There once was a wise man who was very respected for his wisdom. This great man was called the Wise Circle Maker. His people believed that he had special powers to make it rain.

    But the Wise Circle Maker did not know everything about life often, when he saw things that he did not understand, he would ask questions, hoping to find the answers.

    One day, he noticed a man panting a fruit tree. He asked the man, "When will this tree bear fruit? How long will it take?"

    The man said that it would take 70 years for fruit to come to the tree.

"And how old are you now?" asked the Wise Circle Maker.

    "I am almost 50 years old" replied the man.

"And do you think you will live to taste the fruit from this tree?" asked the Wise Circle Maker.

    "I am already old and will never taste the fruit from this tree I plant. But when I was born, I saw many fruit trees like this planted by my father, and his father. And I ate the fruit from those trees." replied the man.

    "This tree is for my children, my grandchildren and for their children too. They will taste the fruit of this tree. That is why I am planting it not for me, but for them."

The Wise Circle Maker was impressed. He could easily see the meaning He walked away happily, knowing that he still had much to learn about life.

My aunt Nancy is a truck driver. When she left school, she didn't know what she wanted to do, so she went to work in a supermarket. One day, she was talking to one of the truck drivers at the supermarket, and she got the idea to drive a truck herself. She went home and told her parents (my grandparents！), and they thought it was a good idea.

Nancy's journeys are different every day, and she goes to every part of the country. She enjoys the driving, but she says that one day, she would like to get a job with a different company(公司) so that she can drive to more places.

Nancy says she likes being out on the road, seeing new towns all the time, but the best thing about driving trucks for her is talking to everyone she sees during her working day. She also says the trucks are comfortable, so she doesn't mind sleeping in them. For her, they are her home on wheels!

I asked my grandparents what they thought about Nancy's job. They are happy that Nancy is happy, so they don't want her to change jobs. But they worry about her because it's sometimes a dangerous job and she spends a lot of time away from home.

25．

Americans' Weekends

What do American families usually do on weekends？{#blank#}1{#/blank#}．Running，playing volleyball，biking and swimming are all popular sports．The weekend is also a time for American families to work in the yard{#blank#}2{#/blank#}．Sometimes some families spend the weekend painting their houses．They are busy on weekends，but they are very relaxed．

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}．They can go to the park，the zoo，the cinema and many other places they want to go．{#blank#}4{#/blank#}．Sometimes they help their parents do some work at home and their parents will take them to the restaurant to have a good dinner．{#blank#}5{#/blank#}．

A．At weekends，some people like to stay at home．

B．They think the weekend is the best time of a week．

C．Many American families often do some sports on weekends．

D．Children are also very happy on weekends．

E．Children don't like weekends because they have a lot of homework to do．

F．They can play games，fly kites and play any ball games．

G．Many families plant flowers and vegetables in the garden．

In her grandparents' old house, Maya discovered an old family calendar, with each page filled out carefully.

On June 6, 1892: "Helped Mr Thompson repair his house." On November 14, 1907: "1 my time at an old people's home."

Curious, she asked her grandmother about it.

"That is the tradition of our family," her grandmother explained. "Every day, for generations, we complete one act of kindness and take it down. No matter how 2 it is."

Maya was interested. "Why?"

Her grandmother smiled, "It's a belief that through continuous kind actions, we can create a life of 3 . Every day, we find a moment of light through offering help to others, even when the world around us is dark."

With admiration, Maya decided to keep the tradition. Every night, she would record her act of kindness for the day. As the years went by, Maya's entries of her kind act 4 . from comforting a distressed stranger on the bus to organizing community clean-ups.

One day, as she sat at a café, a young woman came to her. "Are you Maya?" She asked politely.

Maya nodded, feeling 5 .

The woman went on, "Years ago, you taught me for free when my family couldn't afford lessons. Because of you, I graduated top of my class. Today, I 6 an organization providing help for students from poor families."

Maya was moved and proud. She realized her actions were creating ripples（涟漪） in ways she had never imagined.

The calendar became a community legend. Inspired by Maya, the town started a "Calendar Day", encouraging everyone to do good.

When Maya was old, she often sat with her grandchildren, turning the 7 pages. "This was when your grandpa and I met. I helped him find his lost dog."

One day, her oldest grandchild, Sophie, looked up from the calendar. "I want to 8 this, Grandma."

Maya 9 the calendar over. She knew the tradition would live on.

Years after Maya passed, the town built a statue in her honor, with the words on its base:

In memory of Maya and the generations before her who believed in the power of everyday 10 .

There was a park near my home. But I didn't go there very often. Many people said there was nothing special. One afternoon I went into the park and found it was really small. I walked quickly and found myself standing in front of two paths (小径).

"Which way should I go?" I asked myself. I looked at one way, then the other.The left one was wide and clean. There were lots of flowers on both sides of the path. Though the flowers weren't very beautiful, they made me feel good. I decided to take this path. But wait! I looked at the right one. The path didn't look nice. It seemed it had not been cleaned for months. Grass grew every where. For a long time I couldn't make up my mind.

After a while, a strange feeling made me follow the dirty path. It wasn't nice, but I didn't want to give up. At last, I came to the end of the path. Ah! There was a small garden there. It was beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful garden I had ever seen. There were trees, flowers and chairs. I thought it was the nicest part of the park.

Many people told me that there was nothing much to see in the park. Now I'd like to tell them that if they had followed the right way, they would have felt differently. But when I told them about what I had seen in the park, they just smiled at me without saying a word. ____. They couldn't even remember that path because it was so small.

My trip to the park that day made me understand something about life. Don't be afraid to choose a different path. You may get a big surprise!

要求：（1）短文中必须包括所选择的活动项目， 可适当发挥；（2）文中不得出现真实人名和校名等相关信息；（3）词数：80~100词左右。短文首句仅供选择使用， 不计入总词数。

短文首句: During this coming summer vacation, I am going to take part in these activities.