I was 8 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1993, but I can remember my mother's words as if it were yesterday. “Jessica, I don't want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”

    AIDS wasn't something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 11, his condition worsened. My father's other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.

    We couldn't afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work. I had no money for school supplies and often couldn't even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher's words muffled as I was thinking how I was going to manage.

    I didn't share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside even though he was too weak to feed himself.

    I had known that he was going to die. But after so many years of keeping his condition a secret, I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit (非营利的) National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.

    I was 14 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn't want to call attention to AIDS. I do.

阅读下列短文,从每小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出一个最佳选项。

    Sarasota, Florida teen band The Garbage-Men is performing on the stage. The band has five members. They are Jack Berry, Ollie Gray, Harrison Paparatto, Austin Siegel and Evan Tucker. The five teens are making music from waste. The Garbage-Men band's instruments are made from recycled things. The guitars are boxes. A horn(号) is made from pipes. The keyboard is formed from old bottles.

    The band started about two years ago. Jack Berry who was in eighth grade at the time decided to make a playable, home-made guitar, after some trial-and-error(反复试验), he ended up building it from a cereal box, a yardstick and toothpicks. After Jack showed his creation to his friend Ollie Gray, Ollie had the idea to form a band using other home-made instruments as a way to improve recycling. “We want to show people there is more to recycling than throwing things away in the bin.” Jack, 16, told TFK. “You can actually reuse materials.”

    The Garbage-Men plays at local events around Sarasota, including festivals, farmer's markets and community fundraisers. Typically, the teens will set up on the street and perform popular songs from the 1960s, including classic Beatles tunes and crowd favorite “Wipe Out,” by The Surfaris. In between sets, they talk about recycling and offer tips for how to help the environment. While they perform, Jack's little brother Trent, 11, gives out flyers(宣传单) about recycling and helps sell the band's CDs and other musical products.

    The band donates(捐赠) the money from sales to charity. They have raised more than $2,500 for Heifer International. The organization gives farm animals, seeds and agricultural(农业的) training to people in poor countries to help end poverty and hunger. “It's a good, sustainable-development (持续发展的)charity,” Jack says, “By donating one animal, you help the whole community.”

    The band, all tenth graders, tries to play a show every week. They've also played on a Tampa, Florida radio station and auditioned(试演) for America's Got Talent. The teens hope to eventually take their shows on the road by touring in other states. “Music is a really good way to get a good message across to people because it's really accessible(可接近的),” Jack says. Their instruments may be rubbish, but their message isn't.

    Mr. and Mrs Jones seldom(很少) go out in the evening , but last Sunday Mrs Jones said to her husband , “ There is a good film at the cinema this evening . Can we go to see it ? ”

    Mr. Jones was quite happy about it . So they went there and they enjoyed the film . They came out of the cinema at 11 o'clock , going into the car and began to drive home . It was quite dark . Then Mrs Jones said , “ Bill , look , a woman is running along the road very fast and a man is running after her . Can we help her ? ''

    Mr. Jones said , “ Yes , I can .''  He drove the car slowly near the woman and said to her , “ Can we help you ? ” “ No , thank you , ” the woman said , but she didn't stop running . “ My husband and I run home after the film , and the last one will wash the dishes at home .”

    Tina woke up at midnight. She looked out of her window and saw a yellow light in the sky. It suddenly dived towards the ground. She heard a noise and saw a red light.

    The next morning, Tina mentioned it to her brother Tom. "I'm sure something landed in the forest near the hills as I heard a loud noise last night" she said, "Let's go there and have a look after school."

    At 6 p.m., Tina and Tom reached the forest. They heard some voices speaking a strange language, so they hid behind some gees and kept quiet. Then they saw an alien! It was tall, with a round head and a silver body. It was standing next to a long spaceship.

    The children were frightened. Suddenly, another alien appeared from the trees in front of them. It discovered them and made a terrible noise! The children ran away in fear.

    The next morning, Tina and Tom told their parents about the strange aliens. "They were very ugly. They had some hair, but they didn't have any feathers." said Tina.

    "There was something written on the spaceship," said Tom. "It looked like this. I wonder what it means." He drew some lines on a piece of paper.

    But Dad said, "Since no one else saw these aliens. I refuse to believe you. Now go to school!"

    The children opened their wings and flew to school together.

    Dad looked at the piece of paper with the strange marks on it. "It looks strange," he said, as he looked at the word "EARTH".

    In Los Angeles, a waiter served a group of teens. The waiter remembered his experience as a young high school student. So he made sure the teens had a pleasant experience at the restaurant. The waiter made sure of it.

    After serving all the teens doing a great job, he was left a tip, only $3.28. That was hardly enough to buy a drink at Starbucks.

    The waiter went home. And he felt hatred for the students who did not know the value of hard work. They looked down on people like him. Or so he thought.

    After several days, the waiter forgot about it. His life went on as usual. But ten days later, he received a letter from the teens.

    "About a week and a half ago, on October 7, my three friends and I came to eat at this restaurant as our own homecoming celebration. It was an exciting experience for us to be here alone, and it was all new to us. And you were the best waiter we could ask for. You were kind, helpful, and didn't treat us like babies! So I want to say thank you for making our 'grown-up' experience so amazing and fun.

    "I would also like to say sorry on behalf of my group. Since we were new to all of this, our 13-year-old minds didn't exactly know how to deal with the bill. The bill was reasonable, but we had completely forgotten (and didn't know, to be honest) what a tip even was, let alone how much to give. So we emptied our pockets, and all our money added up to $3.28.

    "Having no idea of how small this really was, we left. Later, we realized our mistake and felt terrible. We knew we had to make it right.

    "So together with this letter, you will find the correct 18% tip + extra for simply being amazing. Thank you for your help and patience and also thank you for making our night fun. Thank you!"

    Mr and Mrs Green lived in a big city. Last summer, they went to a country for their holiday. They enjoyed it very much because it was a quiet, clean place.

    One day they went for a walk early in the morning and met an old man. He lived on a farm, and he was sitting in the warm sun in front of his house. Mr Green asked him. "Do you like to live in this quiet place?''

    The old man said, "Yes, I do."

    Mr Green said, "What are the good things about it?"

    The old man answered, "Well, the people here know each other. They often come and visit me, and I often go and visit them. And there are also lots of children here. "

    Mr Green said, "That's interesting. And what are the bad things?"

    The old man thought for a moment and then said,

"Well, the same things, really. ''