B

    Tears filled my eyes when I stood in our room. I was washing new jeans and a shirt of my 16-year- old stepson(继子), Brett. He drank a lot last night. The clothing was already dirty.

    I was very tired. The clothes were just one thing. He had already kicked a large hole in his bedroom wall. Many windows were broken because of his breaking in to steal money. Brett came to live with us when he was 12 years old. During those four years I had dealt with Brett as patiently as possible, but inside I was feeling sad. Later, I cheered up again and continued parenting Brett. Still, Brett did not change his behavior.

    When Brett was nearly 18, my husband and I decided to send Brett to a boarding school that had very good result with troubled teenagers.

    At the graduation ceremony the graduates stood one by one to thank those who had helped them. Each graduate held a rose to give to the person who had meant the most to him or her.

    Brett spoke lovingly to me, “You did so much. You were always there, no matter what happened. You always showed me such love. And I want you to know that I love you for “it”.

    Surprised, I stood as Brett placed the white rose in my hand and hugged me hard. At that moment I realized the truth-although I had been angry in my heart toward my stepson, Brett had seen only my actions.

    It is autumn, and the Indians ask their new chief (首领) what the weather is going to be like this winter. The chief looks at the sky and says it's usually cold, and he tells the villagers to collect wood for the winter. As a good chief, he goes to call the weatherman and asks, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

    "It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold," the weatherman answers.

    So the chief goes back to his people and tells them to collect more food. A week later he calls the weatherman again.

    "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

    "Yes," the weatherman answers again. "It's going to be a very cold winter."

    The chief again goes back to his people and tells them to collect every piece of wood they can find. Two weeks later he calls the weatherman again.

    "Are you sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

    "Yes," the weatherman answers again. "It's going to be very very cold."

    "Why are you so sure?" asks the chief.

    The weatherman answers, "Because the Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"

C

    When the American were getting ready to send their first men to the moon, an old Australia was watching TV in a restaurant(饭店). There was an Englishman in the restaurant, too, and he said to the Australian, "The Americans are clever, aren't they? They are going to send some men to the moon. It is a very long way from our world(世界) . " Oh, that's nothing." The Australian answered quickly. " Our country is going to send some people to the sun in a few months. That's much farther(更远) away than the moon, you know."

    "Oh, yes, it is," the Englishman said, " but the sun is too hot for people to go to ."  The Australian laughed and said, "We won't go to the sun in the day, of course. We will go there at night."

    One afternoon, Mrs. Smith decided to visit her friend Mrs. Green. Mrs. Green lived in a nice house with a large garden in the countryside. Mrs. Smith took her dog with her. While the women were having coffee outside the house, the dog was running around in the garden. The two friends were surprised when the dog appeared with a dead rabbit in his mouth. Mrs. Green began to feel sick because she knew that her neighbor kept rabbits in a hutch (兔窝) in his garden. As the dog and the rabbit were both covered with dirt, the woman took the rabbit and carefully cleaned it in the bathroom. When it got dark, they went quietly into the neighbor's garden and put the dead rabbit into the hutch.

    The next afternoon, Mrs. Green's neighbor found her in the garden with the dead rabbit. She walked to the neighbor and she felt very afraid. Because she knew she did something wrong. “You know what?” her neighbor said. “Yesterday morning I found one of my rabbits dead in the hutch. So I put it in the ground in the garden and this morning, it's back to the hutch! I'm going to take it to a right pet cemetery (墓地).” he said secretly.

    Tommy hated school and was always looking for excuses(借口)not to go. If he sneezed(打喷嚏), he asked his mother to write to his teacher saying he had a cold. If he had a headache(头痛), he asked his mother to take him to the doctor during school hours. He spent more time at home than he did at school. On the days that he did go to school, he looked for excuses to come home early.

    One day he came home from school in the middle of the morning. His father was surprised.

    "You're home early," he said. "Is the school finished today?"

    "No, dad," Tommy said. "I came home early."

    "How did you do that?" his father asked him. "What did you say to the teacher?"

    "I told her that I had a new baby brother and that I had to come home and help you."

    "But your mother has had twins(双胞胎)," his father said, "a boy and a girl. You've got a baby brother and a baby sister."

    "Yes, I know, Dad," Tommy said, "I'm saving up my baby sister for next week."

    The moon was behind a cloud and there weren't many stars in the sky.

    It was a dark night. I saw a glow(光) in my neighbour's kitchen. I thought he was having a night meal so I went back to my bed.

    Soon, there was a smell of burning in the air and I thought there was probably something wrong. I jumped out of the bed quickly and went out to make sure. I saw a fire coming out of my neighbour's kitchen. Then I shouted "Fire! Fire! ".But no one in the neighbourhood heard my shouts for help.

    I ran into my house, called the fire department(消防队) and went back to my neighbour's house. I banged(猛敲) on the door and called out my neighbour's name, but there was no answer. Finally I broke into the house and rescued a cat and a dog.

    I tried to pour water through the kitchen window but it was no use. It was a big fire. Luckily, the firemen arrived soon and stopped the fire.

    When my neighbour came back, he was sad for his kitchen but he thanked me for calling the fire department and for saving his pets. He wanted to give me some money but I did not accept it.

    Weeks later, my neighbour had a new kitchen. He invited me to see his new kitchen and we enjoyed a big meal there. It made me very happy.