One day, Jack's parents told him that his grandpa would retire (退休) after working for forty years. Jack said in surprise, “I'm only seven, so it means Grandpa has been … err… A really long time!”
His parents said, “Yes. That's why we are going to have a surprise party for him.”
Jack loved his Grandpa and wanted to do something special for him. He remembered the business card his grandpa had given him two years before. He knew that his grandpa would no longer have the position (职位) on that card, so he decided to build a new one for his grandpa.
When the big day came, Jack was ready. But he didn't want to put his gift together with others'. He carried it around with him the whole evening.
When all the other people left, he took his grandpa's hand and brought him over to a chair and gave him the gift.
His grandpa smiled, “Well, it must be a beautiful gift. May I open it now?" "Sure!" Jack said excitedly.
As Grandpa opened the gift, tears came into his eyes. Jack gave him the greatest gift he had ever got! They were business cards with his new position: FULL-TIME GRANDPA! Jack said, “Now your full-time job is my grandpa!”
“Well, how much do I get paid?" his grandpa asked, smiling. "As many hugs (拥抱) as you want!” With these words, Jack gave Grandpa a hug. “Well, I guess that means I'm the richest man in the world!”said Grandpa.

    It was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime—my first trip abroad alone, without my parents. I had organized everything myself and I would show them how independent I could be.

    I had arranged to stay in a farmhouse outside a village in southern Italy. My schedule said that the plane would arrive in Italy at five o'clock in the afternoon and it was a thirty-minute drive from the airport to the village. I wanted to get to my destination before it got dark, so I could have a drink, watch the sunset and enjoy an evening meal.

    The problems began at the airport. My plane was three hours late taking off. I walked around the airport, looked in the shops, and drank coffee in the cafes. I didn't eat anything. That was a mistake! When the plane finally took off, they gave me a cold, tasteless meal which I could not eat.

    We arrived in Italy in the early evening and I was feeling lightheaded from the Lack of food. The sun was setting as I was collecting my bags! I missed it completely! I went to the desk to find my hire car and that was when I discovered the next problem. The receptionist couldn't find my name in the computer and there were no more cars. There were no buses or trains to the village, and the taxis were in strike.

    The receptionist felt sorry for me. She phoned her brother, Alessandro, who agreed to take me to the village. I waited for Alessandro at the front gate and he arrived driving a very old car with smoke pouring out of the engine. We set off. Fifteen minutes later we broke down. I was tired and depressed and very, very hungry. I began to think my parents were right. Maybe I was too young to travel on my own. Luckily, Alessandro was a mechanic. After an hour, he fixed the car and we started driving again.

    It was nearly midnight when we arrived at the farmhouse. A man opened the door and smiled. "Come in," he said. "We have been waiting for you." I sat with a group of the friendliest people I've ever met and had a meal that was absolutely wonderful. And I'm glad to say that the rest of my trip runlet out to be exactly the same.

    There was once a musician. He said he was not afraid of dangerous animals, "Even a bear would be as quiet as the friendliest cat when hearing my music." But he had never played the game, and no one believed him.

    A chance to show his words arrived just when a circus (马戏团) came to the town. The musician came to the ringmaster (领班) and told what he could do.

    "Wow, that's interesting." The ringmaster said. "We just have three new lions and they haven't worked with the lion tamer (驯兽师) yet. Let's see what you can do with them." The musician agreed and the whole town crowded the hall to see what would happen.

    The musician was standing quietly in the center with a smile. Then the ringmaster opened the door of the cage and jumped out angrily a huge lion, shouting and showing his teeth. Everyone was too nervous to breathe.

    Still with the smile, the musician began to play. The beautiful music rose, then the lion sat down and began to enjoy the music. Everyone lost themselves in the music. The lion did, too. For the second lion, ________________.

    Then it was the third lion's turn to appear and everyone there was waiting for the lion to be quiet just like the other two. But the lion ran up to the man and ate him.

    All the people were surprised. The other two lions asked angrily, "What have you done! We were enjoying the music!" The third lion put his paw (爪子) to its ear and said, "Sorry, I can't hear you. I have been deaf for 5 years."

    Garrison had been treasuring his last piece. All he had left now was a sheet of the beautiful brown paper Pa had brought back from his last sailing trip.

    "You've been quiet," Pa said, "Could I see your picture?"

    Garrison handed over his sketch. Pa studied it, then looked at his son. "You're ten now, eh?" Garrison nodded, hoping Pa wouldn't say that he was too old to be fooling around with pencils and paper.

    "When I was ten, I wanted to work on my father's ship," Pa said, "When Thomas was ten, he asked me to let him plant the corn."

    Garrison's throat (嗓子) tightened. "I know I'm not like either of you." Pa looked at the drawing again.

    "No, you are like both of us. You work hard, like Thomas. And you're like me, too. I have wandering feet, but you have a wandering mind. We need to see things differently.

    Garrison frowned. "I'd rather love the land, like Thomas, or the sea…"

    Pa patted his hand. "Thomas cares about our family very much-that's why he's worked so hard to bring us food. And my love for the sea makes good money. But there's more in life than food and money. There's happiness, for one. Does it make you happy to draw?"

    Garrison nodded.

    "And it makes me happy to look at your drawings. Not many folks can catch happiness on a piece of paper. Some might say drawing's a waste of time, but they don't understand how things are. Why, asking you to stop drawing like asking Thomas to stop farming, or me to stop going to sea. It would be like asking us to stop breathing, wouldn't it?"

    Garrison considered this, then replied, "No, sir. Not quite like breathing. If I couldn't draw any more, it would be… like someone took away my voice." He hung his head. In his mind he could hear Thomas laughing, "It's not like you ever speak up, anyway."

    But Pa patted his shoulder and said, "That would be a pure shame. Your voice is important, Garrison, whether it's out loud or on paper. And speaking of paper…" Pa smiled. "Take a look in my bag."

    Garrison reached into the bag and found a sketchbook. For a moment he was speechless happiness seemed to fill his body and stick in his throat. Then he managed to find his voice. "Oh, Pa-thank you."