A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a boy was walking around the shinning car. “Is this your car ,Paul ?” he asked. Paul answered ,“Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised . “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you anything? Well , I wish…” He hesitated.

    Of course, Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that . But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.

    “I wish,” the boy went on ,“that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again,“ Would you like to take a ride in my car ?”

    “Oh yes, I'd love that.”

    After a short ride, the boy with his eyes shining, “Paul, would you mind driving in front of my house?”

    Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbours that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are ?” the boy asked.

    He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled* brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.

    “There it is , Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it…Then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about.”

    Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining—eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.

    My friend and I entered a little coffee house and ordered two cups of coffee. While we were waiting, two young men came in and began to order, " 1 cups of coffee, please. Two of them for us and three there on the wall." The waiter served them with respect (尊敬). They paid for their order, took the two and left. As soon as they left, the waiter 2 put three pieces of paper on the wall. We saw this with great 3.

Some more people came. Two girls asked for one coffee each, paid and went away. Then came three lawyers who paid for seven coffees —three for 4 and four suspended(待用). I really 5 what the suspended coffees were. Suddenly a man came into the coffee house. The way this man was dressed didn't 6 the style(风格）of this coffee shop. He kindly ordered a coffee on the wall. The waiter served coffee to this man, showing him the same 7 as the other customers. The man had his coffee and left 8 paying. The waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dustbin.

At that moment, I knew the meaning of the suspended coffees. It's simple—people pay the coffee in advance(预先) for someone who can't 9 it. The tradition with the suspended coffees 10 in Italy, but it has spread all over the world. A suspended coffee is not only a cup of coffee, but also the warmth and love to someone in need.

Students should like vacations. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} last week, I asked some students what they did last summer vacation. Their answers surprised me a lot. Some said they just {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (stay) at home and played computer games all day. Some said they had many classes in summer school. And many students even said their vacation was {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(real) boring. The summer vacation this year is coming soon. Do you want to have a better one? Here {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (be) some tips(小建议) for you.

First, find out what you are interested in and join some clubs. Next, it's just right {#blank#}5{#/blank#} spending some time and money on some trips. Learn to be {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (friend)when you meet new friends.

If your parents take you to another country, try to learn a {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (two) language.Take some photos of the beautiful places along the way. Finally, remember to finish your homework on time{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(know) more about your new lessons in Grade Eight.

I am sure if you can use {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (you) time well and have a good plan, you will have{#blank#}10{#/blank#}wonderful summer vacation.

 It's 2: 30 in the afternoon. The house is quiet(安静的)." Tom?" Mom says. No one answers.

 Mom comes to Tom's room. He is not on the bed, but his model plane is on the desk." He is not in his room, and he is not in the yard, " Mom thinks. Then Mom comes to his grandparents' room. Tom likes to play with his grandpa's tape player, but he is not there.

 Mom looks for Tom everywhere. Where is Tom? Mom is worried. She wants to call Dad. She comes to the living room to get the phone.

" What's that? " Mom sees something black under the sofa. Oh, it's Eric, Tom's dog. It loves sleeping there. What is next to Eric? It's Tom!

Mr. Smith looked at his watch at times. He 1 to go home as soon as possible. There would be a 2 football match in London but he could not do 3 in his office. He hurried home 4 work. Supper was ready and he went to his 5 after that. But he couldn't have a good 6 . He was afraid he would 7 the match though he had told his wife to 8 at once in the night. He had to 9 and began to read some evening newspapers. Finally the match began. His team lost the 10 half of the match. He became angry. He was so 11 , and he didn't know when he had gone to sleep. The next morning his wife brought some bread and milk into the sitting room. She 12 he was 13 sleeping on the sofa and called out, "Oh, dear! Get up, 14 you'll be 15 today. It is five to seven!" Hearing this, Mr. Smith jumped off the sofa and asked, "Who won? "

Several years ago, I moved to Spain. I thought my Spanish would improve quickly. I gave up everything about the{#blank#}1{#/blank#}learning: classes, books, exercises and so on. I did nothing but speak o native(本国的)speakers. It was easy and fun!

However, about a year later, I noticed that my Spanish had hardly improved. I still spoke with {#blank#}2{#/blank#} grammar structures(结构)and sentence patterns as well as limited words(有限的词汇）. 

Sometimes I {#blank#}3{#/blank#}felt that my Spanish was getting worse. It made me upset. What was wrong? I wondered. 

I {#blank#}4{#/blank#} started to realize that because I didn't get training in other aspects(方面), I would not {#blank#}5{#/blank#} any progress as I liked. {#blank#}6{#/blank#} I started to go back to my old language learning {#blank#}7{#/blank#} , including reading books, watching movies and doing grammar and reading exercises. And they {#blank#}8{#/blank#} ! I quickly made progress. I could hold more difficult conversations. 

To learn the language, one should speak it first and then use it! That's the secret to {#blank#}9{#/blank#}and effective(有效的)language learning, right? Well, I know now, that if that's all you do, progress will come very fast. Considering the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} at which native speakers speak, you don't really have the time to learn new words or grammar structures. To learn a language more effectively, you need to spend some time on other trainings besides {#blank#}11{#/blank#}.