Mum's Christmas Surprise

    Molly ran back home from school and dropped her schoolbag on the sofa. Then on the table she saw “Mum's Wish Book” – a mail order catalog（商品目录） from a gift shop. “Mum,” she said excitedly to herself, “this year you'll get the gloves you want!” Molly had walked a dog for a neighbor and saved her 1 all year to buy Mum the gloves.

    She opened “Mum's Wish Book” and hoped that she could find these 2 in it. Teas ran down her face when she saw the gloves in the catalog. Mum wouldn't buy them for herself, because the family had a 3 time on the farm. She once heard Mum say to Dad, “Maybe some day, I'll have the money to get them.”

    Molly ran out by the back door and went straight to the post office. There she carefully filled out the order form torn from the catalog.

    “I need to buy a stamp to 4 the form.” She said to Mr. Smith, the only worker in the post office.

    “Umm, a pair of gloves?” said Mr. Smith, as he passed a stamp to her.

    “Yes, It's a Christmas gift for Mum, but please don't tell her. It's our 5, OK?” Molly didn't realize how white Mr. Smith's beard was until that moment. In face, he reminded her of Santa Claus.

    As Molly walked back home, she decided to tell Dad her secret. “You've got to check the mailbox every day,” said Molly 6 to Dad. He nodded, with a big smile.

    Coming home from school every day, Molly peeked at （偷看） Dad when Mum wasn't 7, but every time he shook his head.

    On Christmas Eve, Dad came back from mailbox, still empty handed. Molly felt 8 when she went to bed, because she didn't have the gloves for Mum.

    Before Christmas dinner, as Mum took the apple pies out of the oven, Molly began 9 the table. Suddenly, they heard someone pulling up the driveway. From the window they saw Mr. Smith making his way to the door, with a box in his hand. Mr. Smith 10 Mum the box, “I believe this is yours.”

    Mum looked from Dad to Molly and opened the box. Her eyes lit up when she saw the gloves. “Oh, who bought these for me?” she asked.

    “Santa did,” said Molly smilingly.

    “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” Mr. Smith, with a loud laugh.

    It was Christmas that no one would ever forget.

    Charlie Chaplin's parents separated a year after his birth in 1889. He lived with his mother and elder brother in a flat in London.

    Mrs. Chaplin managed to 1 her children on her own with the money she made as a singer. 2, their economic (经济的) situation changed when she became ill with laryngitis(喉炎) in 1894. Instead of resting her 3 until it got better, Mrs. Chaplin kept on singing. Her voice got weaker and weaker and she began to find it 4 to find well-paid work.

    One evening Charlie happened to be in the theatre 5 his mother singing on stage. Suddenly, her voice 6. She tried to finish the song, but the audience (观众) began to whistle and got angry. Mrs. Chaplin could not continue any longer and walked 7 the stage crying.

    The stage manager knew he had to do something quickly to 8 the embarrassing situation. He remembered Charlie once sang at a party. He 9 took Charlie by the hand to the stage. After a brief introduction, he left Charlie to please the audience.

    Charlie began to sing and dance in front of hundreds of people. The audience enjoyed the 10 very much and began to throw money. 11 Charlie saw this, he immediately stopped singing and announced to the audience that first he would 12 the money and then he would finish the song. The audience found this announcement especially 13 and started to throw even more money onto the stage.

    Charlie felt perfectly at home on stage. He did not feel 14 at all and danced and sang more songs to the audience. To his amazement, there was more 15 and more money throwing.

    That night was Charlie's first public performance on the stage and his mother's last.

    Alice had an argument with her best friend Judy last Sunday. She thought 1 was really difficult and wanted to copy Judy's homework. But Judy refused. They didn't talk to each other for a few days. Alice didn't know 2 to face her math problem and she wondered if she could get on well with her friend again.

    Yesterday afternoon, she saw a cool boy 3 the violin happily by the road when she was walking home from school. The violin sounded so nice. 4 Alice didn't know what music he was playing, it made her feel better. After he finished the music, Alice walked over to him and said, "Thank you 5 your beautiful music. It gets me out of the really bad mood(心情)." Then she took out some 6 and gave it to him. To her surprise, the boy asked her to take the money back. He explained that he wasn't making money by playing the violin. He just wanted to 7 others. He hoped that the wonderful music could make people relaxed and happy. What a 8 boy he was. Then Alice told him about her trouble.

    He said, "You should learn to smile even if you are in difficulty. Listening to music is helpful. So why not listen to music as 9 as possible? Never lose heart! Believe in your friend! She has her reason. Believe in 10! Everything will go well!

    Hearing these words, Alice went home with a smile. She believed she could make it.

    It's December 23rd. Class One is having a 1. They sell 2 things at school. Dave sells apples, oranges and pears. Many people 3 his fruit. He makes(赚得) ten dollars a day. Lucy sells 4. She has T-shirts on sale. 5 are her T-shirts, do you know? Oh, her T-shirts are 6 a good price. They are five dollars each. Jane sells 7 things. She has pens and 8 on sale. They are very nice. Her pens are 9 one dollar each. Her notebooks are two dollars each. Jane makes 10 dollars in the morning and five dollars in the afternoon. She makes twelve dollars a day.