Around twenty years ago I was living in York. 1 I had a lot of experience and a Master's degree,I could not find 2 work.

    I was 3 a school bus to make ends meet and 4 with a friend of mine, for I had lost my flat. I had 5 five interviews(面试) with a company and one day between bus runs they called to say I did not 6 the job. “Why has my life become so  7？”I thought painfully.

    As I pulled the bus over to  8  a little girl, she handed me an earring  9 I should keep it  10  somebody claimed (认领) it. The earring was painted black and said “BE HAPPY”.

    At first I got angry. Then it  11 me—I had been giving all of my 12  to what was going wrong with my 13  rather than what was right！I decided then and there to make a 14 of fifty things I was happy with. Later, I decided to15 more things to the list.That night there was a phone call for  16  from a lady who was a director at a large  17.She asked me if I would  18  a one­day lecture on stress(压力) management to 200 medical workers. I said yes.

    My 19  there went very well, and before long I got a well­paid job.To this day I know it was because I changed my way of  20  that I completely changed my life.

    Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.

    Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4,1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.

    The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three­day feast (盛宴).The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.

    In time, other colonies (殖民地) began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed (宣布) the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving.

    Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian Thanks­giving Day falls on the second Monday in October.

    There are a number of special days of the year that are celebrated in different countries. The origins of most of the days are unknown. They were certainly not created by individual people. Other days, however, especially those celebrated in western countries often owe their origins to a particular person. One of the most popular of these, even though it is fairly recent, is Mother's Day. Mothers have always been highly regarded in all cultures. The ancient Romans had a festival known as Hilaria, during which children took presents to the temple of the “Mother of the Gods”. The Christian Church adopted this idea and called it Mothering Sunday. However, over the years this custom was gradually forgotten, and almost disappeared by the end of the 19th century.

    Born in 1864 in Virginia, US, Anna Jarvis was a school teacher and believed children should show gratitude(感激) to their mothers for all their love and care. Encouraged by a friend, she wrote to thousands of important people—politicians, churchmen, doctors, city officials and asked them to support her idea：a special day of the year for thanking mothers.

    In 1910 the Governor of Western Virginia introduced Mother's Day in the state. The date chosen was May 10 — the second Sunday in May, which is still observed in America today. This date was chosen because May 10 was the date on which in 1908 Anna Jarvis's mother died. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made May 10 the official date for Mother's Day throughout the United States.

    Soon there was a Mother's Day International Association and the custom began to be adopted in many countries of the world.

    Anna Jarvis, a sad and disillusioned (幻想破灭的) woman died in 1948.The custom she had worked so hard to establish and which had become almost universal had lost its original purpose. It had been taken over by business. As with Christmas, the giving of presents and the sending of cards had become a multi­million dollar industry.

Great changes in our hometown in the past 20 years.

Yellow flowers always in the countryside.