A

    When I was a little kid, a father was like the light in the fridge. Every house had one, but no one really knew what either of them did when the door was shut.

    My dad left the house every morning and always seemed glad to see every one again at night. He opened the jar of pickles when no one else at home could. He was the only one in the house who wasn't afraid to go into the basement by himself. 

    Whenever it rained, he got into the car and brought it around to the door. When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription(处方) filled. He set mousetraps. He cut back the roses so the thorns(刺) wouldn't hurt you when you came to the front door. He oiled my roller skates, and they went faster. When I got my bike, he ran alongside me for at least a thousand miles until I got the hang of it. He signed all my report and cards. He took a lot of pictures, but was never in them. He tightened up Mother's sagging(松垂的) clothesline every week or so.

I was afraid of everyone else's father, but not my own. 

    Whenever I played house(玩过家家), the mother doll had a lot to do. I never knew what to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, "I'm going off to work now," and threw him under the bed.

    When I was nine years old, my father didn't get up one morning and go to work, he went to the hospital and died the next day. 

    There were a lot of people in the house who brought all kinds of good food and cakes. We had never had so much company before. 

    He never did anything; I didn't know his leaving would hurt so much.

    It was a rainy night in New Orleans, US. At a bus station, I watched a young girl cry as her baggage(行李) was taken down. It seemed she'd lost her ticket. She begged the bus driver not to leave her behind.

    “Losing your ticket is like losing money,” the bus driver said, and left her in the rain.

    But then an old man stood up and blocked the driver's way. “How can you leave that girl out there? You know she had a ticket. You can't just leave her here. You can't leave her in a city where she doesn't have a friend. You will meet your schedule(日程安排), but she might meet her end.”

    The driver showed no sign that he'd heard or even cared about the young girl's problem, or how her travels went.

    So the old gentleman said: “I'll pay for her ticket. I'll give her a little money to help her on her way.”

    He went and bought a ticket for the girl. “How can I repay the kindness you've shown tonight?” she asked. “We're strangers who won't meet again. A mere ‘thank you' doesn't seem right.”

    The old man said: “What goes around comes around. I've learned this with time. What you give, you always get back. Always be helpful to others and give what you can spare(分让).”

    It is a fine Sunday morning. Ann and her mother are on a big bus. There are many people on it. Some of them come from America, and some come from England and Canada. They are going to the Great Wall.

    There are only two Chinese on the bus. One is the woman. She is driving the bus. The other is a young man. He is their guide and can speak English very well. Now he is talking with an American girl. Other people are listening to them. They are very interested in the Great Wall. They want to see it very much.

    Jean is a bright young girl from a rich and famous family. She goes to a good university and has almost everything that money can buy. But all her family are so busy that they can hardly find time to be with her. In fact, Jean feels quite Lonely. So Jean spends a lot of her time on Facebook. She likes to be anonymous, using the name Linda on Facebook. She doesn't want people to know anything about her famous family and her rich life.

    Last year Jean made a very special friend on Facebook. His name was David and he lived in San Francisco. David was full of stories and jokes. He and Jean had the same interests in rock music and modern dance. So it always took them many hours to talk happily about the latest rock music and their favorite singers and sometimes they even forgot the time. Of course, they wanted to know more about each other. David sent a picture of himself: He was a tall, good-looking young man with a big, happy smile. As time went by, they became good friends and often sent cards and small things to each other.

    When Jean's father told her that he was going on a business trip to San Francisco, she asked him to let her go with him, so that she could give David a surprise for his birthday. She would take him the latest CD of their favorite rock singer. But when Jean knocked on David's door in San Francisco she found that the special friend she had chatted with on Facebook for so long was a twelve-year-old boy named Jim.

    Hi, I'm Dino, the family dog. I help keep people safe, especially on the roads. Take a look at my diary to see what I did last week.

    Sunday

    Some children are really too young to take care of themselves. Our neighbor's boy ran in front of a car to get his ball. The car almost hit him. I saved him though. Remember, always look and listen.

    Tuesday

    People can get very angry when driving, usually for silly reasons. One driver started shouting at Mum today when she stopped to let some children cross the road. I soon made the driver stop.

    Wednesday

    One thing makes me really mad. Grrrrrr. People walk on a dangerous road when they can walk on the safe pavement (人行道). I saw two girls doing that today but I soon made them change their minds.

    Saturday

    Today Mum took me for a walk. One car was parked in a very dangerous place. It was right on the corner of the street. Don't worry though. I left him a message.