When I was ten, my mother worked all day so I had to take care of my younger brother. At that time my little brother was about four years old and he missed mum all the time.

One day, after I had given him his dinner, he started crying for mum. He was so young and really needed mum. So I dressed him, put on his shoes, carried him on my back and walked out. Soon he fell asleep. About half an hour late, I found that he had lost a shoe while sleeping. I took him off my back and put him down. I knew we needed to find that shoe, for our mother couldn't afford new shoes. We had to go back to find it, so I told my brother to Wait right here. A man heard it and stopped me just before I walked off. He asked me, ”You are leaving your brother here to find the shoe? What would you do if he is not here when you return?" I did not know how to answer that question. He continued,It is OK if you can't find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother.”Then he sent us to mum's workplace by taxi.

I have depended on the kindness of many strangers in my whole life. I feel regretful that I cannot find them and say thank you. I don't even remember what the man's face looked like, but he taught me a lesson—people are more important than things.

    Long long a 90, two geese(天鹅) went to a pond to eat fish. A lonely tortoise lived in the pond. The geese had a chat with him. They chatted happily and became good friends.

One day, the geese realized there were no more fish in the pond, so they decided to move to a new pond. They told their decision to the tortoise. The tortoise wanted to go with them. The two geese agreed.

    The tortoise was delighted, but he had a problem. “How can I go with you? I cannot fly.” The geese came up with a plan. They said to the tortoise. "Don't worry. We will hold a stick between us. You can bite the stick. This way, we can fly to our new place, but you must be careful. Never open your mouth."

When they flew through a village, some villagers looked up and saw the tortoise. They shouted excitedly, "Look at the tortoise! It can fly."

    When the tortoise heard the words, he was proud and forgot the geese's words. He opened his mouth and couldn't help laughing. As soon as he opened his mouth, he fell down.

    A young woman was walking through a supermarket to pick up a few things when she noticed an old man following her around．Thinking nothing of it，she ignored him and went on shopping．After she got what she wanted，she went to checkout line，but the old man got in front of her．

    “Pardon me!” he said，“I'm sorry if my staring（盯）at you has made you feel uncomfortable（不舒服的)，it's just because you look like my granddaughter，who just died recently．And I miss her very much．”

    “I'm very sorry，”said the young woman．“Is there anything I can do for you?”

    “Yes．” the old man said．“As I'm leaving，can you say ‘Good-bye，grandpa' to me? It would make me feel so much better．”

    “Sure，”answered the young woman．

    As the old man was leaving，she called out．“Bye-bye，grandpa!”

    When she stepped(迈步) up to the checkout counter（收银台），she saw that her total was $178.50．

    “How can that be?” she asked．“I only bought a few things!”

    “Your grandpa said you would pay for him，” said the clerk.

    Bill Fuller, the postman, whistled(吹口哨) cheerfully as he pushed his bike up the hill towards Mrs Dunley's house. His work for the day was almost finished. His bag, usually quite heavy when he set out on his road, was empty now except for the letter that he had to deliver(递送) to Mrs Dunley. She lived over a mile from that village so that, when Bill had a letter for her, he always finished his day's work much later. He did not mind this, however, because she never failed to ask him in for a cup of tea.

    When Bill entered the gate of Mrs Dunley's house, he was surprised not to find her working in the garden. She usually spent most afternoons there when the weather was fine. Bill went straight round to the back of the house, thinking that she might be in the kitchen. The door was locked and the curtains were drawn. He returned to the front of the house and knocked hard on the door. There was no answer. Bill thought that this was very strange because he knew that Mrs Dunley hardly left the house.

    Just then, he noticed that her bottle of milk, which was delivered early in the morning, was still on the doorstep. This worried him. If Mrs Dunley had not taken in her milk, perhaps she was ill. Bill walked round the house until he found an open window. He squeezed(挤) through it. Then he went into the hall. There he almost fell over Mrs Dunley, who was lying at the foot of the stairs unconscious(昏迷不醒的). Realizing that there was little he could do for her, Bill rushed out of the house, stopped a passing car and told the driver to telephone for an ambulance(救护车) as soon as he got to the village.

    Dick lived in England. One day in January he said to his wife, "I'm going to fly to New York next week because I've got some work there." "Where are you going to stay there？ "his wife asked. "I don't know yet." Dick answered. "Please send me your address from there in a telegram （电报）," his wife said. "All right," Dick answered.

    He flew to New York on January 31st and found a nice hotel in the center of the city. He put his things in his room and then he sent his wife a telegram. He put the address of his hotel in it.

    In the evening he didn't have any work, so he went to a cinema. He came out at nine o'clock and said, "Now I'm going back to my hotel and have a nice dinner."

    He found a taxi（出租车）and the driver said, "Where do you want to go？"But Dick didn't remember the name and address of his hotel.

    "Which hotel are my things in？" he said, "And what am I going to do tonight？ "But the driver of the taxi did not know. So Dick got out and went into a post office. There he sent his wife another telegram, and in it he wrote, "Please send me my address at this post office."

Choose the right answer

    An Englishman shows a foreign visitor around London. "What is that strange building?" asks the visitor. "That's the Tower of London." "I see. How long did it take to build it? ""About 20 years." "In my country, we can build it in 20 months," answers the visitor. A short time after that they come to St. Paul's Cathedral (圣保罗大教堂). "Very interesting," says the visitor. "How long did it take to build it?" "About forty years." "In my country we can finish it in forty days," says the visitor. This goes on all day. They visit most of the best known buildings in the city. Every time they see a new one, the visitor always asks the same question. Then he always answers that they can do the same thing much faster in his country. At last, the Englishman gets angry with the visitor but he tries not to show it. At last they come to the House of Parliament and the visitor asks his usual question "What is that?" The Englishman answers "I don't know. It wasn't there last night."