People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word “mouth.”

    For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say “Do not bad mouth me.” Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because it hurts that person's feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell. The speaker might say: “I really put my foot in my mouth this time.” If this should happen, the speaker might fee l down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing.

    Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something. The other person might protest: “I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth.”

    Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an expression for this, too. You might say such a person, “was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”

    This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food.

    Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying bad things. For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off.

    But enough of all this talk. I have been running my mouth long enough.

When my daughter was in primary school, she brought home four small twigs(细枝) from school to plant. None of them looked very strong and lively. But with hope for the future, I planted them somewhere in our backyard which could give them enough sunlight. Over the years, because of the poor soil(土壤), three of them died. Only one lived at last.

It grew crooked(不直的) and very slowly. In fact, it looked more like a fat bush than a tree. Later, I noticed that it was starting to die. The branches(树枝) were becoming bare. Only the top third of the tree was still green. I did my best to save it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer, but it didn't work.

Later one morning, I went out and looked at it again. I was thinking if it would be better to just cut it down. It would make the yard look cleaner. As I walked over to take a closer look at it, however, I noticed something moving within the leaves. It was a bird patiently building a nest in the topmost branches. I smiled when I looked at it. I thought maybe this old tree was still useful. It might not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a home.

This tree let me know that all of our lives have a purpose. It doesn't matter if we are young and strong or old and sickly. Until our last breath, we have things to do, love to give, and joy to share. We can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.

One day, New York was struck(侵袭) by a terrible rainstorm. The streets were full 1  water and the underground system almost came to a stop. 

Unluckily, this happened during the morning rush hours. Many people who were going to work were 2  to go home. Some tried their best to 3  a taxi or to get on a bus. Still others faced the storm 4 . walking miles to get to work. 

I happened to be one of the people on the way to work that morning. I went from an underground line to another only to find that most service had 5 . After making my way through crowds of people, I finally found an underground line that was 6 . 

However, there were so many people waiting to 7  the underground that I could not even get down the stairs to the 8 . So I took the train going in the 9  direction, and then turned back to the downtown train. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the train 10  my stop. Then I had to walk several blocks in the heavy rain. 11  I finally got to my office, I was tired. And I was totally 12  through. 

My co-workers and I spent most of the day drying off. 

When it was 5:00 pm, I was ready to go home. I was going to 13  off my computer when I received an email from Garth, my director: I would like to thank all of you who had the 14  and finally came to work. It is always reassuring(令人感到宽慰的), at times like these, when workers so clearly show their attention and devotion(奉献) to their 15 . Thank you.