Mr. Black went to the country on business. Bad luck! The rain (A)lasted from Tuesday to Sunday and all the traffic stopped. His bags were heavy and he could not carry them to a town. He had to stay in an inn(小旅馆) alone. There were several houses in the small village but he could not talk with anybody when night fell. He could not see any televisions and there was no cinema, either. (B)He had to go to bed early after supper. But he often woke up early in the morning. He would not get up, but lay in bed, listening to the rain falling.

    (C)一天早晨他正躺在床上听收音机，suddenly he remembered it was his birthday that day. He borrowed a bike from a farmer. It took him three hours to get to a small town. There he found a restaurant. He told the waiter (D)_______ (take) some nice food for him. He called out after he ate a little. “Waiter! Your food tastes terrible! Call your manager(经理) here! ”

“Sorry, sir, ” said the waiter, “our manager has gone out for lunch. ”

    I'm Marie. I work in a nursing home (养老院) and my job is to look after the old people. Alice is one of them. She's a very nice old woman.

    This year, Alice had a hard time. She went to hospital twice. In November, I finally could get her back to her home.

    Alice hoped that her daughter could come to visit her on Christmas Eve because she wanted to be with her family, like the old days. But her daughter was coming after Christmas, so she was very sad. I also felt sad because she would be alone on the holiday.

    On Christmas Eve, I took her to a candlelight service (烛光礼拜) at a church that night. I didn't take her to my church. Instead, I took her to the church in her old neighborhood. We got there early and I let her sit near the door, so people could see her when they came in. A few minutes later, some of her friends came to the church and they all talked to her and sat with her.

    Alice got a lot of love from her old and new friends there. She said she loved the gift like this. That night, I thought I got the best gift: the smile on Alice's face.

    Kian Hamer has become one of the youngest members of Mensa. Mensa is an international organization(组织) for IQ(智商). His IQ is 162 and it's two points higher than Albert Einstein's and Professor Stephen Hawking's. Mensa has 110,000 members all over the world, including 20 , 000 in the British Isles(不列颠群岛). Only eight percent of members are under 16.

    Mensa sent a letter to Kian's home. The letter wrote, "Kian is one of the cleverest people in the world. "Kian feels proud to have got such a good score and he's really excited to join Mensa. He always works hard on everything he does and he's always ready for自challenge. Although people call him a genius(天才), he still wants to be a professional footballer when he grows up. He loves playing football very much.

    His dad Rich Hamer, who works as a firefighter, said, "Kian is clever but I'm not allying him a genius like others. I want him to keep his feet on the ground. He needs to study hard forever. Never be proud. A lot of people have joked that he's too clever to be a footballer. I don't think Kian realized what a good score it was at first. He's always done really well at school. He works really hard and always tries his best."

    One day, an 11-year-old girl asked her dad, "What are you going to get me for my 15th birthday?" The father replied, "Don't worry about that we still have plenty of time."

    But on a day after her 14th birthday, she passed out (昏倒)and was rushed to the hospital. The family learned that the girl had a serious heart disease and that she might die. At night, she asked her dad, "Daddy, have they told you that I am going to die?" The father replied, "No, you will live as long as anyone else." She wondered and asked, "How can you be sure?" He smiled to her and said, "I just know it."

    After the girl turned 15, she had a heart transplant(心脏移植手术). After she came back from the hospital, she found a letter on her bed. It said, "My dearest daughter, one day you asked me what I would give you for your 15th birthday. I wasn't sure then. But now you know that my present to you is my heart." The father had given his heart to his daughter.

    Parents are selfless(无私的). They even make great sacrifices to make their children grow up happily. Keep this in mind when you feel angry toward your parents. Always, they're just doing what they think best for you.