A Meaningful Gift

    Emily was an eight grader. To pass her Civics course（公民课程）,she had to do some volunteer service in a nursing home for a week.

    One Monday, Emily went to the nursing home after school. When she arrived, she was told she would1an hour every weekday with an elderly lady, Mrs. Blair. She was then led into a room, where an old lady in a flowery dress was sitting on a sofa.

    Emily2awkwardly（别扭地） in front of the lady. She cleared her throat and said,“Good afternoon. I'm Emily.”

    “Good afternoon, Emily. Take a seat,please,”Mrs. Blair replied.

    Then,3filled the space between them. Emily wondered what to say.

    “Tell me about yourself,Emily,”Mrs. Blair said suddenly.

    “Well,” Emily started, “I don't have any grandparents, so I can't relate to elderly people much. I love the performing arts. I'm here mainly because I have to 4here to get a good grade for my Civics class.”Mrs. Blair didn't seem to5.Many people, especially teens, don't seem to care about old people like me. Now you're here, and I'm going to change that about you. Ask me anything.”

    Emily thought for a moment, and finally decided, “What was your job?”

    “I was a Broadway star in the 1950s,”Mrs. Blair answered.

    “Cool! Can you tell me about it?” Emily asked, amazed.

    Mrs. Blair smiled. “Back then, only the lead actress had the honor to wear a 6bracelet. I was the lead in almost all of the plays, so I always wore the bracelet. Till this day, I still have it.”

    Emily smiled along with Mrs. Blair and listened to the other stories, attentively. She had become so interested in Mrs. Blair's7that she decided to come earlier the next day.

    Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday passed by quickly. Then came Friday. As she was leaving, Emily was really8to say goodbye.

    “Don't be sad. You can still visit me,” Mrs. Blair comforted her. She then handed a small box to Emily, “It's my gift to you.”

    Emily9opened the box and was surprised to see what was inside. “It's the bracelet that you wore. Thank you!” Emily said, with tears in her eyes. “I'm sure to visit you whenever I'm free.”

    On her way home, Emily thought of her own love for the performing arts. She touched the bracelet and made a10that she would keep her word to Mrs. Blair.

    Tom hated school and was always looking for excuses not to go. If he sneezed(打喷嚏), he asked his mother1a note saying he had a cold.

    If he had a2, he asked his mother to take him to the3during school hours.

    He4more time at home than he did at school.

    On the5that he did go to school, he looked for excuses to come home early.

    One day he came home from school6the morning. His father was surprised.

    "You're home early, "he said." Is the school7today?"

    "No. Dad" Tom said "It's open. I came home early."

    "8did you do that?" his father asked him. "What did you say to your teacher?"

    "I told her that I had a new baby brother and I 9come home and help you."

    "But your mother has had10." his father said, "a boy and a girl. You've got a baby brother and a baby sister."

    "Yes, I know, Dad." Tom said, "I'm saving up(积攒)my baby sister for next week."

Dear Mr. Smith,

    I'm a middle school student in Shanghai. My parents are1  with me, so they make lots of 2 for me at home. I have to get up 3 5:40 every morning. I have to4 English for an hour before breakfast. I can't play with my friends after school, 5 I have to get home early. In the evening, I can't go out. I have to do my homework and then6 the piano for two hours. I have no time to7. On weekends, two tutors(家教)come to my home. They8 me with my Math and English. I am really not 9  with all these rules. I never have fun at home. 10can I do？

    Please help me.

Yours,

Zhang

    When I was in the seventh grade, I volunteered about thirty to forty hours a week during the summer at a local hospital in my town. Most of the time I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie. He never had any1, and nobody seemed to care about his condition. I spent many days there     holding his hand and talking to him, helping with anything that needed to be done. He became a close friend of mine, even though he replied to me with only a very 2moving of his fingers. Mr. Gillespie was still in a coma(昏迷).

    I left for a week to vacation with my parents, and when I 3 back, Mr. Gillespie had gone. I didn't have the courage to ask any of the nurses where he was, for fear they might tell me he had died.

    Several years passed. One day, when I was at the gas station, I noticed a familiar face. When I realized who it was, my eyes filled with 4. He was alive! I asked him if his name was Mr. Gillespie, and if he had been in a coma about five years ago. With a(an) 5 look on his face, he replied, "Yes". I explained how I knew him, and that I had spent many hours talking with him in the hospital. With tears in his eyes, he gave me the warmest hug (拥抱)I had ever 6.

    He began to tell me how, as he lay there in a coma, he could 7 me talking to him and could feel me holding his hand the whole time. He thought it was an angel, not a person, who was there with him. Mr. Gillespie firmly 8 that it was my voice and touch that had kept him alive.

    Then he told me what happened to him to put him in the coma. We both cried for a while and exchanged a hug, said good-bye and went our separate 9ways.

    Although I haven't seen him since then, he fills my heart with joy every day. I know that I made a difference between his life and his death. More 10, I will never forget him and what he did for me: he made me an angel.

Only half of the class handed in their homework one day. The teacher got an idea while he was giving his students a lesson about weight. He walked around the classroom while holding a glass of water up in the air. He asked his students, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

The students started to shout out their answers. 

"The weight of this glass isn't hard to find out, " the teacher said. "The problem is how long I'm holding it. If I hold it for two minutes, it doesn't feel like much of a problem. If I hold it for an hour, it might feel heavier as my arm begins to tire. If I hold it for a day or a week, my arm will hurt. It'll feel painful. I will be unable to think about anything but the pain that I'm in. In all of these situations, the actual weight of the glass will be the same. But the longer I hold onto it, the heavier it feels to me and the harder it is to hold it. "

"Your homework is like this glass of water, by the way, " the teacher said. The class then understood.