John is five years old now. He is a good boy. He is very clever and can read very well. But he can't tell the right time by clock. He doesn't say eight o'clock in the morning, twelve o'clock or four o'clock in the afternoon. He always says "breakfast time" for eight o'clock, "lunch time" for twelve o'clock and "tea-time" for four o'clock in the afternoon. His mother wants to teach him to know the time by clock.

    "Can you count, John?" his mother asks him. "Yes. Let me count for you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve..." "That's good, John. Now let me tell you to say the time. Now, look! I put the long hand on twelve and the short hand on one. That is one o'clock. If I put the short on two, that's two o'clock. Do you know?"

    "Yes, I do." John tells his mother. "Good. If I put the short hand on four, what's that?" his mother asks and really puts the short one on four. "Tea-time, Mum. And I am hungry."

A

    Mr. and Mrs. Smith got married when he was twenty-three，and she was twenty．Twenty-five years later，they had a big party，and a photographer(摄影师) came and took some photos for them．Then the photographer gave Mrs. Smith a card and said，"They'll be ready next Wednesday．You can get them from my room．"

    "No，"Mrs. Smith said，"Please send them to us．"

    The photos arrived a week later，but Mrs. Smith was not pleased when she saw them．She got into her car and drove to the photographer's room．She went inside and said angrily，"You took some photos of me and my husband last week，but I'm not going to pay for them．"

    "Oh，why not ?"the photographer asked．

    "Because my husband looks like a monkey．"Mrs. Smith said．

    "Well，"the photographer answered，"That isn't my fault(过错)．Why didn't you think that before you married him?''

B

    Mr. Hunt was living in a village and he wanted to go to an office one day. He got into his car and drove to the city. He went there without any trouble and stopped in front of the door. He locked his car and started to go into the office, but then he turned around and went back to his car. "I've left my keys in it!" he said to himself. Then he called his wife and said, "Excuse me, but I've locked my keys in my car, please bring your keys to me."

    Mrs. Hunt got into their second car and drove thirty kilometers to her husband. But while Mr. Hunt was waiting, he walked around his car and tried the other door. It was not locked. He locked it quickly before his wife arrived.

A

    Bill always does everything very carefully．Everyday he drives his car to go to work and go home．He drives his car slowly and never has an accident．He often says that travelling by car is much safer than travelling by plane．

    Today，he has to go to another city to have a meeting．The meeting will begin at nine o'clock．And it is eight now．If Bill goes there by train or by car, he will be late for the meeting．Bill has no idea．One of his friends，John，says to him，"Don't worry, Bill．I can take you there in my own small plane．And we can get there at half past eight．"Bill is afraid of going there by plane．John tells him that it is very safe．Bill gets on the plane at last．

    John starts the plane and begins taking off．Bill is too afraid，so he closes his eyes．After a minute or two，he opens them again，looking out of the window of the plane，and says to John，"Look at those people down there，they look as small as ants." "But they are ants." says John．"Don't you know we are still on the ground?"

    I once did a year of voluntary service in a residential(居住的) home for people with learning disabilities. It was set in an English village deep in the countryside, quite different from my home in Sweden. One of my fellow volunteers, a girl from Tanzania, seemed a little unhappy, so I asked what the problem was. She told me she had a friend back home who had financial difficulties and maybe it was impossible for her to complete her university courses.

    So this friend of mine had sent all her money to Tanzania to support her friend! This meant that she didn't have much food to eat and no money to go anywhere outside the village.

    I was so moved and I felt I had to do something. So, during my next trip to one of the nearby towns I walked into a shop. I didn't have much money left myself but I thought I'd buy her an extra box of chocolate we both liked and some rice. I started talking to the woman (also a volunteer) working in the shop and finally told her about my friend.

     The woman looked at me, amazed. "Does she eat pasta?" she asked. "Yes," I replied. She immediately started loading a bag with pasta, cookies, and other things until the bag was full. "Give her this for me. It's my treat!" I couldn't believe it but accepted with happiness. As I left the shop to go home with my unexpected bag of food. I asked the woman her name. "Just Gloria," she said.

    Imagine my friend's face when I arranged the gifts on my kitchen table and attracted her from room to see! I had never seen her so happy! A few weeks later she found Gloria in the shop and thanked her in person.

    These two extraordinary(非凡的) women really showed me what true kindness and compassion(同情) are, and the impression will stay with me for the rest of my life!

    I stood in the doorway, watching my older brother carefully putting clothes into his bag. I coughed uneasily. Finally 1 that I was there, Rocky turned towards me with a sad smile.

    "I'm leaving tomorrow," he said.

    "I know." My 2 was almost a whisper (低声). I was 3 with myself for being so weak, but I wasn't about to cry.

    "My flight is early, but there is still enough time to the airport," he said. Seeing the 4 look on my face, he quickly added, "I promise I won't leave without saying goodbye."

    I tried to say 5, but I didn't. It's always 6 to keep quiet if you're about to cry. "You promised you wouldn't cry," he said to me, thinking that I was close to 7.

    I remember the day he taught me how to ride a bike. At first I thought he was always right behind me, holding the seat to keep me from 8. I was happy with this, but he knew he couldn't hold me up all my life. He told me that one day he would have to let go.

    His coughing stopped my thinking. What was left to say? How could I say goodbye to the person who taught me everything?

    The next morning I 9, looked at my alarm clock, and realized he had left hours ago. We never even said goodbye.

    Goodbye, Rocky! 10 he may have been many miles away, I knew he heard me, even if it was only an answer in his heart.