I never saw my father home from work late or ill, nor did I ever see my father take a “night out with the boys.” He had no hobbies but just take care of his family.

    For 22 years, since I left home for college, my father called me every Sunday at 9:00am. He was interested in my life--how my family was doing. The calls even came when he and my mother in Australia, England or Florida.   

    Nine years ago when I bought my first house, my father, 67 years old, spent eight hours for three days, painting my house. He would not allow me to pay someone to have it done. All he asked was a glass of iced tea, and that I hold a paintbrush for him and talk to him. But I was too busy, and I could not take the time to hold the paintbrush, or talk to my father. 

    Five years ago, my 71-year-old father spent five hours putting together a swing set(秋千) for my daughter. Again, all he asked was that I get him a glass of iced tea, and talk to him. But again, I had laundry(要洗的衣服) to do, and the house to clean. The morning on Sunday, January 16, 1996, my father telephoned me as usual, this time he had seemed to have forgotten something we had discussed the week before .I had to get to church, and I cut the conversation short. 

    The call came at 4:40 a.m. That day my father was sent to hospital in Florida. I got on a plane immediately, and I vowed (发誓)that when I arrived, I would make up for the lost time, and have a nice long talk with him and really get to know him. I arrived in Florida at 1:00 a.m. but my father had passed away at 9:12 p.m. This time it was he who did not have time to talk, or time to wait for me. 

    In the years since his death I have learnt much about my father and even more about myself. As a father, he never asked me for anything but my time. Now he has all my attention, every single day. 

    A long time ago, there lived a very old man. He was so old that he could not see or hear very well. He also could not walk very well, or eat very well for his hand shook. The old man's son and daughter-in-law thought he might make trouble at table. So, they had him eat his meals in the corner of the kitchen without a table.

    They gave him very little to eat. The old man would have a sad look on his face as he looked at his son and daughter-in-law's dinner table. One day the old man's hand shook so terribly that he dropped his dish on the floor. The daughter-in-law became angry and shouted at the old man. And after that, his meals were served in a broken dish.

    Not long afterwards, the family was sitting having their dinner while the four-year-old grandson was sitting on the floor carefully checking pieces of wood. The father asked, “What are you doing?” “I am making a small bowl.”

    “Why are you making it?” The son answered. “So that I can fill it with your and mother's food when I grow up.”

    The old man's son and daughter-in-law looked at one another and without saying a word started crying. The two quickly brought their old father to their dinner table. From that day on, the old man sat with the family when they had their meals. Even when the old man's food fell here and there, the son and the daughter-in-law did not say anything.

    Although I'm not in my childhood, I still prefer reading fairy tales(童话).They often make me think of some special experiences and feelings. This summer I've reviewed The Little Prince. It was first published in 1943.It's a world famous fairy tale written by the French author Antoine.

    “I”, the narrator(讲述者) of the story, is a pilot. His plane has something wrong and lands in the Sahara. The little prince lives on a small planet, and he grows a flower called ROSE there. One day they have a quarrel(争吵), so the little prince runs away. On his all­ alone journey, he meets different kinds of people. From these people he gets a conclusion(结论) that grown­ups are strange. And with the help of the man he meets, he descends in the Sahara.

    This book moves me a lot. It is not only a fairy tale for children and teenagers, but also for grown­ups.

    Children love their parents, but I didn't get on well with my parents before. I hardly talked to my parents, because they liked to 1 me with my sister. And that made me unhappy. I sometimes argued 2 them for that.

    However, I wanted to show them that I could do things as well as my sister. Then I began to spend most of my free time painting in my bedroom. Luckily, my art teacher, Miss Green, 3 to help me a lot. She taught me some drawing 4 to improve my painting. She was the only person I would like to talk with.

    One day, I told Miss Green about my problem. She encouraged me to enter a painting competition. In her mind，the best way to communicate with my parents was to prove（证明）5. I took her advice.

    Several days later, Miss Green told me the result. I was very happy and excited 6 I won the first prize! My parents were very 7 and I could see that they were very happy. And they began to care more about me. Now 8 between my parents and me have become very good. And I think it's very important to have someone to talk with.

The erhu is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It is the most popular of the huqin family. In the Song Dynasty, musicians began to use this type of huqin to perform different kinds of music, and it became quite a popular instrument. With the rise of some forms of folk art, the art of the erhu developed quickly during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It became an important accompanying (伴奏) instrument in different folk music. Now it is used in both traditional and modern music. It has even become a solo (独奏的) instrument. One of the most famous musical pieces played on the erhu is Erquan Yingyue by Abing.

The erhu used to be mainly played by common people, As the playing skills were passed down by oral (口传) tradition, there are few written records about the erhu that can be found. To study the history and the development of the erhu, historians usually turn to ancient paintings, sculptures and murals (雕塑和璧画). The earliest pictures of this instrument were found in Yulin Caves and Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves in Gansu Province.

Because of so many people's effort, the erhu becomes more and more popular around the world. In fact, we can hear the familiar sound of the erhu in many Hollywood productions, such as Kungfu Panda in 2012 and most recently, the Oscar nominated(提名)film Up in the Air(《在云端》). When people watch these movies, they also enjoy the special music of the erhu. The erhu is also called "Chinese violin" by many westerners, but in many ways, they are quite different.

It's Jimmy's birthday and he is 9 years old. He gets a lot of presents from his family and one of them is a big drum（鼓）. His grandfather buys it for him

Jimmy likes it very much. He plays with it every day and he often makes a terrible noise (可怕的声音), His father works in the day and Jimmy is in bed when he gets home in the evening. So his father doesn't hear the noise.

But Mrs. Black doesn't like the noise, so one morning she takes a sharp knife and goes to Jimmy's room when he hits his drum. She says to him, "Hello! Jimmy. Do you know there is something very nice in your drum? Here is a knife. Please open the drum and let's find it. "