I was 10 the year my cousin Marley's parents gave her a painful Christmas surprise: they were getting a divorce(离婚). My aunt went to California, but my uncle decided to get her back. There was one matter: where to put his young daughter. Luckily, my mother loved Marley, giving her more attention than her family ever did.

    On that Christmas Eve, my cousin arrived on our doorstep carrying an old blue suitcase. Before she stepped inside, Marley said, “It doesn't matter. When my parents come back, we'll have a bigger Christmas than this.”

    Late on the night Marley arrived, my mom came into my room, her arms filled with packages.I knew they were my Christmas presents. “I know how you love surprises but we have to decide which ones to give to Marley.”

    My mother carefully opened the gifts. Wow! I saw ice skates, red leather gloves and a dollhouse. The last present was the music box we'd asked the lady at the local store to take down and play for us over and over again.

    “Which ones?” my mother asked. “She can have the ice skates,” I said reluctantly(勉强地). “That's good,” my mother said. She began to tape the packages up again. Then she stopped and asked, “Are you sure about these?” At that moment, I realized she expected more from me than I had already given. So I gave her the music box, too, and ___________. The next morning, Marley's eyes were resolute(坚定的). She expected nothing and wanted us to know she didn't care. But when she saw her name on the biggest box, she couldn't hide her excitement. I thought my happiness would be cut in half. Instead it was doubled.

    Over the last 40 years, Marley and I have grown apart(分离的). But the love we felt for each other that day still remains. Today Marley says, “They were the best presents I ever got.

B

    Sam was a fifteen­year­old boy living with his little sister, Julie. Their parents passed away long ago. Sam had to take care of Julie by himself.

One day, Sam woke up at three in the morning as usual. When Julie was sleeping alone, Sam left their little house to send newspapers. When he found an old man sitting in front of their house, Sam was so surprised that he stopped to look at him closely. It was an icy morning and he looked very cold.

    The poor old man didn't have anything to cover himself with. Sam went into his house to get the old man a blanket(毯子). However, there were no extra blankets, so Sam thought hard and took his father's coat. It was the only thing of his father's that he had left. Sam wrote a short note. "Sir, I found you sleeping in front of my house. This is my father's coat. I hope it fits you well." He put the note in a pocket of the coat and covered the old man with the coat. Then he went to work. When he came back, both the man and the coat were gone. Sam thought that it was the best thing he could do with his father's coat.

    That afternoon, Sam hurried home after school because Julie was at home alone. However, Julie and the old man were standing in front of the house, and Julie shouted to Sam, "Brother! He's our grandfather!"

    The grandfather smiled and said, "Sam, thank you for giving me the coat and letting me know how good my grandson is. This coat was the one that I gave my son a long time ago!"

    Chuck was not an ordinary frog. He did love eating flies, but he didn't like catching flies himself. He didn't like snapping them from the air while they were flying around. Some frogs thought Chuck was lazy. Others thought he was strange.

    That didn't matter to Chuck. Each morning, Chuck hid himself under the spider's web between the cattails. Then when Lady Eightlegs went off, Chuck ate flies from her web.

    One morning while Chuck was enjoying the flies, Lady Eightlegs returned and caught him. She cried, "Go and catch your own". Chuck jumped back into the pond.

    Now there was an idea! Why not make his own web? Chuck got some vines. He put them together until they looked like a spider web. He worked on his web for hours until mid-night. And then he fell asleep. When he woke up the next morning, he was stuck inside and couldn't move.

    "Help!" he yelled.

    Lady Eightlegs got there and saved him.

    "No matter how hard I try,I can't spin a spider's web," Chuck said.

    " Of course not," Lady Eightlegs said. "You're a frog. Frogs can't spin spider's webs any better than spiders can swim, I guess. How I wish to swim in the middle of the pond and float (漂浮) peacefully under the sun like you!"

    Chuck smiled, "I have an idea."

    From that day on, Chuck carried Lady Eightlegs out to the middle of the pond, where they floated and played together. When they returned to shore, they shared a breakfast of flies. It wasn't exactly an ordinary friendship.

    It was a very hot day. Two farmers, Jack and Jim, sat in the shade of a large neem tree. Both of them were eating chapatis(印度薄饼) for lunch. Jack had three pieces of the flat, round Indian bread while Jim had five. As they were about to begin their meal, a young nobleman(贵族) went by.

    "Good day! Good sirs!" said the nobleman. The nobleman looked very hungry and tired, so Jack and Jim invited the man to eat with them.

    "How can we divide these eight chapatis into three equal parts among the three of us?" asked Jim.

    "Let us stack(叠起来) them up and cut the chapatis into three equal parts," suggested Jack.

    After cutting the chapatis, they shared the parts equally, and no one ate more or less than anyone else.

    After they finished the meal, the nobleman insisted on(坚持) paying for his meal. He put six coins into Jack's hand and ten coins into Jim's hand. And the two men were both very glad!

    Joe Smith is a singer. He and his wife like traveling a lot. Every year they visit a small town called Gum Tree in January and July and they sing for people there.

    One summer, they went there by train again. On the first day, they planned to go hiking in the mountains, but it rained a lot. So they decided to go to the only cinema in town and watch a movie there.

    There were only nine people in the cinema hall. When people saw the Smiths, they started to clap(鼓掌). Joe was excited and said to his wife, "Aha, I cannot believe people here all know me and they are friendlier than I "thought. They must like my songs."

    Then a young man said to them, "Thanks for your coming! The cinema shows the movie only after ten people buy the tickets. There're eleven now, so the movie will be on soon."