—What you said is right．

-______．I just do it for a living．(   )

—________I can't afford to pay my bills，let alone buy a new apartment．(   )

          One day I pulled up to my apartment building and noticed there was a father and daughter1some things from a moving truck. Normally I'm shy away from contact with2That particular day, though, something was in me: I can't explain3, but I felt like I should just help these people, even4omething as seemingly unimportant as unloading a truck. So I5and introduced myself, welcomed them to the town, and asked them to give me a(n) 6 to put some proper shoes on. After I had flip－flops(夹趾拖鞋) on, I went over and helped them move all of their7into the apartment.

After we finished, we talked some and I got to know my new8. It might seem unimportant, but it seems like people are less9and friendly to their neighbors these days: I wanted to10that, at least in my small11block, So we did talk, and they're from Florida, just like me.

          At that12time in my life, I was going through a really difficult 13with my girlfriend of 7 years. I didn't feel like helping anyone or doing anything 14, but I figured why not? And I'm glad I did. Also, as15would have it, their daughter is my age(college student) and we each had a mutual(相互的) 16 in one another. This developed into a friendship, and in the coming months. probably more.

          The 17was the act itself, though. I got to know my new neighbors and made some new friends in the18. And I felt really good about it. Since then, I've tried19my comfort zone to perform other unplanned acts of 20. So far, so good. I'd encourage everyone else to do the same!

          I hated dinner parties. But I decided to give them another shot because I'm in London. And my friend Mallery invited me. And because dinner parties in London are very different from those back in New York. There, “I'm having a dinner party” means “I'm booking a table for 12 at a restaurant you can't afford and we'll be sharing the cheque evenly, no matter what you eat.”

         Worse, in Manhattan there is always someone who leaves before the bill arrives. They'll throw down cash, half of what they owe, and then people like me, who don't drink, end up paying even more. But if I try to use the same trick, the hostess will shout “Where are you going?” And it's not like I can say I have somewhere to go: everyone knows I have nowhere to go.

         But in London, dinner parties are in people's homes. Not only that, the guests are an interesting mix. The last time I went to one, the guests were from France, India, Denmark and Nigeria; it was like a gathering at the United Nations. In New York, the mix is less striking. It's like a gathering at Bloomingdale's, a well-known department store.

         For New Yorkers, talking about other parts of the world means Brooklyn and Queens in New York. But at Mallery's, when I said that I had been to Myanmar recently, people knew where it was. In New York people would think it was a usual new club.

注意：①文章的标题和开头已给出（不计词数）。 ②参考词汇：singing contest 歌咏比赛 costume 服装

                                                      Star Student of the Week 

         Li Yue has been awarded the title of "Star Student of the Week" for what she did for our class．