Our village carpenter（木匠）, John Hill, came one day and made a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I got home that evening, John was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill（账单）for his job.

My wife said to me quietly, “That's his ninth cup of tea today.” But she said in a loud voice, “It's a beautiful table, dear, isn't it?” “I'll decide about that when I see the bill,” I said. John laughed and gave me his bill for the work. I read:

One dining table                        10^th November, 2011

      Cost of wood                  ＄17.00

      Paint                         ＄1.50

      Work, 8 hours(＄1 an hour)       ＄8.00

      Total                         ＄36.50  

When I was looking at the bill, John said, “It's been a fine day, hasn't it? Quite sunny.”

“Yes,” I said. “I'm glad it's only the 10^th of November.”

“Me, too,” said John, “you wait—it will be a lot colder by the end of the month.”

“Yes, colder—and more expensive! Dining tables will be ＄20 more expensive on November 30^th, won't they, John?”

John looked hard at me for half a minute. Was there a little smile in his two blue eyes? I gave his bill back to him.

“If it's not too much trouble, John,” I said, “please add it up again. You can forget the date…”

I paid him ＄26.50 and he was happy to get it.

    Mr Black is a football fan. Every morning he goes to work by train. As he has a long trip, he always buys a newspaper. It helps to make the time pass more quickly. One Wednesday morning, Mr Black turned the important football matches. He knew the Football World Cup would be held in his city soon. He decided to go to watch the football game.

    While Mr Black was excited to be at the Football World Cup, he was disappointed（失望的）at the location of his seat. Peering（仔细看）across the stadium through his telescope（望远镜）he saw an empty seat far away and made his way there. Mr Black asked the man in the next seat, “May I sit here?” “Sure,” the man replied. “This was my wife's seat. She was a super football fan, and we used to come to the games together all the time until she passed away.”

    “I am sorry for your loss,” Mr Black said. “But I am curious（好奇的）. Why didn't you give the extra（多余的） ticket to a friend or a relative?” The man replied, “They are all at the funeral（葬礼）.”

    Matt jumped into bed. His father sat down beside him.

    "What kind of day did you have?" he asked.

    "It was a bad day for me," Matt answered. "I had a fight with Ned. The teacher sent a note home about me. And Mom talked about it with me."

    "Yes, part of the day was bad," Mr. Gold said. "But there were good parts, too. Now it's time to go to sleep. So, tell me about the best thing today."

    Matt smiled. "After school I went fishing," he said. "No one wanted to go with me. So I had to go alone. I didn't think I would have any fun. But I did! I caught a fish!"

    "I'm glad you had a good time," Mr. Gold said. "Think about it until(直到)you go to sleep. Happy dreams!"

    "Good night, Dad," Matt said.

    His father kissed(亲吻)him good night.

    Every night, Mr. Gold and Matt have a little talk like this.

    Every night, Matt answers the same question. "What was the best thing that happened to you today?"

    Every night Matt goes to sleep thinking about the best thing. He has many happy dreams!

    Sometimes he has to think hard to find the best thing. Sometimes it is a very small thing. But he always finds one good thing to think about.

    Matt's father taught his son a good way to end his day. You may want to try it. If you do, why not begin this every night?

    As we all know mother's love is the greatest love in the world. It's true that we should thank our mothers, without mothers, nobody could come to the world. I always believe the rule, so it's hard for me to feel father's love. I didn't realize how great my father was until last month.

    On a rainy day last month, I was sleeping in my bedroom when my father came in to wake me up. I was sleepy and upset, so I began to shout at him. He wasn't angry at all. Instead he said in a low voice to me, "Dear, it's time for lunch. I have already got everything ready for you. "I looked at the watch. My god, it was nearly twelve o' clock at noon. It was Sunday that day. That was why I got up so late.

    I went downstairs slowly and lazily. When I got into the dining room, I saw a table of tasty food. I felt surprised because all the food was cooked by my father himself. He had never done any housework before, because he was always very busy. I was still puzzled (困惑) why Dad cooked so much food for us two that day . Suddenly, I heard the voice of happy birthday. I was so excited that I cried, for I knew it was the first time I had felt father's love since my mom was not with us anymore.

    My name is Sam. I joined a club called" passing help" last month: Now let me tell you why I joined it.

    One evening this May, on my way home my-old car broken down. It was 25 miles from my home.

    I wanted to get a ride, but there was no car. It was also hard to take a taxi. I decided to take a bus home. I went to bus stop nearby.

    After a while, a bus came, but it did not go to my town. The bus driver was a young woman.

    She was kind and she told me which bus I should take. I waited there for about thirty minutes, but no bus came. At last a car came to me and a woman came out of the car. She was just the bus driver.

    "When I reached the bus station, I got to know that the bus to your town couldn't come, so I returned here. I just can't leave you here," she said, "Get in my car and I will take you back to your home," "It is a long way." I said." Come on, sir," she said," Let's go."

    On the way she told me a story. A few days ago, there wasn't .gas(汽油) in her car. An old man drove her up to a gas station and then back to her car.

    When we got to my home, I wanted to give her some money to thank her, but she didn't accept. "I only want to help others and do something nice for somebody. Pass it along. "She said.

My name is Lin Fei. I'm in No.1 Junior High School in Longyan. I have a new classmate. He is from Sichuan. His name is Jia Liang. He comes to Longyan with his mom and dad.

Jia Liang is a good student. He likes Chinese and math (数学) very much, but his English is poor. Miss Jiang , his English teacher, often(经常) helps him after class (课后). Jia Liang has some friends in Sichuan. He often gets(收到) letters from his friends. He is very happy.