When Susan Chen left high school, she want to go to university. Unfortunately, her father was quite poor,and a university education cost a lot of money.

    Take the entrance examination, she didn't score very high marks, but she scored enough, and was offered a place at the university.

    “I'm very proud of you, Susan,” her father said, “I must find the money for a university education for you somehow.”

“But how ,Dad?” Susan asked.

  “Well, I can sell my car and work a lot of overtime, I can even work at two jobs if necessary. One during the day and one at night.”

   “You're a generous father” Susan said.

“Your future is worth the sacrifice,”he told her.The next day he sold his car and asked his boss to give him three hours overtime every day.This meant walking to work and working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, but he didn't complain. His daughter's education was worth it.

A year passed, Susan took her first-year examination. When the results were announced, she ran home to tell her father the news. “Dad”she said, “I've got my examination results, you'll be pleased,”“You've passed”he exclaimed ,“guess what? I've got the third place and won the scholarship. You can have your car back and stop working so hard.”

    Mark Twain is someone Americans are taught to love. Older relatives, English teachers and the media always praise him. But when you actually take the time to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you find that his work is more wonderful than you could ever imagine.

    The novel describes a young boy named Tom Sawyer growing up in a small town along the Mississippi River. He explores the countryside on a riverboat with his friends, falls in love with girls, starts secret clubs and searches for treasure. Twain's idea of childhood is magical – a time of imagination, wonder and, of course, adventure.

    More importantly, through the eyes of Tom Sawyer, Twain cleverly makes fun of US culture. For example, Tom hates going to church, and Twain uses scenes of Tom there to mock religion and its old traditions.

    Twain's writing is full of these kinds of critical (批判的) points about culture and politics. That's why he is so loved in the US – he wasn't afraid to state his opinions, and he did so clearly.

    He also believed strongly in women's right to vote in elections and gave a famous speech on the subject, called "Votes for Women", in 1901.

    "Tom was a great hero once more – the pet of the old, the envy of the young," Twain writes in Tom Sawyer. But he could just as well be describing himself.

    Mr Black is a football fan. Every morning he goes to work by train. As he has a long trip, he always buys a newspaper. It helps to make the time pass more quickly. One Wednesday morning, Mr Black turned the important football matches. He knew the Football World Cup would be held in his city soon. He decided to go to watch the football game.

    While Mr Black was excited to be at the Football World Cup, he was disappointed（失望的）at the location of his seat. Peering（仔细看）across the stadium through his telescope（望远镜）he saw an empty seat far away and made his way there. Mr Black asked the man in the next seat, “May I sit here?” “Sure,” the man replied. “This was my wife's seat. She was a super football fan, and we used to come to the games together all the time until she passed away.”

    “I am sorry for your loss,” Mr Black said. “But I am curious（好奇的）. Why didn't you give the extra（多余的） ticket to a friend or a relative?” The man replied, “They are all at the funeral（葬礼）.”

    The teacher gave each student a piece of paper. There were some questions on it. "What is your favorite color? Tell us about your hobbies and interests. Do you like your brothers or sisters?"

    Judy hated answering questions. She looked at the questions, and she had no idea how to start. She was the only child in her family, and she had lots of interests, such as running, skating and swimming and so on. She could never fill out what hobby she enjoyed the most. For example, she was interested in all kinds of sports, but she is not good at any of them. So she never knew how to answer questions like these.

    Mrs. Jones, her teacher, walked quietly through the room when the students worked on the project(课题). She stopped at Judy's desk to ask her if she needed some help.

    Judy looked up and said, "I am interested in so many things. I just don't know how to choose."

    Mrs. Jones smiled. She knew Judy was a smart girl but she couldn't focus on what she did." Maybe you could just list three of them."

    Judy seemed to relax and said she knew what to write down.

    Judy liked having the guidance (指点) so she could know what she should do. She finished the project quickly.

    In Los Angeles, a waiter served a group of teens. The waiter remembered his experience as a young high school student. So he made sure the teens had a pleasant experience at the restaurant. The waiter made sure of it.

    After serving all the teens doing a great job, he was left a tip, only $3.28. That was hardly enough to buy a drink at Starbucks.

    The waiter went home. And he felt hatred for the students who did not know the value of hard work. They looked down on people like him. Or so he thought.

    After several days, the waiter forgot about it. His life went on as usual. But ten days later, he received a letter from the teens.

    "About a week and a half ago, on October 7, my three friends and I came to eat at this restaurant as our own homecoming celebration. It was an exciting experience for us to be here alone, and it was all new to us. And you were the best waiter we could ask for. You were kind, helpful, and didn't treat us like babies! So I want to say thank you for making our 'grown-up' experience so amazing and fun.

    "I would also like to say sorry on behalf of my group. Since we were new to all of this, our 13-year-old minds didn't exactly know how to deal with the bill. The bill was reasonable, but we had completely forgotten (and didn't know, to be honest) what a tip even was, let alone how much to give. So we emptied our pockets, and all our money added up to $3.28.

    "Having no idea of how small this really was, we left. Later, we realized our mistake and felt terrible. We knew we had to make it right.

    "So together with this letter, you will find the correct 18% tip + extra for simply being amazing. Thank you for your help and patience and also thank you for making our night fun. Thank you!"