Amy had three sons, Dave, Bill and Bob. Every year her sons sent her expensive gifts on her birthday.

The eldest son Dave, had a lot of money and he wanted his mother to have the most expensive gifts, but he didn't know what to buy. So he put an ad in the newspaper. "Wanted—the greatest gift for my mother.”

About a week before his mother's birthday, a man came to his office. He brought a big bird.

“This bird can speak six languages and sing eight songs.”the man said.

“Really?  I'd like to listen to it," Dave said.

The man made the bird talk in French and tell a joke in Japanese. Then the bird sang a beautiful song. Dave was very happy and paid eight thousand dollars for the bird. The next day Dave sent the bird to his mother with a birthday card.

The day after his mother's birthday he called his mother. “Well, mother”he asked, "What do you think of the bird?”

“Oh, it's very delicious, dear.”said his mother.

    Roger, a young man from China, has taught Chinese in a primary school in England for 3 years．A lot of children like his class and he enjoys teaching them very much．All the pupils are quite interested in what Roger teaches them．They learn quickly and do everything carefully．

    One day he said to the children, “People in a lot of Asian countries wear white clothes at funerals(葬礼), but people in America and in Europe wear white in the weddings because white means purity and happiness．What colour does an English woman wear when she gets married?”

    Mary said, “White, sir, because she is happy．” “That is good, Mary,” Roger said．“You are quite right．She wears white because she is happy．”

    But then one boy in the class put up his hand．“Yes, Dick?” Roger said, “Do you have a question?” “Yes,” Dick said．“Why do men wear black in our country when they get married, sir?”

    Hi, everyone. I'm Daming. I come from a family 1 five people. They are my grandparents, my parents and me. We live in a tall building in Shanghai in the 2 of China. Our apartment is big and 3. We're living a happy life. My grandfather doesn't work now. He often tells me something about his 4.

    My grandfather 5 born in 1958in a small village. At that time, there wasn't a 6 in the village. 7. My grandfather couldn't go to school. There was a 8 behind my grandfather's house. The water was clean and there were lots of fish in it. People in the village were friendly and they got on well with each other. People were busy on the farm all day. There were many interesting games for children to play. It was great for my grandfather to 9 other children, so he wasn't 10. My grandfather often says, “the life in the past was hard, but it was happy too.”

    A famous teacher was speaking to the students at our school. He began his lesson by holding up a ¥100 bill. Then he said to the three hundred students, “Who would like this ¥100 bill?” The students began to put up their hands at once.

    Then he said, “I am going to give this ¥100 to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He then made the bill into a ball. Then he said, “Who wants it now?” The hands went back into the air.

    “Well,” he said, “What if I do this?” and he dropped it on the floor and stepped on it. He picked up the dirty, crumpled bill and said, “Who still wants it?” Hands went back into the air.

    “My friends,” he said, “you have learned a valua­ble lesson today. No matter (无论) what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not go down in value (价值). It was still worth ¥ l00!”

    Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crum­pled, and stepped on by the chances we take and the things that happen to us. We feel as if we are worth nothing. But remember, no matter what has happened to you, you will never lose your value: you are always valuable to those people who love you. Your value doesn't come from what you do or whom you know, but WHO YOU ARE.

    You are special and valuable. Don't ever forget it!

◆根据以上短文内容，然后从每题所给的四个选项中选择最佳选项。

    When Allison Winn was eight and her family adopted(收养) a dog named Coco, they had no idea how much the little dog would change her life. "Coco helped me feel better," says Allison, who was recovering from cancer at the time." She would stay with me when I didn't want to play." Allison loved Coco so much that she told her parents she wanted to help other sick kids find the same kind of comfort.

    She started raising money by selling homemade dog biscuits in front of her house. Her first customer was the mailman. By the end of that summer, she had raised nearly $1,000, enough to adopt and train two dogs and give them to children with cancer. Now, a little more than two years later, an organization has been founded for Allison's cause.

    Her organization, the Stink Bug Project, is run to help families adopt pets. To date, the program has raised $ 33,000 and given ten dogs to ten kids with cancer. With the remaining money, Allison's mother, Dianna Litvak, who helps run Stink Bug, hopes to extend(扩大) the pet adoption program all over the state and help support cancer research.

    Her daughter is just as ambitious(雄心勃勃的)."I wanted to do a million adoptions, but my morn made me lower it," says Allison. Still, she'd finally like to get, dogs to sick kids in other states." Allison has figured out(理解) how to help  in a way that no one else has," Litvak says proudly. "We made her younger sister, Emily, her friends, and the adopting families take part. It took the love of a little girl to wrap(包) all that together into one amazing package."

    Kevin lived in a village in Africa. One morning, the teacher came into Kevin's classroom with a new girl. "Hi, guys! My name is Jenny. I am from America. I came to Africa with my dad. It's nice to meet everyone," the girl said.

    Kevin noticed (注意) that he looked different from Jenny. As soon as school was over, he ran home to ask his mother, "Mom, there is a new student Jenny in our class today. She comes from the US. Everyone in Africa has curly hair, right? Then, why is Jenny's hair straight?"

    Mom thought for a minute and said, "It's always hot in Africa. Curly hair is like a sponge (海绵) with many holes (洞), so the air can get in and out easily. If your hair was like Jenny's straight hair, you wouldn't be able to stand the heat (热). Our curly hair is necessary (必要的)!"