A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin (顽童) was walking around the shining car. "Is this your car, sir?" he asked. Paul answered, "Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas."

    The boy was surprised. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it did cost you nothing? Sir, I wish…" He hesitated (犹豫). Paul thought of course he knew what the boy wanted, but what the boy said surprised him greatly. "I wish," the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that."

    Paul looked at the boy in surprise, and then he said. "Would you like to take a ride in my car?" "Oh yes, I'd love to," the boy answered.

    After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes shining, said, "Sir, would you mind driving in front of my house?" Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbours that he could ride home in a big car.

    But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked. He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled (残疾的) brother. He sat down on the step and pointed to the car.

    "There he is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it. Then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about."

    Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed elder brother climbed in beside him and the three began an unforgettable holiday ride.

    Once upon a time, there lived a teacher in a small town. He often taught his students in special ways. Once he sent four of his students to go to a small farm to see apple trees in different seasons. The first student went in winter, the second in spring. The third in summer. And the last in autumn.

    After the four students came back, the teacher called them together. They pictured (描述) their feeling to the teacher. The first student said that there were no leaves on the trees. It made him very disappointed. The second student said his eyes were full of light green. It made him feel hopeful. The third one disagreed. "What are you talking about? How pretty the trees were! The sweet smell of the beautiful flowers spread(传播) here and there." The last one shook his head. He only saw a lot of apples on the beautiful trees.

    The teacher smiled and told his students none of them were wrong. They each just saw one season. He continued, "The trees are not the same in different seasons. You can't judge (判断) a tree by only one season. Don't let the regret of one season destroy the beauty of the rest.

    Everything has different sides in our life. Don't hurry to make a conclusion(结论) before seeing the whole of it.

    Daisy is a teacher who works in a primary school. She often plays games with her students so they like her class a lot.

    One day, Daisy decided to have her class play a potato game. She told each student to carry a bag with a few potatoes in it to school. Each student would "name" their potatoes after people they did not like, so the number of potatoes would be different depending on*their own situations.

    The next day, all of the students brought their potatoes to school. Some children had just one or two potatoes, while others had as many as five or six. The children were taking about names of their potatoes happily when Daisy came into the classroom. She then told the children that they would have to carry their potatoes with them for one week wherever they went, even when they went to the restroom. The children laughed and thought the game was really interesting.

    A few days passed by. Some of the students started to complain, as their potatoes began to rot and had a strong and bad smell. The students who carried more potatoes also complained about how heavy their bags were.

    One week later, the kids were so happy to hear their teacher say that the game was over. Daisy asked, "How did you feel about carrying around your potatoes for a week?"

    The students complained once again. Daisy simply smiled and said, "This is what it's like to carry hate* in your heart. You have to carry it with you wherever you go. If you can't bear* carrying rotten potatoes for one week, can you imagine having hate in your heart for your lifetime?"

    Grace Murray was born on December 9, 1906 in New York City. In 1928 she finished her education in Vassar College in Maths and Physics. Since 1931, she had been teaching at Vassar and continued her study at Yale University, where she achieved a lot in Maths in 1934.

    In 1930, Grace Murray married Vincent Foster Hopper. They were happy together for 15 years. She taught at Vassar College until 1943, when she joined the United States Navy(海军)to help her country during World War Ⅱ.Then she was given a job at the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University, where she worked on the Mark series of computers.

    In 1945, she began to do research in Applied(应用)Physics at Harvard's Computation Laboratory. In 1949 she joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and worked with people working in it. Years later, she returned to the Navy. She retired in 1971 but continued teaching for the computer development. Brewster Academy, a school in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, the United States, gave its computer lab to her for free in 1985, calling it the Grace Murray Hopper Centre for Computer Learning. She had spent her childhood summer at a local family in Wolfeboro. She passed away in her sleep in 1992. Since her death, her workmate Elenor Briggs has been going on with her work.

    Grace Murray was a great woman and a leader in the computer development. Her work helped improve the use of computer languages. She practised her words" Dare and Do" in her lifetime.

    In ancient China, people's names had three parts: their family name, given name and courtesy name (字).

    Take Li Bai, a famous Tang Dynasty poet as an example. His family name was Li, his given name was Bai, and his courtesy name was Taibai.

    People used their given name when they were among family members. But in social (社交的) life, they called each other by their courtesy names to show respect(尊重).

    Men would get their courtesy name when they turned 20. It was a symbol of adulthood (成年). Women would get their courtesy name after getting married (结婚).

    One's courtesy name often had something to do with one's given name. For example, Mencius' name was Meng Ke (孟轲). His courtesy name was Ziyu (子舆). Both Ke and Ziyu mean "carriage (马车)". Zhuge Liang's given name was Liang (亮), which means "bright". His courtesy name was Kongming (孔明), and it means "very bright".

    The New Year was coming. Grace and Alice were going shopping with their mother. The mother wanted to{#blank#}1{#/blank#} them to a Farmers' Fair (集市),but Grace wanted to go to the supermarket. The mother explained that they{#blank#}2{#/blank#} buy fresh fruit and vegetables there, and could support (支持) local farmers as well. Grace agreed.

    The girls were{#blank#}3{#/blank#} when they arrived there. The farmers sold things that they grew{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Alice found a stall (货摊) with red strawberries ,and she{#blank#}5{#/blank#}, "Where did you get so many good strawberries?" The woman answered, "I grow them on my farm. You can come to visit my farm{#blank#}6{#/blank#} you like." "That will be great!" said Alice. At last, Alice asked her mother to buy{#blank#}7{#/blank#} strawberries. They also bought something else.

    At the dinner, the father asked each person to say something{#blank#}8{#/blank#} this day. Alice said, "I want to thank not only the strawberries, but also the{#blank#}9{#/blank#} They needed to work so {#blank#}10{#/blank#}to grow strawberries." Grace then said, "We should thank the food and the people who bring it to us every day." Alice and Grace's parents smiled.