My father was born in a poor village in the north of Jiangsu, China. When he was a young boy, he went to school in the morning, and then 1 in the fields till sunset. And then he did his homework until midnight. Life was hard, because they had no 2!

    At the age of 14, my father heard of the United States of America. It was the 3 of gold, the land where poor people can become rich.

   “Why don't I go to America?” he thought to himself, full of 4.

    So, my father came to America. “I had thought it was easy to 5 money in America.” he told me. “But when I arrived there, I realized it's not 6. They didn't like to hire(雇佣) me because I spoke little English. Later, I worked in a small restaurant, cleaning up tables, 7 dishes and sweeping the floor. Life was hard for the first few years. I worked from 10 a. m. to 11 p. m. I wanted to go to school to learn English, but it's impossible. I couldn't 8 the schooling(学费).”

    My father 9 working hard，and reached his goal.

  “Alan,” he often told me. “If you want something, you have to work for it and never give up. Things do not come  10 in life.” That's what I learned from my father.

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.

    Annie works in a big company. She lives 1 in Chicago. She often does everything on her own. One day, she 2 down from her bed and broke her leg, and she had to save herself. She tried to call her friend Lisa. But she dialed a 3 number. The call 4 Taylor, an 18-year-old girl. She was a college student and she lived hundreds of miles away from Chicago. At that time Taylor was reading in bed and she thought it was someone 5 a joke and making fun of her. When she was going to hang up the 6, she heard a woman saying, "Help! Help!" From it, Taylor thought something 7 must have happened to the woman. After she got the 8 name and address. Taylor called 911 at once. Then she tried to make the woman, Annie feel 9. She spoke to Annie on the phone till the doctors 10 at Annie's house. Annie was saved and she wrote a letter to Taylor to thank her.

    Hello，I'm Peter. I come from Japan．I can speak a little English and French. But I can't speak Chinese. I get up at 6: 00 and go to school at 7: 30 in the morning. I like P.E. best at school. It is exciting. I don't like math. I think it is difficult and boring. I want to visit China. I want to learn kung fu.

    My name is Jill. I come from the USA. I'm 13 years old. I go to school at 7: 40 and I go home at 5: 00 in the afternoon. I have lunch at school. I like music best. It is relaxing. I want to join the music club.

    I'm Mark. I'm from England. I can speak English and a little French, but I can't speak Japanese. I like art and I want to join the art club. I also like math, because it is interesting and fun. I have a pen friend in China. His English name is Jack. I want to see him one day.