I'm Marie. I work in a nursing home (养老院) and my job is to look after the old people. Alice is one of them. She's a very nice old woman.

    This year, Alice had a hard time. She went to hospital twice. In November, I finally could get her back to her home.

    Alice hoped that her daughter could come to visit her on Christmas Eve because she wanted to be with her family, like the old days. But her daughter was coming after Christmas, so she was very sad. I also felt sad because she would be alone on the holiday.

    On Christmas Eve, I took her to a candlelight service (烛光礼拜) at a church that night. I didn't take her to my church. Instead, I took her to the church in her old neighborhood. We got there early and I let her sit near the door, so people could see her when they came in. A few minutes later, some of her friends came to the church and they all talked to her and sat with her.

    Alice got a lot of love from her old and new friends there. She said she loved the gift like this. That night, I thought I got the best gift: the smile on Alice's face.

    I stood in the doorway, watching my older brother carefully putting clothes into his bag. I coughed uneasily. Finally 1 that I was there, Rocky turned towards me with a sad smile.

    "I'm leaving tomorrow," he said.

    "I know." My 2 was almost a whisper (低声). I was 3 with myself for being so weak, but I wasn't about to cry.

    "My flight is early, but there is still enough time to the airport," he said. Seeing the 4 look on my face, he quickly added, "I promise I won't leave without saying goodbye."

    I tried to say 5, but I didn't. It's always 6 to keep quiet if you're about to cry. "You promised you wouldn't cry," he said to me, thinking that I was close to 7.

    I remember the day he taught me how to ride a bike. At first I thought he was always right behind me, holding the seat to keep me from 8. I was happy with this, but he knew he couldn't hold me up all my life. He told me that one day he would have to let go.

    His coughing stopped my thinking. What was left to say? How could I say goodbye to the person who taught me everything?

    The next morning I 9, looked at my alarm clock, and realized he had left hours ago. We never even said goodbye.

    Goodbye, Rocky! 10 he may have been many miles away, I knew he heard me, even if it was only an answer in his heart.

In the Spring and Autumn period of China, there was a great man called Yan Zi. Yan Zi was a short man, but he was very 1 . He was an ambassador (大使) of the Qi Kingdom. Ambassadors went to other countries and 2 to their kings. One day the King of Qi let Yan Zi 3 to meet King Ling of Chu. 

King Ling didn't like the King of Qi. He told his people 4 a small gate (门). When Yan Zi 5 , the gate keeper let him get into the 6 through the gate. Yan Zi 7 "This gate is for dogs. Is this city for dogs 8 for people?" Hearing this, King Ling had to open the city gate for him. 

When he 9 Yan Zi, King Ling said, "Are there few people in your country? Why did your king make you his ambassador to Chu?" Yan Zi answered, "There 10 tens of thousands of people in my country, my lord. Good ambassadors go to good kingdoms. Poor (差) ambassadors go to poor kingdoms." How smart Yan Zi was!

On a Friday night, a poor young violinist was playing his violin at the entrance of the subway station. He played such great music that people slowed down to l{#blank#}1{#/blank#} and put some money into his hat. 

The next day, the violinist came to the entrance again. He put down his hat as usual. Beside the hat was a piece of paper with some w{#blank#}2{#/blank#} on it. It said, "A George Sang has put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Welcome to claim (认领) it. " Soon the people were all attracted by the words and wondered w{#blank#}3{#/blank#} it could be. After a while a man rushed through the crowd, took the violinist's shoulders and said, "I knew you would certainly come here. " The violinist asked, "Did you l{#blank#}4{#/blank#} anything?" "Lottery (彩票). " The violinist took out a lottery ticket with Sang's name on it. Sang took it and danced happily. 

Sang was an office worker. He bought the lottery and w{#blank#}5{#/blank#} a prize of ＄500, 000. But when he gave ＄50 to the violinist for his wonderful music, the lottery ticket was thrown in, too. The violinist was a college student. That morning, he was going to fly to Vienna for high-education. However, when he f{#blank#}6{#/blank#} the ticket, he put off the flight and went back to the entrance. 

Later someone asked the violinist why he didn't take the lottery ticket to pay for his high education. He said, "Although I don't have much money, I live h{#blank#}7{#/blank#}. If I lose honesty, I won't be happy forever. "

One day, a boy didn't sell a piece of bread all the morning. He felt tired and sad. Then he said to himself,"I should find a cool place to rest for a while and go on selling the bread. What if good luck happens to me?"

 When he found a cool wall to rest on, an old woman walked over and said," Child, you look very tired but you didn't sell a single bread, right?"

 The boy asked in a low voice," What do you suggest I should do now?"

" Don't sell it any more. Go home quickly, my poor child." The old woman kindly said and then left.

A young man heard their conversation and he walked over. He said to the boy,"I don't agree with her. You should keep waiting. Don't lose your heart." The boy looked up at the young man and his eyes were full of hope again. After a while, the boy walked back to sell his bread.

 Suddenly, a car stopped. A young woman in the car said to the boy," Hey, little boy. It's good to see you here. I want to buy all your bread for the children in our Hope House."