I was 10 the year my cousin Marley's parents gave her a painful Christmas surprise: they were getting a divorce(离婚). My aunt went to California, but my uncle decided to get her back. There was one matter: where to put his young daughter. Luckily, my mother loved Marley, giving her more attention than her family ever did.

    On that Christmas Eve, my cousin arrived on our doorstep carrying an old blue suitcase. Before she stepped inside, Marley said, “It doesn't matter. When my parents come back, we'll have a bigger Christmas than this.”

    Late on the night Marley arrived, my mom came into my room, her arms filled with packages.I knew they were my Christmas presents. “I know how you love surprises but we have to decide which ones to give to Marley.”

    My mother carefully opened the gifts. Wow! I saw ice skates, red leather gloves and a dollhouse. The last present was the music box we'd asked the lady at the local store to take down and play for us over and over again.

    “Which ones?” my mother asked. “She can have the ice skates,” I said reluctantly(勉强地). “That's good,” my mother said. She began to tape the packages up again. Then she stopped and asked, “Are you sure about these?” At that moment, I realized she expected more from me than I had already given. So I gave her the music box, too, and ___________. The next morning, Marley's eyes were resolute(坚定的). She expected nothing and wanted us to know she didn't care. But when she saw her name on the biggest box, she couldn't hide her excitement. I thought my happiness would be cut in half. Instead it was doubled.

    Over the last 40 years, Marley and I have grown apart(分离的). But the love we felt for each other that day still remains. Today Marley says, “They were the best presents I ever got.

D

    I remember the green coat in my fifth and sixth grades.

    When I needed a new jacket, my mother asked what kind I wanted. I described something like bikers wear. She listened long. I thought she understood for sure the kind I wanted.

    The next day when I got home from school, I discovered, on my bed, a jacket which was not what I had expected. I went close to the jacket slowly, as if it were a stranger.

    From the kitchen mother shouted that my jacket was in the closet. I rushed and pulled at the clothes in the closet, hoping the jacket on the bed wasn't for me but my brother. No luck, I wanted to cry because it was so ugly and so big. But I knew I'd have to wear it a long time before I'd have a new one. I looked at the jacket, like an enemy, thinking bad things before I took off my old and small jacket.

    I put the big jacket on. I stood in front of the mirror（镜子）, turning right and left. I looked ugly.

    I threw it on my brother's bed and looked at it for a long time before I put it on and went out, smiling a "thank you" to my mom.

    The next day I wore it to school. At the morning break, my best friend, Steve, looked at me for a long time. The girls turned away to whisper. The teachers looked my way and talked about how foolish I looked in my new jacket. When it was time for the whole school to get together on the playground,   ▲  . Although they didn't say out loud, "Man, that's ugly!" I heard their talk and even laughter.

    And so I went, in my jacket. So embarrassed, so hurt, I couldn't even do my lessons the rest of the day. I received Cs on tests.

    I wore that thing for three years. All in those years no love came to me.

    I blamed（指责）that jacket for those bad years. I blamed my mother for her bad taste and her cheap ways. It was a sad time for the heart. Anyway, I spent my sixth-grade year, looking forward to something good to happen to me.

    And it was about that time I began to grow, still in that green ugly jacket, which had become my brother who went along wherever I went.

Only a Ribbon

    In one of the London hospitals，a short time ago，there was a young doctor. He noticed one of the patients，a ten-year-old poor girl called Katie，who had a very painful illness.

    Katie lay in her bed，day after day，with nothing to help her forget her pain and cheer up. One day the doctor noticed her trying to make a doll of her finger, and speaking to it. But she was soon tired of it，and lay back into her bed.

    That afternoon，the young doctor saw a beautiful ribbon in a shop window. He thought that it might help cheer the little girl up，so he went in and bought it for her. When he handed the ribbon to the girl，she was too surprised to speak. There were tears in her eyes. This little gift made her feel rich and happy.

    The nurse later told the doctor that the girl played with the ribbon all day long. She twisted（盘绕）it round her head. She held it in her hand while she slept.

    Some weeks later，Katie's illness became worse，and it was necessary to perform a dangerous operation. When Katie was brought into the operation mom，she cried out for the young doctor. He was brought，and he held one of the girl's hands，while the other tightly held the ribbon.

    During the operation，the ribbon fell off Katie's hand. As soon as she woke up and opened her eyes，she looked at her friend and said in a low voice，“My ribbon.”The doctor gave it to her and she smiled happily.

    It was only a little gift，but it made the girl's stay in the hospital bright with beauty and love.

    A poor boy lived in a small town.He sold goods from door to door to pay for school. One day, he only one cent left, and he was hungry. He decided that he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, when a young woman opened the door, the boy was shy, so he just asked for some water. The woman knew he was hungry, so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much should I pay for it?” “You won't pay for it. My mother has told me that it is good to help the people who are in trouble.” She replied. The boy said, “Then I thank you from my heart.” As the boy left that house, he felt stronger. He knew he had many things to do.

    Many years later, the young woman became ill. The local doctors couldn't save her. People had to send her to a big city.When the doctor knew who the woman was, he was excited and tried his best to save her life. He succeeded. The woman needed to pay for the medical bill. The doctor learned that she couldn't afford it. So he wrote something down on the medical bill. The woman read the bill, “You have paid it with a glass of milk.”

    There lived an old man in a small town of Germany. He had three sons and they all worked in the same factory where he had worked. After the Second World War began. his sons were all made to join the army and all of them died in the battle(战争). The old man was heartbroken. He didn't have enough food and often went hungry. Nobody helped him and he didn't know how to go on living.

    One cold winter night, the old man couldn't go to sleep. He had been hungry for two days and it was so cold that ice could be seen in his room. He had to get up and began to run in the room until he lay down on the ground. The next morning he had to beg from door to door. He had been to a lot of cities ever since.

    Once he came to a village, but the villagers were all poor and couldn't give him anything. He was too hungry to go to another village. He thought over and over and found a way. He came to a police station and called out. "Hitler is a foolish pig!"

    Out came a policeman at once. He took the old man into a room, gave him some bread and a cup of tea. Then he said, "Don't say that in our village, sir!"

    "I'm sorry, sir," said the old man, "I don't know it's Hitler's hometown."

    "No, no, sir," the policeman said in a hurry. "It's the pig's hometown!"

请根据短文内容，选择最佳选项。

    One morning, a blind boy sat on the steps of building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, "I am blind, please help me."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could 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 his footsteps and asked, "Are you the one who changed my sign in the 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, but I cannot see it." Do you think the first sign and second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.

    There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story. The first is: Treasure what you have. Someone else has less, Try your best to help those who need your help. The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.