Look at the photo of Linda's family. The man in the photo is Mr. White. He is Lina's father. The woman is Linda's mother. The girl in a yellow dress(裙子) is Linda. She's 7 years old. The boy next to (紧挨着) Mrs. White is Jack. He is Linda's brother. He is 9 years old. Linda and Jack are students, but they are not in the same school.

    Look at the picture. Who is the girl? She is my friend. Her name is Alice Black. She is an English girl.

    Alice has a big family. Her grandparents have two daughters and one son — her father. Alice lives with her grandparents, parents, two brothers and one sister. Alice has two dogs — Bobby and Tony. Bobby is black and Tony is white. Alice likes them very much. Alice is a middle school student. She has a good friend at school. Her name is Helen. They are cousins, too.

C

    One little miracle (奇迹) has been happening to me recently, and it gives me a special joy.

    A few months ago, I was telling my daughter, Sally, some stories about my mother. My daughter was so young when my mother died that she doesn't remember her well. I told her all I could remember, like how wonderful my mother was and how much she meant to me.

    One day, Sally was sad because her grandmother was in heaven (天堂) and she couldn't see her. I explained that though her grandmother was dead, now she was still watching over us and could send us something to let us know she was there. She could be anywhere, even riding invisibly (看不见地) on the back of a butterfly (蝴蝶). Just after I said this, a butterfly flew down right by us, and we laughed happily.

    Now many people would say it was just luck that the butterfly flew down at that time. A funny thing, however, has happened since then. Every time I go out in any type of weather I see butterflies. Very often they fly right by my face to get my attention. I always say hi to Mom, send her my love, and thank God for little miracles.

    Everyone is always looking for some big miracles to come out and save them when they are in trouble, but they don't notice the little miracles that happen every day right in front of their eyes. I know what they really are, however. For me little miracles are the best kind. So many little miracles happen around me all the time that I know they are not just luck.

    In ancient China, there was a man called Zhou Yong. Before his father died, he left Zhou Yong a great number of gold ingots (元宝). Zhou hid them in a safe place in his home. One day, Zhou decided to travel far away. He was afraid that someone would steal the gold ingots. But they were too heavy for him to bring along with him. So he put all the ingots into a jar (坛子) and gave it to his friend Wang Wu, telling Wang that the jar was full of fresh red dates (红枣).

    A year later, one day before Zhou came back, Wang's wife wondered what was in the jar. So she secretly opened it. She was shocked when she saw so many ingots inside. She told Wang about it and they took the ingots out and filled the jar with fresh red dates.

    When Wang returned the jar to Zhou, Zhou found the ingots were missing. They argued about it for a while, then they went to see the county magistrate (县官).

    When the magistrate asked Wang what had happened, he answered, "Zhou said that there were fresh red dates in it when he gave me the jar a year ago."

    The magistrate examined the jar and the fresh red dates in it carefully. Then he said: "Bring the ingots back, Wang Wu!"

    Wang still denied (否认)having taken them. But after the magistrate explained what he knew, Wang finally admitted (承认)that he had taken the ingots.