Yesterday evening, when I went to town with my 1, we met a strange old man. It was raining 2and we had no umbrella. We were trying to get into a taxi when he came up to us. He was carrying a nice 3 and he said he would give it to 4 for only one pound.  He said he had 5 his wallet and he needed taxi fare(费用) to go back home. My mother didn't believe 6 he said at first, and asked him a lot questions. but she finally believed the man and gave him a pound. She was 7 to buy a good umbrella for so little. but the old man didn't get into a taxi. We followed him and found he went into a pub(酒吧) and bought 8a glass of whiskey(威士忌) with a pound. 9he drank it, he put on his hat and took one of the many wet umbrellas there and went off with the new one. Soon after that, he 10 it again.

    George lived with his sick mother in a poor village.

    One bright sunny1in July, he went early to the forest two miles away. He was asked to2some wood from under the trees. After working hard for half a day, he looked around for a3 place to rest and eat his lunch. Suddenly some fine red wild 4 caught his eyes.

    "How good these will be with my bread and butter!" thought George. He at once began to5all the strawberries he could find and sat down by the river, ready to enjoy them.

    Then just as he was lifting the6strawberry to his mouth, he thought of his mother. "Shall I7them for her?" said he, thinking how much they would make8happy, yet still looking at them with longing (渴望的)eyes.

    "I will eat half, and take the other half to her," said he. Then he divided the strawberries into two.9he found each half looked so small that he put them together again.

    "I will only taste one." Then seeing that he had taken the biggest, he put it back. Finally he 10 them carefully with some leaves, deciding to keep them all11his mother.

    When the sun was beginning to go down, George went home.12happy he felt that he had all his strawberries for his sick mother. The13he came to his home, the less he wished to taste them. As soon as he arrived, he ran to his14and happily offered his wild strawberries. Tears in eyes, she put her hand on his head and said15, "And you kept them for your sick mother, did you? God will bless you for all this, my child. "

   Could the eating of the strawberries have given George half the happiness he felt at this moment?

    A group of frogs were traveling through the woods. Unluckily two of them fell into a hole. When the other frogs saw how 1 the hole was, they told the two frogs that they couldn't be saved. The two frogs didn't 2 them and tried to jump out of the hole. The other frogs kept telling them to 3. Finally, one of the frogs believed what the other frogs were saying and 4. He fell down and died. The other frog continued to jump as 5 as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs shouted at him to stop. But he jumped even harder and 6 made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Didn't you 7 us?" The frog explained to them that he was 8. He thought that they were 9 him all the time.

    This story teaches us a (an) 10:

    There is power of life and death in 11. An encouraging word to someone who is 12 can lift him up and help him 13 while a discouraging word can even 14 him.

    Be careful of what you say. Speak hopefully to those who cross your path. It is sometimes 15 to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Remember anyone can say words that can encourage another person to continue his way in difficult times.

My mother is 82 years old. Each week I take my mother out to do shopping and visit the doctor，because she has difficulty in1 . She is unable to express herself clearly. 

Last week she walked to a nearby store to buy some small things by herself，because I was busy. When she went to2 for her things，she found that she was short of three dollars. The only way to pay for the goods was to3 a cup. By dropping it，she was able to buy the new total with the cash she had. 

At this store，people looked around and chose their own goods. My mother was putting her things into shopping bags4 without talking to others. Suddenly a5 came up to her and said， "Here is the cup that you put back. " Then she6 my mother the cup. My mother asked for the woman's name and7 so that she could repay her by post （邮寄）. But the woman told her the cup was her gift. 

My mother was8 . The next day，she decided to go back to the store and give the worker a five﹣dollar bill to keep on hand. When the9 thing happened to someone else unexpectedly，the worker could use the bill. 

Whoever you are，you should thank for the act of10 . That not only help others，but may help yourself one day. 

What are some of the difficulties of being blind? Two hundred years ago, a little boy was born in France. He was Louis Braille, a happy and lovely baby.

Sadly, when he was three, something bad happened. While playing in his father's shop, Louis hurt his eyes on a sharp thing. Although he got the best care at that time, he was still completely blind and could not see all the lovely colours and beautiful things around him.

Louis was a kind boy. As he grew older, he wanted to help other blind people read. However, it was really hard for him. The first way he tried was to poke (戳) holes in paper and read by touching raised (凸起的) letters with his fingers. But it was too slow to read the letters and few blind people could do it well. After that, he tried many other ways.

One day, Louis heard about someone using dots to represent (代表) sounds. He immediately found its advantages and he spent three years improving upon this idea. Finally, he made a special alphabet and blind people could feel it with their fingers. Each letter was made with a number of dots and people could feel them by their fingers.

The alphabet that Louis made is called 'Braille'. Today many blind people use 'Braille' to help them to read. This is how the Braille Alphabet looks: