The city Bank was broken into yesterday at 8 p.m. The police were asking two men, John Smith and his brother Joseph Smith.

    JOINING A CHOIR

    I've always loved singing, but singing hasn't always loved me. I

would open my mouth with a beautiful song in my head, fully expecting my voice to follow suit — only to get an awful tone (音调）in return.

    Still, without a second thought, I continued to try to sing whenever possible. On car journeys, when my now twenty something sons weresmall, they would make a great play ( hands over their ears， shoutingNo，Mum，stop!') of going through punishment as I sang along to the radio.

    Never in a hundred years would I have thought about joining a choir. And when I did finally become a member of my first choir 15 years ago, something fantastic happened to my life. From the first time I experienced my voice as something special but also comfortable, in harmony (和谐）with the other singers, I lost my heart to singing. It was like falling in love. And everyone in the choir had the same shining smiles and bright eyes — singing made them feel happy, too.

    Although it is singing itself that makes me happy，it is also how a choir works together. There is something magical about breathing together. The voice of everyone singing quietly together is powerful and excitingly mysterious (神秘的），almost spiritual.

    And there's the unexpected friendship from the activities we do as a choir: raising money for good causes and taking our singing sometimes to places where people are forgotten and sad.

    I am now a member of six choirs and，if I can，sing every day of the week. I stand in front of several hundred people，and know that some，if not all，of each song will sound not bad at all.

    One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, "Look! There's a horseshoe. Pick it up arid put it in your bag. "Thomas said." It isn't worth(值得) the trouble. "His father said nothing but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries(樱桃).

    The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn't a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty(口渴的) to walk on. At the moment, his lather dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son picked it up and put it in his mouth.

    And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had caught' up all the cherries, his father said to him," My dear son, if you had bent(弯腰) down in the beginning to pick up that horseshoe, you wouldn't have bent so many times for the cherries. Always remember this lesson：If someone don't worry about the little things, he will find it impossible for him to do the great things."

    Larry and Jo Ann were an ordinary couple. Like any other couple, they made efforts to make ends meet (收支相抵) and do the right thing for their children. They often argued about what was wrong with their marriage and who was to blame (责备). They wanted to make changes.

    "You know, Jo Ann, I've got a magic chest (衣柜) of drawers. Every time I open them, they're full of clean clothes," Larry said. "I want to thank you for filling them all these years."

    Jo Ann stared at her husband and felt strange. This wasn't the first time Larry had done something strange recently, so Jo Ann forgot it quickly. But it happened again a few days later.

    "Jo Ann, that was a great dinner," Larry said one evening. "I appreciate all you have done in the past 15 years. You have cooked lots of delicious food for me and the kids. "

    Jo Ann was growing worried. "What's wrong with my husband?" she wondered.

    Day in and day out, Larry continued his praise.

    Over the weeks, Jo Ann grew more used to her husband's unusual behavior. Her step was now a little lighter and she didn't seem to get upset as often.

    Larry has never told Jo Ann the reason for his change in behavior. So it will likely remain one of life's mysteries. But it's one I'm thankful to live with.

    You see, I am Jo Ann.

Micah is my 12-year-olddaugher. We used to do many things together. But these days, "I'm good" is about all she says to me, which means "Leave me alone". 

I wondered why she didn't want to do things with me. When I set table for dinner one evening, I heard Micah shout, "Mom, come quickly" I rushed out and found a little baby bird on the ground. My eyes went up to the branches (树枝）. For the last few weeks we had watched the bird make a nest and lay eggs there. "The wind must have blown him out of the nest." I said. "No, it was Mr. Whiskers, our cat. You let him go outside !" Micah said.

I realized she was right. So I said sorry and put the bird back. As soon as we went inside, she began to search for what to feed it on the computer carefully. And I found she focused on the screen more than ever before. She didn't even have dinner with me. "It needs a name," Micah said. "How about Chance ? I think he has a good chance of living with your help."I said. "I like it," said Micah.

Early the next morning, I got up to mix the bird food that Micah found on the Internet. But Chance didn't need it, because his mother was back ! Weeks later, we went to check on Chance. The nest was empty. Chance was standing proudly on a branch.He has grown up ！ Then I realized Micah wasn't a little girl any longer. She is her own person.

Dear Nancy,

You asked me about places {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (go) and things to do in my town. The Downtown Mall is always fun. It's a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (shop) place in the oldest part of town. There are some good stores and restaurants there, for example, Trendy Clothing Store. It's a fun place to shop, and it has the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (good) quality(质量) clothes. The shop assistants are {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (friend) to people.

My favorite restaurant in the town is Nick's Restaurant. It is close {#blank#}5{#/blank#} my house. It's cheap and the hamburgers there are great. I like Dragon City Restaurant, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. You can eat wonderful noodles there and the beef noodles are the most delicious! You must try the dumplings there, too! But it's more expensive {#blank#}7{#/blank#} Nick's Restaurant. The Big Cinema is the best cinema in my town. It {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (have) the biggest screens and the most comfortable seats. The Del Ray Complex is also a good place to see {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (movie). It doesn't have the newest movies, but the tickets are the cheapest.

Anyway, there are lots of things to do and to see here. Come for {#blank#}10{#/blank#} visit soon.

Yours,

Linda