When my daughter, Sophie, was admitted to a college we were very happy, but a little worried about becoming empty nesters(空巢老人). I knew I had to do something, starting with the summer before she was away from home.

    Sophie had a pack of colourful blouses. I knew she wouldn't wear them anymore, so I decided to make a quilt(被子) out of them. I tried to work on the quilt when Sophie 1 – which turned out to be often. She was very busy with her friends. Even when she was at home, her door was shut more than usual. This made me feel a bit hurt.2 we didn't have much time together before she went to college.

When we arrived at the college, a wave of emotion flooded me. Sophie saw it in my face. She took a beautiful 3 from her bag. "I made this for you, Mom," she said. Then I knew why she had been staying behind a 4door that summer. It was an album of photographs recording the life of our family over the last 17 years.

    I broke into tears. Some of it was sadness at having to let her go, but some of it was 5I knew that our connection was more 6 than ever as we would always be connected by the strongest link, the love that went into every stitch(针脚) of her quilt and every photo in my album.

In Sophie's dormitory room I unfolded the quilt on her bed. For a moment she was speechless. Then she threw her arms around me. "Mom, I love you," she said. One of her new friends was calling her outside. Sophie turned, and I let her go.

    Hi, everyone! My name is Linda. I'm 1 English girl. This is a 2 of my family. You can see 3 people in it. These are my grandparents. 4 are in the middle of the photo. The tall man is my father. 5 name is Henry. This is my mother, Anna. My parents have three children, Tom, Paul 6 me. Tom and Paul are my 7. Tom is seven. Paul is three. And I'm six. 8 is the girl? She is my aunt. Her name is Betty. She is my father's 9 . Oh, Pipi is in the photo, too. Pipi is the 10 of my dog. I like it very much. It's my good friend.

In 1987, a small company named Huawei was started in Shenzhen. After more than 30 years of development, now, the company {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (beat) Apple and become the world's second largest maker of smartphones. It has also become the world's supplier (供应者) of 5G. In China and even in the world, Huawei is a wonder. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it started producing mobile phones not many years ago, it has become one of the most famous phone companies.

But recently, Huawei faces some {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (difficulty). The US government made a law to stop its sales in America. American officials said Huawei gave information that it collected to the Chinese government. At the same time, the US government planned to stop {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (sell) parts and services to Huawei. They believed that Huawei's business would {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (hurt) this way.

"We have never received such a request from the Chinese government and we have never tried to get into other systems to collect information," Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's president said. "The law would have little effect on our company. Huawei has enough ability to deal with the problems," Ren added.

In an interview several years ago, Ren Zhengfei said, "I started Huawei with only £4000 at the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (begin), but now it has become a 100 billion company. The experience was not as romantic as you imagine."

Facing the law of the US, Huawei {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (grow). Huawei's smartphone sales around the world rose 50 percent compared with a year {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (early) in the first three months of 2023. At the same time, sales from both Samsung and Apple fell. So far, Huawei has grown into the world's largest telecommunication equipment supplier (供应商), selling in 170 countries. It may beat Samsung as the largest smartphone maker in the near future.

When my first wartime Christmas came, I was in a new soldier school in Ashland and not sure if I could make it home for the holidays. On the afternoon of December 23, we were told some of us would have three-day holidays posted. I was one of the lucky soldiers.

It was Christmas Eve when I arrived home, and a light snow had fallen. Mother opened the front door. I could see over her, into the corner of the living room where the tree had always stood. There were lights all colors shining in the green of the tree.

"Where did it come from?" I asked.

I asked the gate boy to cut it" my mother said. "I wouldn't have had one just for myself, but you called in such a rush! He just brought it in this afternoon."

The tree was almost as tall as the room, and the Tree Top Star was in its place. A few branches reached about a little disorderly at the side, I thought, and there was a big bare branch（树枝） showing in the middle. But the tree filled the room with the pleasant smell of Christmas.

"It's not like the one you want to find, " my mother went on. "Yours were always in good shape and you were good at it. I think the gate boy didn't know where to look for a better one." "Don't worry." I told her. "It's perfect."

It wasn't, of course, but at the moment I understood for the first time, all Christmas trees are perfect.

Our school held a music concert last week. The concert started at 7 o'clock and ended at9:30. In this concert, many students performed(表演) very well. Maria is one of them. I thought she was the best performer. When she was playing the piano, everyone listened to the wonderful music quietly. After she finished playing, everyone cheered for her. Then I visited her at the back of the stage. I learned that she joined the school music club one year ago. She learned how to play the piano there every Sunday. Mr Wang teaches her to play the piano. He is a pianist. He is kind to her. Maria hopes that I can also join the school music club. She would like to teach me to play the piano. I am very happy. We become good friends soon.