My mother only had one eye. I never wanted her to show up at my school.

One day during primary school, I was terribly ill. My mother came.

“Your mom only has one eye!” yelled some of my classmates. I wished my mother would have just disappeared (消失)

“If you embarrass (使……尴尬) me, why don't you just die?” I shouted at her, taking no notice of the sad look on her face. My mother just handed me some medicine and left without saying anything.

At that time, I didn't think I had hurt her feelings very much. That night I saw my mom crying in her room. Even so, I hated her tears from one eye. I made a decision: I must study hard and leave my mother.

Years later my dream came true. I was quite successful. I never thought of going back to see my “ugly" mother until one day I got a letter.

“My son ，I'm sorry I only have one eye. When you were little, you got into an accident and lost your eye. As a mom, I couldn't stand watching you live with only one eye. So I gave you mine.

I was never angry with you and I never regretted it because I love you.”

I cried out aloud. Only then did I realise how beautiful my mother was!

A funny thing happened to my sister Tina last month. She lives in Japan and teaches English. In Japan, people don't usually wear their outdoor shoes in the house or in school, and a lot of buildings have places for shoes. So her school has a special place for shoes. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}
Tina teaches English in the evening. One Friday, she went to school, and she put her shoes in the shoe box as usual. Then she had an interesting spoken English class with her students. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} But to her surprise, her shoes weren't in the box. There was only one pair of those there, and they weren't her shoes! She had to get home in a hurry. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}
On Monday, at her next English class, her shoes were in a shopping bag on her desk! There was a note that said, “I'm so sorry. I took your shoes by mistake!” {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Somebody felt a lot of shame!

    An elephant and a monkey were arguing.

  “Look, how big and strong I am!” The elephant said.

    The monkey disagreed, “Look, how fast I can run and climb! Can you?”

    At last they asked a wise tiger, “Which is better—to be strong or to be quick?”

    The tiger said, “Go across the river and pick the fruit on that tree for me, then I can tell.”

    So they went to the river, but the water ran fast and the monkey was afraid.

“Get on my back,” said the elephant proudly, “I shall carry you.”

Soon they crossed the river. There stood the tree. But the fruit was too high for the elephant to reach. He also tried to pull the tree down, but failed.

  “Don't worry.” The monkey climbed quickly up the tree, and picked the fruit.

    Then they returned and gave the tiger the fruit. “Which is better—to be strong or to be quick?”

The tiger smiled, “Neither of you could get the fruit alone. It took both the elephant's strength and the monkey's quickness to get it.”

    This story happened three years ago. Jack was an eight-year-old boy at that time. He was a good pupil. He was good at every subject at school. But he could not get up early. He often slept until nine or ten o'clock in the morning. So he was often late for school.

    Jack's mother didn't want him to be late for school again. So she bought him a clock. She said to him,“ You must get up when you hear the clock ring.”

    “Yes, Mum.” said Jack. After that Jack got up at twenty to seven when he heard the clock ring.

    One day his mother forgot to make the clock ring at the usual time. And the next morning Jack didn't get up. It was six forty-two at that moment. It was time for breakfast. Mother went to see him. Jack was still in bed and his eyes were open.

    “Why didn't you get up?” Mother was angry.

    “You told me to get up when I heard the clock ring. So I am waiting for the bell.”

    “Mum, is the clock still sleeping?” Jack asked.

    "I am going to the store, Uncle Moti, "Mina said. "Do you want to come along? You have not seen much of the neighborhood yet."

    Uncle shook his head. "No, thank you," he said. "It is just too loud and crowded for me. Everyone is always on the go, while I am used to the peace and quiet of our village. I feel afraid out there, like a frightened (害怕的) child. "Mina sat on the sofa next to her uncle. "Tell me about the village, Uncle Moti," she said. "Would I like it there?"

    Uncle laughed. "Without a doubt, you would find it dull at first-the loudest sound is usually birdsong. The people I meet on the street are all people I know, and we stop and talk or go to the tea shop and have tea. There are not many shops, but the shopkeepers know all their customers. Everyone is friendly and has a smile for everyone else."

    "Sounds really nice," Mina said. "But I think maybe it is not different in every way. I really wish you would come with me, and I could show you why I say that. "Uncle sighed and got up, saying, "All right, Mina, I will go."

    Out on the street, cars zoomed by, some of them honking. Uncle looked very nervous at all the noise and activities, and Mina took his hand.

    "Look," she said, "there is my friend Nate, and coming down the street is my teacher, Ms. Sanchez." Mina waved to Nate, who waved back, and called hello to her teacher. Then she led her uncle down the street to the store, where she greeted the shopkeeper. "Hi, Ms. Franklin, this is my uncle Moti, who has come here to live."

    "Over here," Mina took her uncle's arm and led him across the street. A sign over a door read "Navid's Tea Shop." Uncle smiled. They went in and sat at a table. They ordered tea, and Uncle sighed happily.

    "Well, I see what you were trying to show me," he said. "This neighborhood is your village. Now it will be mine to. It has friends, kind shopkeepers, birds, and even a tea shop…"