A long time before I was born, my grandma and grandpa moved into the house on Beechwood Avenue. They had a young family of 4 little girls. During that time, it was hard to find a job. So, on weekend grandpa and grandma cleaned the garden to grow some of their own food. They planted tomatoes, beans, cabbages, potatoes and strawberries to feed their growing family. All summer long, the family ate food from the garden.
The family grew up, and before too many years had passed, the grandchildren came to visit. Grandma and grandpa still planted their garden every spring. Everyone still enjoyed the good food from the garden and always took some home.
Then grandpa died in one summer when he was eighty-nine years old. It was a lonely winter for grandma. She sat near the window, looking out at the yard and wondering if she could plant the garden in the spring. It would be hard to care for it by herself. When spring came, she planted only a little.
One nice day in the early summer, grandma heard a noise in the front yard and looked out the window. There were thousands of bees in the air. Grandma wondered what she could do. She decided to wait and think it over. Before long, she decided the bees won't bother anyone, so she went about her business and didn't give them any other thought.
That summer, grandma's little garden grew and grew. The neighbors all puzzled why they grew so well. One day, grandma's brother Frank visited her. Frank said，"In my hometown, the farmers often hired beekeepers to set up bee houses near their fields. The bees helped them to grow." That was when Grandma realized that her bees had helped with her garden all summer.
From that Time on, grandma always believed that since grandpa couldn't be there to help her that summer, he had sent the bees to take his place and make grandma's little garden grow and grow.

阅读理解

    Yesterday my son, daughter and I went to the grocery store. In front of us in line was a little girl with her mother. The little girl was asking her mother for a box of Smarties. The polite way she was asking almost broke the mother's heart, “I'm sorry, Honey, but we have no money to buy it.”

    My son was watching that dialogue. By the way, he had been raking(用耙子耙)leaves our garden to raise himself some money to buy a bike. As he watched the mother and daughter leave the store, he ran to the candy counter(柜台)and bought a box of Smarties with the money .

    He turned to look at me and I just nodded. He ran out after the little girl and her mother and he gave them the box. He came back and told me what he told them. “Every kid should have a pack of Smarties because they can make you smart.”

    I was so excited that I bought a pack of Smarties for my son. I told him that I was proud of him, and that was for his act of generosity because he gave his own Smarties to others. Quickly, he replied, “But you do nice things for people and you never get anything for it .”I explained, “when you do something nice for someone, you shouldn't expect to get anything. When you get something you should be very thankful.”

    Albert was an ordinary worker in an oil company in America. His workmates gave a nickname(绰号) "Four dollars a bucket(桶) of oil" below his name whenever and wherever he wrote down his name.

    As time went by, people forgot his real name. Later, when Roller, the board chairman(董事长) of the oil company, heard of it. He was very surprised, so he invited Albert to come to his office. "Some people give you a nickname for 'Four dollars a bucket. Why aren't you angry?" asked Roller in surprise.

    "Oh! Mr. Roller! I like this nickname very much, because 'Four dollars a bucket is our company's advertisement. If someone calls me 'Four dollars a

    Bucket once, I think it's a free advertisement for our company. It's not necessary for me to get angry. Don't you think so, Mr. Roller?"

    "Oh! What a wonderful man!" Roller said excitedly, "Young man! Work hard, you must be successful in the future! I believe in you!"

    Five years later, Albert became the second board chairman.

    Later Albert said in one of his reports, "We should treat everything actively because maybe our future success will begin from a small thing!"

    We never forget when Perronet came to us. It was on a spring afternoon. We never knew who drowned Perronet, but David pulled him out of the water and saved his life, People sometimes asked us what kind of dog he was, but we never knew, except that he was the nicest possible kind. Mother said we could not afford him because of the tax(税) and his keep. The tax was five shillings(先令), but it was nearly a year before the time when it must be paid. At last, we decided that all three of us would give up sugar toward saving the cost of his keep. It was the hardest for David because he was fond of sweet things, but then, he was fond of Perronet. So we all gave up sugar, and Perronet was allowed to remain.

    We were very happy that summer. The boys were especially happy. The only thing that vexed me was Perronet's tax money, for months and months went on and we didn't save it. One day, I found David alone with Perronet in his arms. He was crying, and feeding Perronet with cake. I can't bear to see boys cry. I begged of David to stop, and told him I should certainly think of something.

    One day, we were all in school. The schoolmaster told us that there was to be a flower show for the school children this year, and that an old gentleman would give prizes to the best arranged wild flowers. There was to be a first prize of five shillings, and a second prize of a half crown, for the best collection of wild flowers, with their names upon them. I squeezed(挤) David's arm, and whispered, "Five shillings!"

    I thought I could never get my lessons that day, for all day I was thinking about Perronet's tax money. At night, I said to them, "Look here! I'll make a collection of flowers. You two can make a collection of mosses(苔藓). There are ten kinds of mosses by the river, and we have names of our own for them." The boys agreed. Richard made me a box. We put wet sand at the bottom, then feather moss, and into that I stuck the flowers. I got all the flowers and all the grasses ready and printed the names on pieces of cardboard, to stick in with them. I didn't like it when it was done, but Richard praised it and that cheered me. I thought their mosses were beautiful.

    The day of the flower show was very hot. When we reached the tent, it was filled with grown-up people. It was very hard work getting about and trying to see the stands with flowers. We kept seeing tickets with "First Prize" and "Second Prize". It made me feel sick with heat and anxiety, to think of them. We had walked slowly all round the tent. We had seen all the cucumbers, onions, lettuce, grapes, long potatoes, round potatoes and everything else. At last we saw my collection! It had a label on it, marked "First Prize", and next to it came the boy's moss, marked "Second Prize". We cried "Perronet is paid for!"