Hi,my name is Erik. I live in a small town in the southeast of England. In my house there are three rooms downstairs ad three rooms upstairs. Now I'll show you some of the rooms.

Kitchen		The fridge—This is the place where mum keeps things cool. Dad's computer—Not everyone in England has a computer in his kitchen but my dad has. Washing Machine—Mum washes our clothes here and hangs them out in our garden to dry.
Bathroom	A toilet. A bath—We fill the bath up with water  and  then  climb  into  it  to wash ourselves. A sink with two taps (one for hot water and one for cold). I clean my teeth at the sink and also wash my hands and face. Laundry basket—This is where I put my dirty clothes for washing.
Bedroom	My own computer and my own television. Wardrobe—to hang my clothes in.Bookcase—for my books. My bed—My bed is high up as I have my  desk  and  my  computer under it.

he living room is also downstairs. It is where the television is. We eat our food and watch TV there. The three rooms upstairs are all bedrooms.

    I arrived at my mother's home for our Saturday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. I knew they were all made herself. She was preparing for a quilt show on TV. 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's this?” I asked.

“Oh?” Mom said, “That's Mama's quilt.”

    I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had made the pieces together.

 “Grandmother made this?” I asked in surprise. 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,” Mom 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 a line straight(直的). At the center of the quilt， she had stitched 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. I was sure now that by completing my grandmother's quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized 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.

    Henry was an office worker in a big city. He worked very hard and enjoyed travelling during his holidays.

    He usually went to the seaside, but one year he saw an advertisement in a newspaper." Enjoy country life. Spend a few weeks at West Hill Farm. Good food. Fresh air. Walking. Fishing. Cheap and interesting."

    "This sounds a good idea," he thought. "I'll spend a month at West Hill Farm. I think I can enjoy walking and fishing. They'll make a change from sitting by the seaside and swimming."

    He wrote to the farmer. In the letter he said that he would like to spend the whole July there. Then on the first day of July, he left for West Hill Farm.

    But four days later, he returned home.

    "What was wrong with West Hill Farm?" his best friend, Ed. asked him. "Didn't you enjoy country life?"

    "Country life was very good," Henry said. "But there was another problem."

    "Oh. What?"

    "Well," he said, "on the first day a sheep died, and we had roast mutton (烤羊肉) for dinner."

    "What's wrong with that?" Ed asked. "Fresh meat is the best."

    "I know, but on the second day a cow died, and we had roast beef for dinner."

    "Lucky you!"

    "You don't understand," Henry said. "on the third day a pig died and we had roast pork for dinner."

    "A different kind of meat every day," Ed said loudly, "and you are complaining!"

    "Let me finish, "Henry said. "on the fourth day the farmer. died, and I didn't dare (敢) stay for dinner!"

    Frank was clever, but he never liked to work hard. He often said to his friends, "If you work hard, you will make a lot of money, but it is not so good. I want easy work and a lot of money. That's the most interesting thing in the world. "So he could only be a thief. But he still thought it was too much work, so he only told his friends what to do and got money from them.

    One day, Frank sent one of his friends to a very large and beautiful house. He told him to get money from that rich family. It was evening, and a man and a girl were in the room. They were playing a duet(二重奏)on a piano. Then the thief came into the house.

    When he returned, Frank asked him what he had got. But he said, "I didn't take anything. That family can't have much money. You know, two people were playing on the same piano there. They did not have money to buy another piano."

    Annie Sullivan had a hard life. She grew up alone and very poor. Annie had trouble with her eyes, too. She could not see well.

    One day after Annie grew up, a family called her. They needed help with their daughter. Their little daughter's name was Helen Keller. Helen needed a teacher.

    Helen could not see. She could not hear, either. She felt scared and lonely(孤独的). Annie wanted to help Helen. She wanted to be able to talk to her.

    Annie tried to teach Helen a sign language, a way to make words with hands. But Helen did not know what Annie tried to teach her.

    One day near the outside water pump, Annie had an idea. She put one of Helen's hands in the water. Then Annie let Helen feel W-A-T-E-R on her other hand again and again and again.

    At last, Helen knew. She learned that what she was feeling had a name. Helen was on her way to a lifetime of learning.