The Cheater

      Donald was not very good at math. He could not understand the teacher's explanations. “Never mind,”Donald told himself. “I'll cheat in the math exam, then I won't be in trouble.”

      The day of the exam came, and Donald sat next to Brian Smith, who always was at the top of the class in math. Donald carefully copied Brian's answers on to his own exam paper.

      The teacher collected the papers and graded (打分) them. Then she said, “Well, I've decided to give a prize to the student who got the highest grade. It's difficult for me to decide who to give the prize to, because two students, Donald and Brian, got the same grade.

“Let them share it,” one of the other students said. “I've thought about that,” the teacher said, “but I've decided to give the prize to Brian.” Donald stood up and said, “That's not fair. I got the same grade as Brian.”

“That's true,” the teacher said. “However, Brian's answer to Question 18 was ‘I don't know'. Yours was ‘Neither do I'.”

Choose the best answer to each question according to the passage.

    A man in Pakistan is now working to help children get an education. When he was a child, he did not go to school because he was too poor.

    It is reported that Pakistan has 25 million children who do not go to school. That is the second ­highest number in the world. Only Nigeria has more. Many Pakistani children must work to support their families.

    Mohammad Ayub was once one of those children. He is now a firefighter. He also manages a small school. VOA recently visited the school in the capital Islamabad.

    Ayub started with just one student in 1982. He saw a boy cleaning cars for days. He asked him, "Why don't you go to school?" The boy answered that his parents were dead and he had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters.

    Ayub was also an orphan and he, too, had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters. He said, "When my father died, everyone who came to the funeral said they were sorry, but no one helped." He sold newspapers and did other work to earn enough money to pay school fees for his brothers and sisters.

    Ayub wanted to help the young boy who washed cars, but he did not have enough money to pay the boy's school fees.

    Today, Ayub teaches many children at his school in a public park. Some of the children attend other schools in the morning, but come to Ayub in the afternoon to get help with their homework.

    Ayub has helped a large number of poor children since he began teaching. Many of them come from very poor areas near the park.

    Ayub said," I used to argue with kids who worked ' Why are you washing someone's dishes or their clothes? Why don't you study? ' "

    One of the children he advised to attend classes was Farhat Abbas. Ayub found him working with his friends about 12 years ago. "He followed us back home. He told our parents he wanted to teach us and asked them to send us to his school, "Abbas said.

    Today, Abbas is taking classes at a college and is helping Ayub.

    Many children are out of school, and those who do attend classes often get a poor education. Information gathered by an organization shows half of all Pakistani children in the 5th grade do not understand basic mathematics and cannot read a story in their language.

    A group in Islamabad reports Pakistan spends less on education than any other country in South Asia.

    When I saw Ronny for the first time, he looked like other kids in the first-grade classroom where I volunteered as a Reading Mom. However, he usually arrived at school wearing old clothes.

    On the day when it was Ronny's turn to read. He sat very close to me. I watched his fingers move slowly under each letter as "he tried to speak out "Bud the Sub". It sounded more like "Baw Daw Saw" when he said it because of his difficulty with the alphabet (字母).

    The year passed quickly and Ronny had made some progress but he was still below the level of grade. A few weeks before the school year ended, I held an award(颁奖) ceremony. I had gifts and certificates(证书) for everyone. It took me a while to think about which Ronny fit; I believed the gift could cheer him up. I finally decided on "The Most Progressive Reader". I showed his certificate and a book.

    A few days later, I saw Ronny reading the book when I went back to the school. His teacher said, "He hasn't put that book down. That's the first book he's ever owned. "

    Fighting back tears(眼泪) I came near Ronny and asked, "Will you read me your book, Ronny?" He nodded.

    And then, for the next few minutes, he read to me more smoothly than I'd ever thought. When he finished reading, Ronny closed his book and said, "Good book."

    At that moment, I knew I should do what an author(作家) had done-care children and make them excellent.

    One day, an 11-year-old girl asked her dad," What are you going to get me for my 15th birthday? "The father replied, "Don't worry about that. We still have plenty of time."

    But on a day after her 14th birthday, She passed out(昏倒) and was rushed to the hospital. The family learned that the girl had a serious heart disease and that she might die. At night, she asked her dad, "Daddy, have they told you that I am going to die?" The father replied, "No, you will live as long as anyone else." She wondered and asked, "How can you be sure?" He smiled to her and said," I just know it?"

    After the girl turned 15, She had a heart transplant (心脏移植手术). After she came back from the hospital, she found a letter on her bed. It said, "My dearest daughter, one day you asked me what I would give you for your 15th birthday. I wasn't sure then. But now you know that my present to you is my heart." The father had given his heart to his daughter.

    Parents are selfless (无私的). They even make great sacrifices to make their children grow up happily. Keep this in mind when you feel angry toward your parents. Always, they're just doing what they think best for you.

    One day, as a Chinese teacher walked into his classroom, he heard Tom Andrews whisper to another boy, "Here comes the teacher. I'm sure the silly donkey is going to talk about putting in commas(送号). "The teacher said nothing but decided to teach him a good lesson. Now the teacher began his class, and talked about putting in commas, and explained how important they could be. " I'll give you an example, "said the teacher. He wrote on the blackboard the sentence: "Tom Andrews says the Chinese teacher is a foolish donkey. " The class laughed and looked at Tom, Tom looked red and he thought the Chinese teacher also knew English well. " Now, "said the teacher, "Let me show you how important commas are. He put two commas into the sentence and it was. Tom Andrews, says the teacher, is a foolish donkey. " Only at that time Tom knew the importance of commas and felt terribly sorry for his words.

I'm Lin Peng. I'm a student in Guangming Middle School. When I was in Grade Seven, I always did badly in English. And I even got poor grades {#blank#}1{#/blank#} English tests. That made me feel very sad. I wanted to give up at that time, but my parents and my teacher encouraged me to work hard. I was told by {#blank#}2{#/blank#} not to lose hope. My teacher gave me some suggestions. She asked me to speak as much as possible. She said, "The more you speak it, the{#blank#}3{#/blank#} your English will become. Don't be shy and don't be afraid of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} mistakes. " Now I am interested in English. And I put my heart into English study all the time. Last week, I took part in an English {#blank#}5{#/blank#} held by our school, and I won the first prize. How proud I was! Hope is always there, in our hearts. So just keep it in mind and our dreams will come true one day.