A

    Tom lives in a town near New York. His father has a factory there and his mother is a doctor. He is seven and begins to go to school this September. The school is a little far from home and his father drives a car to take him to school five days a week. So he is never late for class and his teachers like him very much.

    It is Monday today. Miss Green is teaching them to count from one to ten in the morning. Tom is studying hard. Soon he can count them. Miss Green is happy and asks," How many people are there in your family, Tom?"

    Tom stands up and says, "Two, Miss Green."

    "Who are they?"

    "My father and my mother."

    "Oh," Miss Green is surprised. Then she says, "There are three people in your family."

    "But now I'm not at home. I'm at school, you know!"

    An old man went to live with his son, his daughter-in-law, and a four-year-old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was very poor, and he couldn't walk steadily(平稳地). The family ate together nightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Rice often dropped on the floor.

    The son and the daughter-in-law became angry with the old man, so they put a small table in the corner. There, the grandfather ate alone, while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the table. Since the grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.

    The four-year-old son watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with a piece of wood on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?” The boy answered, “Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up.” The four-year-old son smiled and went back to work. The words struck the parents so that they were in silence. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks（脸颊）. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

    I arrived at my mother's home for our Monday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt(被子) after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to fold and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the bottom of one box. I pulled it out. "What is this?" I asked.

"Oh?" Morn said, "That's Mama's quilt."

    I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had pieced it together; irregular designs, childish pictures, a crooked line on the right.

    "Grandmother made this?" I said, surprised. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This certainly didn't look like any of the quilts she had made.

    "Yes, right before she died. I brought it home with me last year and made some changes," she said. "I'm still working on it. See, this is what I've done so far. "

    I looked at it more closely. She had made straight a crooked line. At the center of the quilt, she had stitched(缝) a piece of cloth with these words: "My mother made many quilts. She didn't get all lines straight. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it finished. Her last quilt. "

    "Oh, this is so nice, Mom," I said. It occurred to me(突然想起) that by completing my grandmother's quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family treasure. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and continued with the loving hands of another.

Alan is a cute boy. He often goes to a park with his dad in {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (they) free time.

There is a swimming pool in the park, and Alan often sees many {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (child) there. They swim {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (happy) in summer. He {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wish) that he can swim in a river or a lake someday. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} he knows that he must learn how to swim in a pool first.

{#blank#}6{#/blank#} the morning of Sunday, while dad is still {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (sleep), Alan wakes him up. Then the boy asks Dad {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (take) him to the park.

"Why do you want to go there? It's so hot today," Dad asks.

"I want to learn swimming," says Alan, "And you can teach me there."

"Oh, I'm sorry. But I can't swim," Dad answers.

"You can't swim? Jack's dad swims very {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (good). Why can't you swim?" Alan feels quite surprised.

"His dad likes eating fish, so he can swim {#blank#}10{#/blank#} a fish," Dad says.

"Oh, I see," says Alan, "But you like eating chicken very much. Can you lay eggs (下蛋)?"

 Dancing is popular all over the world. People usually dance in theaters and parks. But Yang Liu,a woman in Guizhou, dances in an unusual place. Her stage is a single bamboo pole.

 Yang is a performer of bamboo drifting(独竹漂). It is a traditional skill in the girl's hometown. In the past, the local people crossed the rivers by riding on a bamboo pole. Now, bamboo drifting has developed into a folk(传统民间的) sport.

 Yang started to learn bamboo drifting at the age of seven. The bamboo pole is very slippery(滑的) and it never completely stops moving. Yang fell into the water again and again. But the girl didn't want to give up. She always got back up on the pole and tried again. She practiced hard every day for three years. Finally, she was able to keep her balance on the pole.

 But Yang didn't just stop there. She wanted to become a dancer on a bamboo pole. The girl practiced many difficult movements on the pole. She failed countless times, but she never stopped trying. Her hard work finally paid off. Now Yang, 24, has made a name for herself as a dancer on a bamboo pole. People can't believe their eyes whenever they watch her performances. Through Yang's dancing, many people now know more about bamboo drifting. They have discovered the beauty of this traditional skill.