A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

    A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pock et and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(听出) his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

    The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day; I can not see it."

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply sign the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective (有效的)?

    During all this time I never stopped thinking about escape. When I traveled across to the other side of the island, I could see the other islands, and I said to myself, "Perhaps I can get there with a boat. Perhaps I can get back to England one day."

    So I decided to make myself a boat. I cut down a big tree, and then began to make a long hole in it. It was hard work, but about six months later, I had a very fine canoe (独木舟). Next, I had to get it down to the sea. How silly I was! Why didn't I think before I began work? Of course, the canoe was too heavy. I couldn't move it! I pulled and pushed and tried everything, but it didn't move. I was very unhappy for a long time after that.

    That happened in my fourth year on the island. In my sixth year I did make myself a smaller canoe, but I did not try to escape in it. The boat was too small for a long journey, and I did not want to die at sea. The island was my home now, not my prison, and I was just happy to be alive. A year or two later, I made myself a second canoe on the other side of the island. I also built myself a second house there, and so I had two homes.

    My life was still busy from morning to night. There were always things to do or to make. I learnt to make new clothes for myself from the skins of dead animals. They looked very strange, it is true, but they kept me dry in the rain.

    I kept food and tools at both my houses, and also wild goats. There were many goats on the island, and I made fields with high fences to keep them in. They learnt to take food from me, and soon I had goats' milk to drink every day. I also worked hard in my corn (玉米) fields. And so many years went by.

    Rose is a student. She is1Grade Seven. There are2people in her family: her father, her mother and her. Rose is very3so she has many4at school. Look! It's5cat. The cat6on the desk.

    Rose likes playing table tennis and basketball. Her7sport is swimming. Her favourite8is red and she has a red bag. Where is it? It's on the chair. There is a book on the 9, too. Can you10it? It's Rose's father's book.

    Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything-tutors, cards, special learning centers in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic(天主教的) school.

    After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread(铺开) out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before.  This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.

    Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His morn looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity(好奇心). She went to his room and asked, "Son, what was it? Was it the nuns(修女)?" Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, "No." "Well then," she asked again. "WHAT was it?"

    Little Tommy looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed(钉) to the plus sign(加号), I knew they weren't joking."

Do you know what a long friendship is like? Let's have a look at the following examples.

I met my best friend fifteen years ago in my middle school. Now we work in different cities. Besides preparing a gift for him, I also write a letter to him on his birthday every year. And we send wishes to each other every holiday. Although we are very busy with our work, we never forget the important days. —Peter

I've known my best friend for ten years. I always keep in touch with her in my life. It doesn't mean that we talk to each other every day. In fact, I only call her up once a week. But it helps me make sure everything is okay in her life. I think it's important because she can know I'm always there for her. —Amy

I met my best friend twenty years ago in my primary school. In our lives, we have conflicts sometimes. But we usually speak out our ideas and make compromises to reach an agreement (协定). I think proper communication plays an important part in our friendship. And we never cover up our care for each other. —David

It was an unusual(不寻常) day for the Jacksons. The children usually go to school by car1 today they walked to school.2 mother , Mrs Jackson, usually cooks a meal at home in the morning, but this morning she 3 lots of things in the supermarket.What about Mr.Jackson？He usually drinks tea and reads 4 interesting book in the afternoon, but this afternoon he made some 5 for the whole family. They were delicious. The children usually do their homework 6 6 in the evening but this evening they had a party in the garden.The Grandpa sang songs 7 children. He sang very 8 .The children met new friends,9 games and had 10 presents.They had a nice party and enjoy themselves.