People normally think of dogs as man's best friend, but to Brian Wilson, his two pet parrots are his best friends.

    It all began in 1995, when Brian was still a firefighter. A car accident caused serious damage to his brain. After several months of treatment, Brian's doctors said that he would never talk again and that he would have to spend the rest of his life in a nursing home.

    However, according to Brian, his two pet parrots didn't give up easily. They kept talking to him day and night, until one day, he said one word, then another, and all of a sudden was talking like a normal person again!

    Brian was so thankful that he decided to set up a home for birds which are not wanted by their owners. Now, his house is home to about 80 birds, including a great variety of birds like several macaws, cockatoos and African gray parrots. The birds fly around from room to room, some cackling (咯咯叫), others talking like humans. Though they all have big cages, Brian lets them fly freely inside the house.

    Over the years, Brian has developed a special relationship with birds. The birds that bite other humans, seem to like him and can get along with him well. He is now called a bird whisperer (鸟语者). Brian pays for most of the costs of looking after the birds with his own money, but has recently established a foundation (基金会) to accept donations. He and his birds also earn money by performing at birthday parties, weddings and other social events.

    For people who want to adopt (领养) Brian's birds, they have to volunteer at the foundation for three months before they can take the pet home.

    Charlie and his family don't always live in their house. Sometimes they live in a houseboat. There are 4 rooms in the bottom of the boat. One of them is his parents' bedroom. Another one is his bedroom. Then there is a kitchen and a bathroom. Charlie's bedroom is small, but he likes it very much. It has a small window. He doesn't open it because it's under the water. When the boat is in the water, Charlie can look out of his window and see many fish under the water. Once he saw an old car under the water. He thought it was funny to see the fish swim through the car windows.

    In the school year, Charlie's family keep their boat on the bank (岸) of the lake. In summer Charlie and his family often take their boat out to the middle of the lake. They stay on the lake for a few weeks. Then they go fishing for their food. Charlie's mother grows vegetables in pots on the boat, so they also have vegetables to eat. When it is very hot, they jump into the water and go swimming. Charlie thinks a houseboat is the best place to live in.

     Once there was a good vegetable patch (菜地), and there grew a very big tree. Both the vegetables and the tree 1 the place wonderful. But no one knew that the vegetables in the patch and the tree couldn't 2 each other for a long time. The vegetables didn't like the tree's shade (树荫) because it stopped them from getting enough 3. The tree, on the other hand, hated the vegetables. The 4 was that the vegetables drank nearly all the water before it could get to him, leaving him a little water.

     They kept this situation 5 the vegetables got completely bored with the tree one day. Then they decided to use up all the water in the ground so that the tree would die.

     What would the tree do? Without question, the tree answered back 6 refusing to shade the vegetables from the sun. It was so hot that the vegetables became dry. Before long, all of them 7died.

     At that time, the vegetables and the tree realized that it was 8to help each other than to fight. They learned that they should 9 those around them. From then on, they decided to work together, using both the shade and the water to grow. Before long, they together showed 10 a beautiful picture.

When I was looking for a Christmas present for my daughter in a toy store, a nicely dressed little girl, with some money in her little hand, was looking at some beautiful {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. When she saw a doll she liked, she would ask her father {#blank#}2{#/blank#} she had enough money. He usually said yes.

At the same time, a {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, with old and small clothes, was looking at some computer games. He, too, had money in his hand, but it looked no more than five dollars. Each time he picked up one of the computer games and looked at his father, the father shook his head.

The little girl had {#blank#}4{#/blank#} a very beautiful doll. However, she noticed the boy and his father. She saw the boy {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a computer game with disappointment(失望) and walk to another corner of the store.

    My name is Philippe and my wife's name is Sophie. We're from1. Recently we were faced with a 2situation while traveling by car in the mountains with our hired driver. Just as we began to doze(打盹), the car made a strange, loud noise and then3working.

    We tried communicating with the driver but with little4because he couldn't speak French. He tried to tell us with body language that he was going to get help and then he left.

    We were in a poor area, with 5houses in sight. We started to bear the cries of wild animals Sophie was very afraid. We didn't have much food and it was getting 6and darker I began to lose7. Should we leave the car? Would our driver ever8? Was he a trustworthy man? We were very worried.

A couple of hours passed. 9, the headlights from another car appeared in the dark. A man got out of the car. Finding us cold and hungry, he kindly asked us to10his car.

11we left, he put a note on the windshield of the car with his phone number on it. Then he drove us to a nearby village, and we met his family. His cousin spoke French and he 12us tea and local foods. 13asked us questions and they were excited to have unexpected guests.

    Later that evening, the phone rang. It was our14. He had kept his word and fixed the car.

    I will15forget the warmth we received on that day because we depended on a complete stranger for help.