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 week in the sun relaxing in the beautiful March weather of Varadero, Cuba is a fantastic vacation for anyone. Luckily, my wife, two friends and I had the chance last year.

      To see Cuba, you have to talk to the Cubans. Our friends met us at the airport even at 1:00 a.m. which started our trip on a positive note. After a few days at the hotels, we got to know a local tour guide, Victor.

      The trip started off on a sunny morning. Our return trip would be along the coastline from Havana, but out trip to Havana would be through the countryside and the small towns. This trip was designed for us to visit the Cuban countryside.

      At first Victor brought us to Revolutionary Square, where Fidel Castro made his yearly speech praising the ideas of the revolution.

      Our second stop was the Bocoy Rum Factory. We walked through and learned how 5000 bottles of rum(朗姆酒) are produced every day. The smell of rum, and the huge barrels were interesting.

      The final stop was the market in Old Havana. Here my wife and I went away from our friends and we toured through this large shopping center. From store to store we saw so many items that all had a clear Cuban feel to them. We bought a picture and some special local things, and then we took off to meet up with Victor.

      As a tourist I was able to have a quick look at Cuban life with the help of Cubans. I felt lucky to have the chance. It was an interesting experience in my life.

阅读下列短文，从下面每小题的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

B

    It was July 17th of 2017. The little helpless girl, who had trouble walking, was going out into the wide world. In June 2016, I got the idea that I was going to America as an exchange student. With tears in my eyes, I said goodbye to my family.

    After I finally arrived at the airport in Burlington, Vermont. I was welcomed by my host family. They didn't know much about my disability. “I hobble a little, but I don't see it as a problem.” I think it's the will that decides what you can and cannot do, and the disability doesn't matter!

    Before I went to the US, I knew I was going to miss home. But I went! Why? I've been a fighter ever since I decided not to give up my breath when I was born! My mother wrote my host mom an e-mail and told her about my hard birth so they would understand. I remember clearly after she finished reading it, she came into the room, gave me a big hug and said, “You are a fighter.” My host family supported me so much during the year. In school, small notes were sent out to all my teachers, by e-mail, to tell them about my disability. Everything worked greatly.

    By the end of my year, exchange students were asked to talk about our years. I spoke in front of about 100 people! I was extremely proud of my “speech”. The following day some teachers stopped me and said, “Your speech was the best one.”

    My year in Vermont was the best thing I've done so far! I proved I AM A FIGHTER and that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

    There was once a man called Mr. Flowers, and flowers were his only joy in life. He spent all his free time in one of his four glass-houses and grew flowers of every color, with long and difficult names, for competitions（比赛）. He tried to grow a rose of a new color to win the silver cup（银杯）for the Rose of the Year.

    Mr. Flowers' glass-houses were very near to a middle school. Boys of around thirteen of age were often tempted（引诱）to throw a stone or two at one of Mr. Flowers' glass-houses. So Mr. Flowers did his best to be in or near his glass-houses at the beginning and end of the school day.

    But it was not always possible to be on watch at those times. Mr. Flowers had tried in many ways to protect his glass, but nothing that he had done had been useful. He had been to school to report to the headmaster; but this had not done any good. He had tried to drive away the boys that threw stones into his garden; but the boys could run faster than he could, and they laughed at him from far away. He had even picked up all the stones that he could find around his garden, so that the boys would have nothing to throw; but they soon found others.

    At last Mr. Flowers had a good idea. He put up a large notice（布告）made of good, strong wood, some meters away from the glass-houses. On it he had written the words: DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE. After this, Mr. Flowers had no further trouble; the boys were much more tempted to throw stones at the notice than at the glass-houses.

    Laozi or Lao Tzu, who lived in the 6th century BC, was a well-known philosopher in ancient China. He was the founder of Taoism. His teachings have been passed down through centuries and today there are still many followers of Taoism.

    Famous and respected as he is. Laozi's personal life is still a mystery and there are many stories about his birth and life. The only reliable biography of him is Shiji written by historian Sima Qian of 145 BC. According to Shiji, Laozi was born in Ku County of the state of Chu, the present day Luyi County of Henan Province. His family name was "Li", and "Dan" was his designation (字).

    At first, Laozi worked as a historian at the royal court (王朝) of the Zhou Dynasty. Later, he went on a trip to the west and met the guardian of the Hangu Pass (函谷关) who asked Laozi to write a book to record his wisdom for the good of the country.

    Upon his request, Laozi began writing his famous book—Daodejing. Daode means "virtue". So the title can be translated as "Classic of the Virtue". After finishing writing the book, the wise old man left Hangu Pass. No one had seen him or known where he was ever since.

    However, because of the fact that none of the original texts about Taoism have any reference about the life and death of Laozi, today many researchers have the opinion that Daodejing was in fact not written by Laozi alone. Some even say that Laozi was never a real person but can be referred to any old wise man in ancient China who taught philosophy.