Venice Film Festival is considered to be the oldest film festival in the world. The first Venice Film Festival was  1  in Italy in 1932. It was 14 years earlier than the first Cannes Film Festival in France.

    At the first Venice Film Festival, there were no judges（裁判） and no 2 at all. Only a list of good films was chosen by the public. At the 3festival, prizes started to be given. The prize of the festival was the Golden 4 . The lion is a symbol of the ancient republic of Venice.

5the Venice Film Festival was first held, the government has wanted to hold it every year. But from 1938 to 1942 the festival was destroyed 6 special reasons. Also, from 1940 to 1942, the festival was not held in Venice, so it was considered to have been 7 during that time. In 1946, the festival became active again. Now the festival becomes more and more 8 . Each of the editors in the world wants to have a seat in this festival.

      Venice Film has  9  a great opportunity for people around the world. They can learn about other countries' culture by watching films. Many movie makers send their  10 to the festival and some of them hope to win the Lion Award.

    One day, I picked up my daughter Eloise from school and went to the supermarket for a few things. I was hoping to be in and out 1.

    I found a short line with just one person in front of me. It was a/an2woman, and she was paying for her things with only 3. After a long day at work, I was unhappy with this old woman.

    But then I watched the young clerk(职员). He helped her 4 her change, so carefully taking it from her shaking hands. I 5 him repeatedly(重复地) say to her: “Yes, madam.” When she asked if she had enough to buy a bag, he told her she did. Then he went two lines over to get6 for her. Never once did this clerk get annoyed or roll his eyes. He was patientand kind.

    As I was watching him, I saw Eloise was too. I realized that my daughter was learning an important 7 from a complete stranger.

8 the woman was finished, the clerk began ringing up (把……的费用相加) my things and thanked me 9 my patience. I thanked him too.

    Then we left the supermarket with a full bag, but also with a 10full of thankfulness for such an important lesson.

    It's Christmas at Clara's home. Many guests arrive to celebrate with the family. Clara's godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, makes toys. He gives Clara a very special gift of a 1 . Her brother, Fritz, is 2 . He takes the nutcracker away and it gets broken! After all the guests leave and the children go to bed, Clara 3 up at night and goes downstairs to get her nutcracker under the tree. She 4 asleep there. She dreams that all her toys come to life and are fighting against the bad Mouse King. The Nutcracker flies to 5 young Clara, but is struck down. Clara saves her Nutcracker by 6 her shoe at the Mouse King.

    With the Mouse King out of the way, Clara runs to the Nutcracker. When she kisses him, he turns into a prince! Then she and her prince enjoy a 7 trip along which they see dancing snowflakes and are welcomed by sweets.

    On Christmas morning, Clara wakes under the 8 holding her nutcracker. This story of Nutcracker is very popular,9 with kids. It was made into a ballet. Russian 10Tchaikovsky composed his beautiful music and that is one of the reasons why people love to watch it. See it at the theatre and yo'll find the story is also told by beautiful dances, rather than just words.

    Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class a fun 1 — to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.

    Most of the class considered turkey and other traditional goodies of the season. These, the teacher thought, would be the 2 of most of her students' art. And they were. But in her class there was a different kind of boy, Douglas. He was always unhappy. When other children played together, he was likely to stand close by the teacher's side. The boy drew a hand in his picture. 3 else. Just an empty hand.

    Whose hand 4 it be? His abstract (抽象的) picture made classmates really 5. One child guessed it was the hand of the6, because they raise turkeys. Another suggested police officers, because the police 7 and care for people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God, for God feeds us. And so the discussion went — 8 the teacher almost forgot the young artist himself.

    When the children went on to other projects, she 9 at Douglas' desk, bent down, and asked him 10 hand it was. The little boy looked away and said in a low voice, "It's 11, teacher."

    The teacher recalled the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here or there, as she had the other students. How often had she said, "12 my hand, Douglas, we'll go outside." Or, "Let me 13 you how to hold your pencil." Or, "Let's do this together." Douglas was most thankful for his teacher's hand.

    Hearing the boy's words, tears ran down the teacher's face. She brushed aside a tear and went on with her work.

    The story speaks of 14 than thankfulness. It says something about teachers teaching and parents parenting and friends showing friendship. They might not always say 15, but they'll remember the hand that reaches out.

    One day a lion met a spider, who was just busy making a web. The lion 1 for a while and said，"How clever you are! How did you learn to do that?" The spider answered proudly," I learned it from my mother."

    The lion watched a longer while. Then he asked the spider, "But why don't you catch your food in the way that I do?"

    "I am just a small animal," the spider 2 ."I cannot run fast or fly. 3 with my web I can catch flying insects(昆虫)，and I don't even have to run after them."

    The lion then asked," Could you make a 4 for me? Then I would not have to run after animals either."

    "Sorry,"the spider said."My web can only catch flying insects. But you cannot love 5.

them."

    The lion was 6 with the spider. She did not have to work 7 for food. And she would not help him get his food. So he hit the web and broke it. But the spider jumped 8 the lion's back and bit him.

    "Now you will remember me," said the spider as she jumped into the grass. "Think carefully 9 you do something bad to other animals. Some of us may be small, but we are very smart."

    The lion tried to scratch(挠)his back, but he could not reach 10 the spider bit.. It itched (发痒)for several days. He remembered the smart spider for a long time.

    Years ago, I celebrated my 40^th birthday with my friends. I arrived at the restaurant ahead of time,1I waited outside the restaurant. Then a homeless man came up to me and asked for 2. I had been given strict orders by my friends not to bring my wallet in case(以防) I paid for the3. So I told the man that I had 4money. He quietly smiled at me, and then left.

    Just then a friend who 5arrived called out "Happy birthday!"6this, the man turned and asked, "Hey man, it's your birthday today?" "Yes, it is", I said. He 7, smiling and said loudly, "Happy birthday, man!" But I could 8imagine what happened next. The man reached into his pocket, pulled out a dollar bill and said "Here man, take this."

    Though I was 9his action, I didn't want to accept money from a homeless man. I said, "Thanks. That's really 10of you, but that's OK." The man looked directly into my eyes and said, "Please take this." I still hesitated(犹豫)to accept this11, but I heard a voice within me shouting, "TAKE THE MONEY!" I hesitantly reached out and said, "Thank you". Excitedly, he caught my 12, gave me the dollar and said, "No, thank you brother!"

    That experience made me feel like I had got far more than13!This was one of my greatest life 14: No matter how poor we may be, we always have something valuable to15with others.