My name is Sally Miller. I am a student in No. 3 Middle School. Look! This is a ruler. It's yellow. It's not my ruler. Who lost it?

    “Anna, is this your ruler?” I ask my friend.

    “No, it isn't. My ruler is white. And it's in my pencil box now,” Anna answers.

    “Excuse me, Jack. Is this your ruler?”

    “No, it isn't. My ruler is black.” Jack answers.

    “You can ask your cousin Jenny. She can't find her ruler.”

    “Hi, Jenny! Is this your ruler?” I ask.

    “Yes, it's mine. Thank you very much,” Jenny says. She is very happy to find her ruler.

    You may know the song Happy Birthday very well. But do you know about its writer? It was written by an American girl. And she became very rich after that.

    When she was a child, she was poor. Once, her friend invited her to her birthday party. She was pleased but sad because she didn't have enough money to buy a gift for her.

    "The party is coming soon, but now I have little money." Tears ran down her face.

    Later that night she was in bed, thinking about the gift when the door opened and her grandma came in." What happened? " her grandma asked. Hearing the girl's story, she said, "Don't worry. I think I can help you. How about singing a song together? Happy birthday to …"What a beautiful song! They sang and sang. Suddenly she woke up. It was a dream! She decided to write it down at once and sing it to her friends at the party.

    When she sang the song at the party the next day, her friends were very happy. "How wonderfully you sing! We haven't heard such a beautiful song before. Thank you for giving me the special gift." said her friend. And they learnt to sing it together. Later the girl became well-known in America.

Mary had a little lamb.

His hair was white as snow.

And everywhere that' Mary went,

The lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school one day,

That was against the rule.

It made the children laugh and play,

To see the lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned him out,

But still he stayed near,

And waited patiently about,

Till Mary did appear（出现）.

And then he ran to her and laid,

His head upon her arm.

As if he said, "I'm not afraid—

You'll shield me from all hams."

"What makes the lamb love Mary so?"

The little children cried:

"Oh, Mary, loves the lamb, you know,"

The teacher did reply.

"And, you, each gentle animal

may bind（联合）,

And make it follow at your call,

If you are always kind."

"Have you checked the oil in the car?" My father used to say to me. "Hello, hope you are well." Sometimes our phone calls would begin with a question about the oil and end with a question about the oil, with not a lot in between.

Fathers have a lot of love to give, but it's often supplied through the medium (方法) of practical advice. In my experience: It's mostly about my car.

"How's the car running?" "Did you get it serviced?" "How did you get that scrape (刮痕) on the side?"

Why can't fathers just say "I love you" or "It's great to see you"? The point is: That's exactly what we are saying. You just have to translate from the language that is Fatherlish.

The words "You made my life better from the moment you were born" may be hardly heard, but the key is there in the more common "I'll hold the ladder while you get the leaves out of the gutter (排水沟)."

When I was 17, I went on my first road trip—a friend and I in that old car. My father stood on the corner early on a cold morning to say goodbye to us.

"Highways are dangerous," he said, "so don't try to catch up with anything faster than a horse. And take a break every two hours. And every time you stop for gas, you really should check the oil."

At the time we thought his speech was pretty funny and would chant "car and horse, car and horse" every time I drove faster and passed other speeding cars.

Dad's long gone now. But after all these years, I realize that had I owned a copy of the Fatherlish-to-English dictionary, I'd have understood that the speech my friend and I so casually mocked (嘲笑) was simply Dad's attempt at affection.

Ben My First day at School

Ben's mum My Son's First Day at School

Dogs are my father's favorite animal. He likes to watch the movies about dogs, and he also enjoys reading {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (小说) about them. 

He used to keep a pet dog for over five years. Unluckily, the dog was {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(死的) in an accident in order to save him. It was a big shock to my father. Whenever the word "dog" was {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(提到), his face turned pale. He became so silent. I was worried and wondered how to cheer him up. 

Finally, I decided to make a special {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (明片) for our dog. My mom was willing to help me. We collected all the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (材料) we needed. We used the tools such as knives and {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(剪刀). As we wanted to keep it a secret, we had to do it bit by bit. Several days later, we got {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(确切地) what we wanted. To make it more meaningful, I even recorded a short {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(演讲) for the dog. When I gave the special gift to my father, he couldn't help crying. He kept {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(重复) the sentence I wrote "Long live the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(英雄) in our heart although they are gone. "We were glad to see light back in his eyes again.