Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between the ticket office and us. This family made a big impression on me.

    There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children talked excitedly about the clowns. It was clearly a very important day out for them. The father and mother seemed happy as they could be.

    The tickets lady asked how many tickets the father wanted, he proudly answered," Please let me buy eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus."

    The ticket lady told him the price.

    The man's wife lowered her head. There was no longer a smile on the man's face. He quietly asked," How much did you say?"

    The ticket lady again told him the price.

    The man obviously didn't have enough money. But how could he tell his kids the bad news?

    Seeing what was happening, my dad took a $20 note from his pocket and dropped in on the ground. (We were not rich ourselves at all!) He then tapped the man on the shoulder and said," Excuse me, sir, you dropped this."

    The man understood my father was helping him. He picked up the money, looked straight into my dad's eyes, and in tears replied." Thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family."

    Although we did not go to the circus that night, we didn't go without.

    It was one o'clock in the morning when I at last succeeded in creating life.

    As I looked at the lifeless human being, I saw one eye slowly open. Then he began to breathe and move his arms. At first, I thought he would be a fine-looking man. He had yellow skin, black hair and very white teeth. Unluckily, his eyes were watery, and his lips were thin and colorless. I soon realized that there was nothing beautiful about him. I ran out of the room, disgusted (恶心) by the creature I had created. I tried to sleep, but for hours I could not. Then, when I did get to sleep, I had bad dreams. When I awoke the next morning, I did not want to return to my laboratory and the monster I had created. I went for a long walk until I came to an inn. There, to my pleasure and surprise, I found my friend, Henry Clerval. "Tell me about my family," I asked him. "And Elizabeth, How is she?"

    "They are all well, Frankenstein," he said. "But you do not look well, my friend. Your eyes look as if you have not slept for many weeks."

    I knew this was true. "I have been so busy," I explained, "that I have been working without rest." Henry walked back with me to my department. I did not want him to, but I could not stop him. I was afraid that the creature i had left there might be alive and walking about. When we reached my apartment, I asked Henry to wait outside for a few minutes. I did not explain why. I slowly opened the door and entered the room. To my surprise, it was empty. The creature had gone. I was so overcome by the feeling that I fainted. I was ill for many months.

    During my illness, Henry was my only nurse. He heard me talking in my sleep about a monster. At first, he thought I was just having a bad dream, but then he realized that something very bad happened in my life. At last, I began to get better.

Drawing on a New Friendship

    Last Saturday, I went to the park to draw. When I finished the outline of a girl, a shadow（影子）fell across my drawing.

    "That's not a bad start", said the shadow. "Do you have any finished drawings?" I looked up to see a girl about my age.

    I was displeased that someone was looking at my drawing and interrupted me. "Not bad?" I asked.

    "No need to be angry." The girl handed a sketchbook(素描本)to me." Want to look at my drawings?"

    I felt curious and traded sketchbooks with her. Her sketches of people were okay, but I was really attracted by her drawings of nature, like trees, rocks, and rivers, all done with great detail.

    "Wow！You have some talent," I said. "What's your name?"

    The girl took back her sketchbook and answered, "Emma Thompson."

    "I'm Alice Ruiz, "I said." You draw so well. Are you in an art class?"

    Emma replied, "No. The art class is full, so I have to wait until next term. Besides, you're a talented one. I really find it difficult to draw people, but you make it look easy."

    "I have a great idea！"I said." Let's draw together！You can draw the nature views on one piece of paper while I draw the people on another. Then we'll exchange and finish each other's drawings. That way, both drawings would show off both of our talents!"

    "That's not a bad idea, Alice, "Emma agreed.

    About an hour later, we completed our drawings. I had drawn a boy walking with his dog. Emma had added a path and some flowers. Emma had drawn a beautiful tree, and I had added a girl reading under the tree.

    "This was a fun idea, "I said." Hey, Emma, would you like to meet me here again to draw together?"

    "See you next Saturday, Alice, "Emma said with a smile.

    One day, as a Chinese teacher walked into his classroom, he heard Tom Andrews whisper to another boy, "Here comes the teacher. I'm sure the silly donkey is going to talk about putting in commas(送号). "The teacher said nothing but decided to teach him a good lesson. Now the teacher began his class, and talked about putting in commas, and explained how important they could be. " I'll give you an example, "said the teacher. He wrote on the blackboard the sentence: "Tom Andrews says the Chinese teacher is a foolish donkey. " The class laughed and looked at Tom, Tom looked red and he thought the Chinese teacher also knew English well. " Now, "said the teacher, "Let me show you how important commas are. He put two commas into the sentence and it was. Tom Andrews, says the teacher, is a foolish donkey. " Only at that time Tom knew the importance of commas and felt terribly sorry for his words.