C

    O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison（监狱）. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales（故事）were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader's surprise.

    A girl was walking in the woods when she found two weak birds. She took them home and put them in a small cage (鸟笼). She took good care of them. The birds grew strong. Every morning, they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl felt great love for the birds. She wanted them to sing for her forever.

    One day, the girl left their cage door open. The bigger of the two birds flew out. The girl watched as he rose high into the sky. She was afraid that he would fly away and she would never see him again. As he flew close, she caught him in her hand and held him tightly. She was happy. Suddenly, she felt the bird go limp (无力 ). She opened her hand. The bird was dead! Her love had stolen life from the beautiful songbird.

    The other bird was pushing against the bars (条) of the cage. She could see how much he wanted to be free. She took him out of the cage and gently tossed him into the air. Would the bird fly away? She could hardly bear to watch. But the bird just wanted to stretch its wings. He flew around the girl twice and then came to rest on her shoulder.

    The girl watched the bird with joy in her heart. She wasn't worried anymore. She wanted the bird to be happy. The bird sat by the girl's ear and sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.

    The best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Love is a two-way street

    A father sat at his desk and looked at his bills when his young son rushed in and announced, "Dad, because today is your birthday and you're 40 years old, I'm going to give you 40 kisses, one for each year!"

When the boy started making good on his word(履行诺言), the father shouted, "Andrew, don't do it now. I'm too busy!" The boy soon fell silent as tears fell from his big blue eyes. Feeling sorry, the father said, "You can finish later." The boy said nothing but quietly walked away. That evening the father said, "Come and finish the kisses now, Andrew!". But the boy didn't. Unfortunately，a few days later after the father's birthday, the boy had an accident and died. His sad father wrote, "If only(要是.....该多好) I could tell him how sorry I am for my thoughtless words, and how much my heart is hurting. "I Love is a two-way street. We must warmly accept any loving act, or others will take it as a "NO" and it can leave a scar(伤痕). If we don't receive love, our life will lose its true meaning. Nothing is more important than accepting love from those who are near and dear to us.

①Do you like potatoes? These days, in the city Harbin, Heilongjiang, "little potatoes" are not a vegetable, but a cute name for visitors from the south(南方). This winter, the city has many interesting new things for them to have fun! 

②The 25th Harbin Ice and Snow World  In the park of 810 km², visitors can not only see about 1,000 beautiful ice artworks but also have fun in the ice maze(迷宫) or on the ice slide(滑梯)! 

③The Frozen Pears  In the south, we see yellow or green pears everywhere. But the frozen pears in the north are black! What do black pears taste like? Come and take a bite! 

④The Oroqen(鄂伦春族) Parade(巡游)  The Orogen people live in the mountains with reindeer(驯鹿) for many years. This winter, for the "little potatoes", they are coming to the city and have a parade with their reindeer! 

⑤The Free Pick-up(免费搭载)  To welcome the visitors, many local (当地的) people will drive their cars and pick up the visitors for free! The city won't let any "little potato" get lost. 

⑥So, do you want to start the trip now? The winter in the north is cold. But you will feel very warm there. This new year, you will see people from the north and south have fun together like a big family!

Wilbur is a fat and strong pig. He and other animals live on Mr Zuckerman's farm. He has a good friend called Charlotte. Charlotte is a spider (蜘蛛) and she is very good at spinning webs (织网). Days ago, the old sheep told Wilbur that Mr Zuckerman would kill him for Christmas dinner. Wilbur was afraid, but Charlotte said she would help him. 

Charlotte spent days and nights writing nice words about the pig Wilbur on her webs. They were excellent, humble (谦虚的), some pig and so on. 

"Wilbur is such a great pig. We will not kill him," Mr Zuckerman told Mrs Zuckerman. 

Wilbur isn't afraid any more. He comes to tell Charlotte the good news. "Do you feel happy for me, Charlotte?" Charlotte answers, "Sure, my friend." "Thank you so much, Charlotte. You make me a great pig, but you look so tired. What's the matter?" Wilbu r asks. 

Charlotte thinks for a minute and says, "Wilbur, I'm too tired. I'm afraid I'm going to die. I'm leaving you …" Wilbur begins crying. 

"Don't be sad, Wilbur! I'm just a spider. I'm nobody. But by helping you, my life is valuable (有价值的). Thank you!" Wilbur says in a sad voice. "What can I do, Charlotte? I would like to give you my life. I really would."

Charlotte smiles and says, "I believe in you. Look at the egg sac (卵囊). There are 540 eggs in it. That means I can have 540 children. You can look after them well, right?"

Wilbur says yes and cries again …