Sometime ago I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn't think there would be any difficulty in getting it repaired, as there are a lot of antique (古董) shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception.  I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't even look at my chair.

    The second shop, though a little more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth. I realized that my approach must be wrong so I decided to try another way. I entered the fifth shop with a plan in my mind.  I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, "Would you like to buy a chair? Twenty pounds," I said. "OK. I'll give you twenty pounds for it,"he said. "It's got a slightly broken leg," I added. "Yes, I saw that.  It's nothing," the shopkeeper replied.

    Everything was going according to the plan and I was getting excited. "What will you do with it?" I asked. "Oh, it will be easy to sell after the repair is done.""I'll buy it," I said.  "What do you mean? You've just sold it to me," the man asked in surprise.  "Yes, I know. But I've changed my mind.  I am sorry. I'll give you twenty-seven pounds for it." "You must be crazy," he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. He shouted, "I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair." "You're right,"I said, "And what would you have said if I had walked in and asked you to repair my chair?" "I wouldn't have agreed to do it. We don't do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble.  But I'll repair this for you.  Five pounds will be the cost,"the man answered. He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.

B

    Wang Fuman is a 10-year-old student. He is now studying in Zhuanshanbao Primary School in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province. On Monday morning (January 8, 2018), he braved -9℃ weather to travel over an hour to reach his school.

    When he arrived, his hair and eyebrows had been completely frozen with snowflake (雪花). This made his 16 classmates laugh a lot. Fu Heng, Wang's teacher saw this and took a picture. He uploaded (上传) Wang's picture. The picture soon has got much attention to children from poor families in the countryside. Wang, who has been nicknamed “Snowflake Boy” by netizens, became famous online overnight. By Wednesday morning, his picture had been “liked” more than 260,000 times on Sina Weibo and shared more than 40,000 times.

    After hearing Wang's story, the Yunnan China Youth Development Foundation held a public donation ( 捐赠) activity for children from poor families. The Foundation has promised to give each poor child 500 yuan ($75) to help them stay warm in winter.

    By 1 pm on Wednesday, the Foundation had collected about 300,000 yuan in public donations, according to their website. Wang's village now has electricity and tap water, “…and my family is getting help to build a new house close to the school”, Wang said, “I think our life will get better.”

    Mr. Black was walking in the forest. He was scared when he heard a terrible noise. But he could not get out of the forest. His friends were waiting for him in a village outside the forest. They would give him a lot of money if he took a tiger to them, or they were going to laugh at him.  

    Mr. Black liked hunting（打猎）. He usually killed some birds and small animals. But a week before, after he drank too much, he called himself a brave hunter（勇敢的猎人）. So his friends bet（打赌）him twenty thousand dollars if he could kill a tiger.

    Suddenly, he heard a little noise. He ran to a big tree, and climbed up it quickly. He didn't come down until he saw it was a farmer. He went close to him and asked," Excuse me, sir. Are there any tigers in the forest?"

    "Yes," said the farmer. "I saw a lot of tigers' tracks about a kilometer north near here."

    "Good!" Mr. Black said in a hurry. "Which way is to the south, then?"

    After a while attention to Tom ended, and the usual school murmur(嗡嗡读书声) rose upon the boring air once more. Now the boy began to steal secret glances(偷看) at the girl. She noticed it, made a face at him and gave him the back of her head for the space of a minute. When she slowly faced around again, an apple lay before her. She pushed it away. Tom gently put it back. She pushed it away again, but with less animosity(敌意). Tom patiently returned it to its place. Then she let it remain. Tom wrote on his paper, "Please take it. I got more." The girl glanced at the words, but made no sign.

    Now the boy began to draw something on the paper, hiding his work with his left hand. For a time the girl refused to notice, but her human curiosity soon began to show itself by hardly noticeable(明显的) signs. The boy worked on, seemingly not aware. The girl made some non-committal(含糊的) efforts to see, but the boy did not display that he was aware of it. At last she couldn't bear it and whispered: "Let me see it."

    Tom partly uncovered the picture of a house with some smoke rising from the chimney(烟囱). Then the girl's interest began to fasten itself upon the work and she forgot everything else. When it was finished, she gazed a moment, then whispered:

    "It's nice! Draw a man."

    The artist created a man in the front yard. She was satisfied, and whispered:

"It's a beautiful man—now draw me in it."

    Tom drew an hour-glass(沙漏) as the body, a full moon as her head and some arms added to it. The girl said:

    "It's ever so nice. I wish I could draw. No one has ever taught me that."

    "It's easy," whispered Tom, "I'll teach you."

    "Oh, will you? When?"

    "At noon. Do you go home for dinner?"

    "I'll stay if you will."

   "Good, that's a deal. What's your name?"

Helen Has Changed

Little Helen lived with her parents and lived a happy life. However, little. Helen got {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(使分开) from her parents this term. Her parents {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(离开) for a big city to make money. Little Helen had to live with her grandparents. She went to a new school in her home town. At first, she felt {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(孤独的;寂寞的). She thought others didn't like her, so when others wanted to make friends with her, she always {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(拒绝). And she never 

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(解释;说明) the reasons to her classmates. She always kept quiet in the classroom and never {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(提及;谈到)her parents at school.

Miss White, her teacher, noticed that. She {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(介绍) Helen to the classmates. Miss White also encouraged her to {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(参加;加入) in all kinds of after-school activities with them. Miss White gave Helen {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (建议) on how to make friends with others. Day by day, Helen's new classmates make friends with her.

Helen has her {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(最好的) friend Tina and they often help each other. She has completely changed. Now, Helen is a happy girl with a bright smile.

Should friends be different or the same? Different people have different ideas. The following is what four of my classmates say.

My name is Claire. I am outgoing. I like to have friends who are similar to me. Both my best friend Linda and I like traveling. We went to Italy with our families last summer vacation. We stayed there for two weeks. Next year we want to go to Paris.

My name is Mary. I like to have friends who are different from me. My best friend Betty is shorter and more outgoing than me. I am quiet and I like reading very much. Betty likes sports and she plays badminton well.

I'm Peter. I like to have friends who are like me. It can be very helpful. I'm a little quiet and my good friend Rick is quiet, too. Sometimes I don't know what to do with my problems and he can tell me what I should do, because he knows about me better than people who are different from me.

I'm Bill. I have both kinds of friends. I think it is important. That makes my life more interesting.