It was nearly dark, the sun was dropping down the mountains far away. Little Tom came back home, with tears in his eyes.

“What's the matter, Tom? How's your trip?" his mother asked with a big smile. “I failed. The mountain is so high and full of big or small stones on the way, I still go ahead. But I was tired and it was so late that I had to come back." Tom cried. “It doesn't matter, you are only 14 years old after all. You will have another chance.”his mother said. "But, standing at the top of the mountain is my dream!”Tom said. His father came over and asked, "Did you see the green trees on your way to the mountain?”"Sure, and there are a lot of beautiful flowers by the side of the road.” Tom replied. “Did you hear the birds singing?”his father asked. "There were many kinds of birds singing in the trees, and the sound was very sweet." Tom said. "Did you feel the beauty of nature?”his father asked. "Yes, the blue sky, the white clouds, the green trees and the colorful flowers made a nice picture." Tom answered. “That's enough!" his father smiled and said, "Please remember, son. For often, achieving what you expect is not the most important thing. Although you didn't reach the top of the mountain, you got a lot on the way.”

 It is true that not every goal will be achieved, not every job will end up with a success, and not every dream will come true. The most beautiful scenery (风景) is on the way.

    I've loved my mother's desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as Mother sat writing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.

    Years later, during her final illness, Mother kept different things for my sister and brother. "But the desk," she said again, "it's for Elizabeth."

    I never saw her anger, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me. She showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter.

    They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was "too emotional". But she lived "on the surface".

    As years passed I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive me.

    I posted the letter and waited for her answer. None came.

    My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace-it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn't be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

    Now the present of her desk told, as she'd never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside-a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded(折叠)and refolded many times.

    Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose. Mother, you always choose the act that speaks louder than words.

My day began when I saw my six-year-old son Jonathan doing something in the garden by my azalea bush(杜鹃花丛). By the time I got out, I found he had broken it! It was my favorite!

"Can I take this to school?" he asked, smiling. Though a bit 1 , I nodded in agreement. Then I turned back to the broken bush and touched it as if to say silently, "I'm sorry." Later I pruned(修剪) it 2 .

The rest of the day, I was busy doing endless housework. Time had passed by fast before I realized it was already 3:00. Leaving the clothes in the washing machine, I hurriedly got to school to pick up Jonathan. When I got there, the teacher told me she wanted to talk about Jonathan.

"What now?" I thought.

I had prepared myself for the worst, 3 the teacher's words greatly surprised me. "Did you know Jonathan brought 4 to school today?" she asked. I nodded, thinking about my favorite bush. "See that little girl? How happy she is now!" the teacher continued. I saw a 5 child busily drawing a picture with crayons(蜡笔). I nodded again.

"Well, her parents are separated and she has been 6 these days. I did all I could to comfort her, but nothing 7 . This morning I watched your son walk over to her with some pretty pink flowers and say, "This is for you."

I felt my heart full of pride for what my son had done. Holding Jonathan's hand, I said, "Thank you! You've 8 my day.''

I was warmed by the 9 Jonathan showed to the little girl, and I made up my mind to pass it on. Later that evening when my husband came back home from a tiring workday, I 10 some pink azaleas and handed them to him. "This is for you," I said.

Mr. and Mrs. Green are two old farmers in the countryside. George is 1 only son and he is 30 years old. He works in 2 big city and visits his parents only on weekends.

3 the morning of April 2nd, Mr. and Mrs. Green decided 4 to the city to visit George by bus without giving him a call. The bus was very slow 5 they didn't mind it. It was the first time they went to the big city, so they were 6 to see the new things on the way. When the bus arrived there three hours later, George was surprised and happy to see his parents 7 before him. That evening, they 8 out in a restaurant. The food was quite different from that in the countryside. After supper, George showed his parents around the city. His father said, "If we come here next time, we 9 shopping and buy lots of things."

The next morning, Mr. and Mrs. Green went back home 10 . Although they were away for only one day, they began to miss their farm.

 Who would have thought that Albert Einstein, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} famous German- American scientist from the early 1900s, would make it into the news these days? But that's {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(exact) what happened. Recently, his handwritten work notes about the theory of relativity(相对论) went up for auction(拍卖).

 Einstein, along with an {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(Italy) engineer Michele Besso, worked together for several years on a scientific paper. They hoped to come up {#blank#}4{#/blank#} a mathematical equation(数学方程式) to explain the theory of relativity. It {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(involve) the factors of energy, mass and light.

 They ran into {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(problem) and stopped working on it, but Besso saved the written papers anyway. Einstein didn't successfully finished the work {#blank#}7{#/blank#} he realized that gravity also needed to be considered. He finally published a paper about it on his own in 1915. After all these years, the 54 pages of notes were recently put up for auction at Christie's (佳士得拍卖行) in Paris.

 The buyer's name was not released, but the manuscript (手稿) is {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(expensive) scientific paper ever bought, at over $15 million. One has to wonder {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the owner is going to do with those notes. Frame them? Keep them in a vault(保险库)? Resell them {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(make) even more money? Only time will tell.

Brenda was a girl with one big dream. She wanted to play the 1 in a band. But there was one problem. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to 2 a lot. But she lived next to a lot of old people. The sound of beating drums would make them feel 3 .

 Brenda was a very kind girl. She tried to find a way to practice her drums 4 bothering(干扰) other people. 5 she tried playing in the kitchen, and even in the bathroom. But there was always 6 who could hear the noise. That made her feel sorry so she spent most of her time playing on books and boxes.

 One day, while watching a 7 program on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda decided to become a 8 astronaut.

 After a lot of hard work, Brenda built a space bubble. It was a big glass ball connected to a machine. The machine could draw(抽出) out all the 9 inside. All that would be left inside were drums and a chair. Brenda 10 the space suit(宇航服) she made, entered the bubble, turned on the machine, then she played the drum 11 .

 Soon, Brenda became 12 . So many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly after, she started to give concerts. 13 , Brenda was a real musical astronaut, and went far beyond her first dream of playing the drum in a band.

 Years later, when people asked her 14 she could achieve all this, she thought for a moment and said," These people next door are old and I need to 15 about their feelings. If not,I wouldn't go such a long way to find a solution, and none of this would have ever happened."