A

    Once a very rich man and his son collected valuable paintings by famous artists like Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet.

    Later, the son left to join the army. After a few weeks, the old man received a letter saying his son had died while taking another soldier to a hospital. The old man became very lonely and sad.

    One day, a soldier visited the old man and gave him a painting—it was a portrait（肖像）of his son. The painting of his son became the old man's most valuable item. He told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received. The following spring, the old man died.

    All of the old man's paintings would be sold at an auction（拍卖会）. The auction began with the painting of the old man's son.

    “Who will open the price at $100?” the auctioneer asked. Moments passed and no one spoke or raised their hands. Someone said, “Who cares about that painting? Let's get on to the good ones.” More voices followed in agreement. “No, we must sell this one first,” replied the auctioneer. “Now, who will take the portrait of the son?”

    Finally, a good friend of the old man spoke, “Ten dollars!” “Will anyone go higher?” called the auctioneer. After more silence he said: “ Going once… going twice…Sold!” The auctioneer then announced that the whole auction was over. “According to the father's will, whoever takes the son's portrait gets the whole collection.” The auctioneer said.

    Because of the father's love, whoever took the son got it all.

    Liu Yingying is a student at No. 17 Middle School in Shanghai. She is 14 years old. She likes English and she often (经常) reads English books at home. She can speak English well and write many English words. She likes speaking English with her classmates and teachers at school. Her teachers like her. Liu Yingying likes music and she can play the piano. She often practises (练习) it at home in the morning.

    Liu Yingying has got a happy family. Her father is a worker in a car factory and her mother is a hotel manager. Her father likes sports. His favourite sport is table tennis. Her mother likes sports, too. But she likes swimming. What about Liu Yingying? She likes playing tennis.

    He was a single（单一的）father, only living with a 5-year-old son. He was often worried about his son growing up without a mother to look after him.

    One day he went away to work, leaving the child at home. He was worried about the child all the way, not knowing if he was hungry. But his child always told him not to worry. He went home quickly after finishing his work.

    When he got home, the child was already deep asleep. When he took off his hat and was about to sleep himself, he was surprised to find a bowl of noodles under the quilt. He spanked（打屁股） his sleeping son heavily. "Why are you so naughty（淘气的）, making the quilt dirty? Who will wash it?" It was the first time that he hit his boy after his wife died.

    "I don't," the child replied with tears in his eyes. "This is your supper, Daddy." In order to let his father eat dinner as soon as he got home, the child cooked two bowls of noodles: One for himself, the other one for his father. He was afraid his father's noodles would get cold, so he put them under the quilt to keep them hot. Hearing this, the father hugged his boy without saying a word.

    Jack thought himself a basketball fan. He watched quite a lot of American NBA basketball games. Not only did he watch them, he spent much of his free time playing on the court too. Then came the final year of his middle school. All of his regular teammates stopped showing up on the court because they were simply too busy preparing for the high school entrance exam to play. He was, of course, under much stress himself, like everyone else. A good exam result meant a good high school; a mediocre(平庸的) score meant a mediocre school. Much was at stake. However, he loved basketball so much that he still found time to play, this time with a group of guys who were said to have skipped classes(逃课) before.

    Some of his teachers started worrying about him. They asked his mother to go to school to let her know that Jack was hanging out with problem kids. When his mother returned home that day, she wanted to talk to Jack. Knowing the purpose of her visit to the school, Jack thought his mother would punish him for befriending those bad guys. To his surprise, his mother was not angry with him at all. She wanted to hear her son's side of the story. So Jack told his mother about what he knew of Simon and Peter. Simon's parents were badly ill; Peter's father had lost his job. They both seemed to Jack to be normal kids. Jack's mother thought for a moment, then went on to say that she was OK with her son playing with them and that she and her son should think of ways to help these kids. Soon Jack's mum introduced some part-time jobs to Simon and Peter, which they accepted. She believed in her son and cared about those who were less lucky.

    Jack's basketball friends and he have left for different places, but they still keep in touch. He knows Peter is now a manager of a local bank.  Simon is currently a freshman at a university. Sadly, it is impossible to get together to play basketball again, but whenever they get on the phone, they talk about it all the time.

    This story is about a young man. He worked very hard at his lessons. He was too busy to have a rest. Ashe became ill, he couldn't go to sleep. Every night, when he went to bed, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But the more he tried, the more he stayed awake.

    After a while he decided to visit the doctor, "I just can't go to sleep at night. What shall I do? "

    "I have a suggestion," said the doctor. "Try counting numbers. By the time you reach one thousand, you'll be asleep. I am sure of it."

    The next day the man returned to the doctor's office. "Well," said the doctor, "How are you today? Did you try my suggestion?"

    The man still looked tired. "Yes, "he said, "I tried counting one, two, three…up to one thousand. But when I reached five hundred and sixty-nine, I began to feel sleepy. I had to get up and drink some tea so that I could go on counting up to one thousand. But then I still couldn't fall asleep. "