. Though I had to make a living. I lived not for the sole purpose of surviving. When circumstances looked gloomy, the small favor I had done could be a candle light. However faint the light was, it managed to warm up a soul and ennobled me as well. I did take pride in that small favor.Unit 2After dinner, we all sataround the heath. AuntSusan was still in the griefof losing Uncle Robert. Inher soft voice she told usabout their past years.Uncle Robert joined thearmy shortly after theywere engaged. Given thecritical situation at the timewhen lots of army mendidn’t return alive, you canimagine how muchhorrified Aunt Susan wasevery day, and how muchoverjoyed she was to seeUncle Robert safe andsound from the Europeanbattlefield. Then they gotmarried and brought upfive children. For all thoseyears, their affection foreach other grew stronger inthe course of overcomingdifficulties and hardshipsin life. I was fascinated byAunt Susan’s story, whichwas totally different frommy ideal of love. Theypracticed, in their daily life,giving and sharing insteadof pursuing passion andromance, or complaints.Amazingly, such love lastedthrough their whole life.Unit 3As is commonlyacknowledged that humansare social animals. Livingtogether in a community,we naturally expect to havefriends. As to whatfriendship is, we have readdifferent definitions givenby Aristotle, an ancientGreek philosopher, andCicero, a Roman statesman.No one will deny that somepeople make friends simplyfor mutual utility. Once theground for such friendshipdisappears, the friendshipalso breaks up. However, alot more people long for“soul pals”----those whopossess virtues and withwhom we can go throughtrials and tribulationstogether. Such friendshipskeep us away from greedand violence and inspire usto have the courage of ourconvictions. Such is whatwe call “true friendship”. Itis with such friends’company that we findourselves surpassing ourold selves and becomingbetter people.Unit 4A gold medal is a tribute to the athletic talent, determination and courage of an Olympic champion. Then how do the athletes make themselves fortunate enough to be so highly honored? The champions who have mounted the winners’ stand can offer an answer based on their own experiences. First, in the course of training, they visualize themselves as champions. Once their dreams of becoming champions take shape, they will cling to them courageously. What’s more, top performers are driven to bring out their best. They discipline themselves and squeeze in every possible minute to practice everyday. Despite their relentless efforts, they may sometimes fail to win or narrowly miss a gold medal, yet they believe in themselves and never lose heart. They are ready to take on the most psychologically and technically challenging tasks or competitions. In reality, all champions have experienced lots of hardships on their way to the vital break of their lifetime. So we won’t and can’t say that a champion is lucky. After all, luck only strikes those prepared to capitalize on it.Unit 5We all want to be healthy, to be at our best when handling tough challenges. There has never been a lack of good advice on health. For example, eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep, and set aside some time every week for exercise. Chronobiology, a new science, has provided us with a new approach to achieving peak efficiency. It is to coordinate our daily activities with our biological capacities. We plot on graph paper six readings of our temperature taken at four-hour intervals through a day, and familiarize ourselves with such information as when our body temperature begins to rise, when it reaches its peak point, and when the lowest point appears. Then we plan our daily activities by following the instructions given by chronobiology authorities. For instance, we tackle the most demanding physical work when our temperature is the highest. By contrast, we pursue mental activities like reading and reflection when our temperature is falling. In this way, what we actually do coincides with our body’s natural rhythms and we achieve our best as predicted.。