“My dear lady，”says Holmes．“You're shivering．Are you cold? Do you want a cup of hot tea?”

    “I'm not cold，”the woman replies，“I fear for my life!”

    “We are here to help you．Don't worry about anything．I don't know you．But I know many things about you．For example，I know how you traveled．You came to London by train．You also rode to the train station on a horse—drawn wagon．''

    “Why，yes．You‘re right.But how do you know these things?”

    “I see a return ticket in your glove．I see fresh mud on the left arm of your dress. Now tell us your problem．''

    “My name is Helen Stoner，”she states，“My mother and father are dead．I am living with my stepfather．Dr．Grimsby Roylott．He comes from a rich family．But they are no longer rich．They have nothing except a small piece of land and a huge old house．We are living in the house. Dr．Roylott is using my mother's mone37 for expenses．Part of it was for my sister and me. It was for our marriages．”

    Holmes is sitting in his chair．His eyes are closed．He is listening carefully to Helen's story．He hears every detail.

    Helen continues. “My stepfather has no friends．He fights with everyone．He is strong and gets angry quickly. Everyone is afraid of him．”

    “He has no friends at all?”asks Holmes．

    “No．He talks to no one except the gypsies(吉普赛人)．They are poor people who travel from place to place．A band of gypsies is staying on our land right now．''

    “Are you and your sister afraid of the gypsies?”

    “My dear Mr．Holmes．You are making me so sad．My sister is dead．That is why I am standing here in this room．”    ，  .

    A young man went to visit a wise man living deep in the mountain for the wisdom of life.

    “Excuse me! Could you please tell me what the most 1 day in our lives is? Is it the day when we were born or the day we 2 ? Is it the day when fall in love or the day we succeed?” The man asked.

    “Neither. The most important day in our lives is 3.” The wise man replied calmly.

    “Why?” The young man felt more than 4, “Is it because there is a moving event taking place today?”

    “No. Nothing has happened today.”

    “Is it because of my visit?”

    “Even if nobody visited me today, today is 5 very important because today is the only wealth we have . No matter how memorable yesterday is, it has gone by like a ship going down into the sea; no matter how bright tomorrow may be, it is yet to come, but no matter how common today is, it is under our 6.”

    The young man still wanted to ask something, while the wise man 7 him and said, “When we are talking about the meaning of today, we have 8 a lot of it.”

    The young man nodded and then went down the mountain.

    Actually, today is the only 9 we have. So, what we should do now is to 10yesterday and tomorrow and catch fast today!

    Life is full of unexpected. 1 a cold winter afternoon, a man saw an old lady standing by her expensive car and clearly she needed help. So he stopped and 2 his old truck. "Is he going to hurt me? He doesn't look safe," the old lady was 3.

    The man could see that she was afraid, so he said in his friendliest voice, "I'm here to help you, madam. Why don't you 4 in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Ted Johnson." Ted quickly fixed the car and the lady thanked him. The she asked 5 she could pay him.

    But Ted wanted no money. He was just giving a hand to someone in trouble. 6 was normal for him to do such a thing like that. He said. " If you really want to repay（报答）me , next time you see someone in need, think of me and help them."

    After saying goodbye, the lady continued down the road until she reached a small 7 where she decided to stop for something to eat. As the pretty waitress took her order, the lady noticed she was nearly eight months pregnant（怀孕）. The waitress looked tired and week, 8 she was very kind. As the lady was going to pay the $10 bill, she remembered Ted's words.

    After the lady was gone, the waitress saw a small note on the table. It said, "Somebody once helped me the way I'm helping you. Continue being kind to other people." Under the note were five 9 dollars.

    The waitress was 10 excited that she called her husband to tell him the news, "Ted…Ted Johnson my dear… you're not going to believe what just happened…"

    Erquan Yingyue was written 1 Abing, a folk musician who was born in the city of Wuxi in 1893. His mother died 2he was very young. Abing's father taught him to play many musical instruments, 3 the drums, dizi and erhu, and by age 17, Abing had been known 4his musical ability. However, after his father died, Abing's life grew 5 He was very poor. Not only that, he developed a6 illness and became blind. For several years, he had no home. He lived on the streets and played music to make money. Even after Abing got 7and had a home again, he continued to sing and play on the streets. He 8in this way for many years.

    Abing played music that could touch the 9of people. When we listen to his music, we can sense both the beauty and sadness in it. It makes us think about the wounds and pain that we experienced in the past. By the end of his life, he could 10 over 600 pieces of music. He wrote many of them himself. It is a pity that only six pieces of music in total were recorded for the future world to hear, but his popularity continues to this day.

    A group of frogs(青蛙) went jumping through the forest one day. Suddenly, two of them fell into a deep 1 All of the other frogs came together to look 2at their two fallen friends. They all began to shake their heads 3 "It's too deep!" said one frog. Another added that there was no way they would ever be able to get out 4.

    The two frogs began to jump and tried to get out. But the frogs that were 5 kept shouting at them that they had better 6 because they were just wasting their 7. One of the two frogs finally 8, listened to their advice and died.

    The other frog just kept on jumping harder than ever9 all the shouts. They kept shouting at him to stop being so 10and save himself from all the pain(疼痛) when he jumped and fell back down to the hard bottom again and again.

    Finally, to the 11of all the other frogs, he jumped right high enough and got out. The other frogs asked him, "Why did you keep jumping 12we shouted at you to stop?" The frog explained, "I was so worried at that time that I could hardly, 13anything. I thought all of you were saying words of 14all the time and cheering me on to try harder."

    Yes! Cheering words can sometimes make such a (n) 15. A little encouragement can go a long way.