Jenny looked at the store window. There was nothing that she wanted more than a Happy Hannah doll. It was $29.95. Unluckily, Jenny didn't even have the 95 cents.

    As she crossed the street, she thought about doing her brother's housework, cleaning the floor, washing the dishes all month, but even then she would have only eleven dollars. Suddenly, something small and pink in the snow caught her eyes.

    Jenny walked over and picked it up from the snow. It was a beautiful wallet. She opened the wallet and found many dollars and a woman's driver's license in it. Jenny put the wallet into her bag quickly. She turned around and walked back.

    Jenny's heart beat(跳动) fast as she went into the store. She had long dreamed about this moment, but something didn't feel right. As she got to the Happy Hannah dolls, she pushed away her feelings. She grabbed(抓起) one and walked toward the checkout.

    As Jenny was waiting to pay, her mobile phone rang. It was her grandma. Jenny's heart was suddenly filled with love and warmth when she thought of her. She put the doll down and answered the phone.

    “Hi, Grandma? I'm going to be a little bit late tonight...Alright...I love you, too.” Jenny left the store and walked all the way to 301 West Street. The woman who answered the door looked sad.

    “Here, I found this in the snow,” Jenny said.

    “Oh, good God! This is the money for the orphanage(孤儿院)! Thank you!”

    After doing her brother's housework for three months, Jenny finally got a Happy Hannah doll. She was so happy because she could play with her doll and look her grandma in the eye.

B

    A driver stopped his car on a street side to have a rest. As he lay down in the seat and closed his eyes, a person came up and knocked at the window to ask the time. The driver opened his eyes and looked at his watch. “It's five past eight.” he said. Then he went to sleep again. But soon he was waken up again because a second person was knocking at the window. “Excuse me, what time is it now?” He asked. The driver looked at his watch again, and told him it was half past eight.

    In this way, the driver thought he couldn't have a good rest, so he wrote a short note and stuck(贴) it on the window for all to see. It said, “I don't know the time.” Again, he lay down in the seat for his sleep. A few minutes later, a third person came and began to knock at the window, “Hey, sir.” He said, “It's a quarter to nine.”

Dear Tom,

    How are you? I'm at a new school this term. And I'm writing to tell you about my school. My new school is big and nice. There are one thousand and four hundred students and one hundred and forty teachers at my school. I like the teachers. They are very kind to me. My classmates are very friendly too. They teach me Chinese and I teach them English. There are trees, flowers and green grass at my school. They are very beautiful. Behind my school there is a small river. The water in it is quite clean. We can swim in it. We have no classes at weekends. Sometimes I play football or basketball with my classmates. Sometimes I stay at home and watch TV. Sometimes I go shopping with my father and mother. We all like China.

    Please write to me soon!

Yours,

Jack

    Martina looked out of the window. A robin was singing a lively song in the tree. At this time, Grandpa, who lived with the family since Grandma had died, came in. He looked at the floor as if looking for something. He said, "When the robin sings..." he stopped, trying to remember what he had started to say.

    "Spring is here," Mum finished the sentence. "And I'm thinking of our spring cleaning," Mum suggested. "Martina, you can help me, right?" Martina agreed unwillingly.

    They cleaned the house. They cleaned upstairs, downstairs, inside, outside, until everything was clean. Then Mum pointed to Grandpa's sofa and shouted. "That old sofa has got to go. We'll buy Grandpa a new one."

    It was true and Martina had to agree. The sofa was really old. As they tried to move the sofa, Grandpa stood in their way. "You can't take my sofa," he shouted.

    "It's old," Mum said. Grandpa tried to push his sofa back into place. "We'll buy you a new one," Mum promised.

    "I don't want a new one," Grandpa insisted. Mum let go of the sofa. "We'll talk about it tonight when John gets home." John, Martina's dad, was still at work.

    "Why don't you let us take away the sofa? It's too old!" Martina asked when the family were having supper. Grandpa shook his head and said, "I sat in this sofa, with your grandma right here, when I asked her to marry me. It was so long ago, but when I sit in this sofa and close my eyes I feel she is near."

    "It's amazing," Martina thought, "how Grandpa can remember things from the past. These days he forgets almost everything."

    The old man smiled to Martina and went on. "And the night your father was born, I sat in this sofa. I was nervous when they placed the little baby into my arms."

    "I think I'm beginning to understand," Martina said. "Many years later," Grandpa continued, "I sat in this sofa when the doctor called and told me that your grandma was ill. I was lost without her, but the sofa gave me the comfort."

    "I do see now," Martina looked at Grandpa. "This is not just an old sofa. This sofa is more like a friend." "Yes," Grandpa added. "We've got through a lot together." The whole family agreed that the living room would be boring without the old sofa.

    Christmas is coming. James and Ted write letters to Santa Claus. Both boys ask him for the same thing a bike. They ask for only one, because they want to ride together. Is it sweet?

    After dinner, the two boys go to bed. James says, "Ted, if Santa Claus gives us the bike, Jim can be our teacher and teach us how to ride it. "

    "Oh, yes. It's really great. Can I ride first, James?" Fed asks.

    "Why? I want to ride it first!" James is not happy.

    Mum hears their words and comes in. She says, "Boys, Santa Claus wants you to be good brothers. Then he'd like to give you the present. " James and Ted say sorry to each other and go to sleep in each other's arms.

    Mum says to Dad, "Should we buy two bikes for them?"

    "No, we shouldn't. They must learn to share things with each other." says Dad.

Every girl dreams and Lisa is no exception. She has read dozens of books on how to be a ballerina(芭蕾舞女演员). "Swan Lake" is her favorite. She hopes one day her dream will come true. She has taken ballet lessons and all her teachers are sure she is a good student.

One day she saw a poster that a famous ballerina group will be performing in her hometown. Confidence filled her heart and she was so excited. Her thoughts soon ran wild. "I must meet up with the leader of the group and show him my skills," she whispered to herself. When the troupe(舞团) arrived, Lisa put on her ballet outfit(芭蕾舞装) and hid in the dressing room. To her luck, the leader entered and she timidly(胆怯地) knocked at the door. She bravely approached him and handed him a bunch of red roses. The thorns(刺) hurt her hand but she did not care about the pain. The leader watched her action as she told him her dream. "Alright, you dance and then I will give you my conclusion." But half way through the dance he stopped her and said, "I'm sorry you're not good enough!" On hearing this Lisa ran as fast as her legs could carry her and was upset. She decided to give up her dream.

Many years later, she heard that the same ballet troupe was performing in her town again. Bitter memories of the leader's unfriendly words came flooding back to her. This time she decided to find out why the leader had told her she was not good enough. This was his reply, "I tell this to every student." Then she got a further shock from the leader, "I remember your gift of roses and how the thorns had hurt your fingers but you carried on bravery. If you had treated ballet like that and did not give up so easily, therefore, you still deserve my conclusion!"