Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman (垃圾清理工)

      Mr. Swales wanted to find out what his students' parents did. He had just called Jodie when some girls burst out laughing. Shirley shouted, “Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman!”

      Everybody in the class laughed out loud, except Jodie. She felt her face turn red.

      “Silence!” Mr Swales said, “Being a garbagemen is a difficult and useful job. We should all be thankful to Jodie's father.”

      Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him the way she always did. When they got back home, Jodie went to her room and cried for a long time.

      Her father came into her room, “What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?”

      Jodie told her father what had happened and looked at him. He didn't seem angry or hurt. “Well,” he said, “they are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Jodie.”

      The place really smell too good. Jodie wrinkled her nose. “Don't worry, kid. In five minutes you won't smell a thing.” said her father.

      Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Jodie's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

      It was fun, but also hard work. Jodie's arms soom got tired. At last, no more garbage was left and Jodie felt very happy.

      “Garbage is disgusting, but when we clear it away, everything's nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making other happy. That's why I like being a garbageman so much.”

      Jodie give her dirty, smeely garbageman daddy a big kiss(吻). She said, “When I grow up, I will be a garbagegirl!”

      Now whenever someone asks Jodie what her daddy does, she says, “He's a garbageman! Everybody makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!”

    Tony is from New York. His father has a store there. And his mother is a reporter. He's six years old now and begins to go to school this year. It's very near their shop and his father doesn't drive a car to take him to school. He walks to school early every day. So he's not late for class and his teachers like him.

    It's Tuesday today. Miss White is teaching them to count from one to ten. Tony is studying hard. Soon he can count them. Miss White is happy and asks, "How many people are there in your family, Tony?"

    Tony stands up and begin to count with his fingers, and then says, "Two, Miss White."

    "Who are they?"

    "My father and my mother."

    "Oh?" Miss White is surprised, "Two people in your family?"

    "Because now I'm not at home."

    Mark Twain was a great writer in America. He wrote many books. He liked telling jokes in his books. People liked reading them very much. And it was full of jokes in his life, too. Mark Twain liked reading. So he often borrowed books from other people. One day, he wanted to borrow a book from his neighbor. His neighbor was a mean man. He didn't want to lend it to Mark Twain. Then he had an idea. He said to Mark Twain, “I have a rule. You will have to read the book at my home. If you want to borrow it from me, you should never take it out." Mark Twain had to read that book at his neighbor's house.

    A month later, his neighbor went to borrow a cropper (割草机) from Mark Twain. Mark Twain said to him with a smile, "I make a rule, too. That is, you must use my cropper in my garden. If you borrow it, you can never take it out either."

    I volunteered at the vet's (兽医诊所) last summer vacation. Minnie was the most interesting dog that I saw there. Long hair covered her body. And her tail looked like a mouse's tail.

    She was brought to the vet's because her owner didn't want her any more. Minnie was well-behaved(行为端正). "No one should judge(评判) her by her appearance," I thought. So the people of the vet's looked after her. Finally, I advertised Minnie in the local newspaper. "Funny-looking dog, well-behaved, needs a loving family." When a young man called, I told him that Minnie looked a little strange. The boy on the phone told me that his grandfather's old dog had just died. They wanted to bring Minnie to him. I gave Minnie a good bath. At last, an old car drove up in front of the vet's. Two kids brought Minnie to their grandfather who was waiting in the car. Then the grandfather held Minnie in his arms and touched her soft hair. Minnie kissed his face. She waved her tail so quickly. "She's great!" the old man said.

    I was glad that Minnie found a good family. That's when I saw that the grandfather was blind.

    Ou Pingqin was a teacher in a special school (for deaf and mute（聋哑）students）,who has recently been considered the Most Beautiful Teacher in China.

    After graduating from a college, she went to this school alone and worked there for nearly twenty years. The headmaster of the school said, “She worked hard and taught well. She was a backbone teacher in our school. She was also the most welcome teacher among the students. For students, she was like a mother. They called her Little Mother.”

    One day, when she was talking with her students in the dormitory. It looked as if something heavy would fall off. It was dangerous. At that time, without any hesitation（犹豫）, she pushed two students away, but she was hit heavily. However, she continued working with great pain later.

One of her officemates （同事） said, "Ou Pingqin was not only a teacher but also a mother to her students in her class. She cared about their studies and even their life. She was very strict in her work."

    A student's parent said, "She was very warm-hearted. My son lost his father who supported the family. Every month, the teacher gave him 100 yuan to buy books from her own income." She gave all her life to the teaching and her students, but she didn't marry when she died at the age of 36.

    Ou Pinqin's deeds have drawn much attention in the country. She was the students' Little Mother, but gave them great love.

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of his cow. One day it was ill, the farmer was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" the vet asked the farmer when he arrived. "My cow is ill," said the farmer, "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and doesn't eat. She's making a strange noise." The vet looked at the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some strong medicine." He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better." "How should I give them to her? The farmer asked. The vet gave him a tube(管子) and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked worried. "How's your cow?" asked the vet. "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said." the farmer answered, "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put the two pills in it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first." the farmer said.