My uncle has a very beautiful umbrella. He's had it for years. As he is very careful with it, so it still looks as good as new.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}He shook his head. "Then how did you get it?" I asked. "Well," he answered, "there's a strange true story about the umbrella. About ten years ago, I was walking along a quiet London street one evening when it suddenly rained. I had no raincoat or umbrella.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} And the people in the streets were fewer and fewer. As I was on my way to a party, I was afraid to get wet. So I stood in a doorway and waited for the rain to stop.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} What was worse, there even wasn't a person around, and still it rained and rained. At last a young man came to the place where I was standing.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} As I hoped he would allow me to walk to the next corner with him, where I could get a taxi, I stepped out of the dark doorway where I had been standing.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} As I suddenly appeared before him, the young man was so shocked that he dropped the umbrella. He ran away and disappeared into the darkness. I picked up the umbrella and continued my walk. I knew it would be hard in this big city to find the owner, so I've kept it ever since."

Down by the salley gardens

my love and I did meet;

She passed the salley gardens

with little snow-white feet.

She bid (请求) me take love easy,

as the leaves grow on the tree;

But I, being young and foolish(傻的),

with her would not agree.

In a field by the river

my love and I did stand,

And on my leaning shoulder(肩膀)

she put her snow-white ______.

She bid me take life easy,

as the grass grows on the weirs(河堰);

But I was young and foolish,

and now am full of tears(眼泪).

D.

    There is a little girl. Her name is May. She is eight years old. May always asks her mother, "Why is my name May?" Her mother says, "Because your birthday is in May." The little girl is very happy and she likes her name. She thinks her name is very interesting. Every year, on May's birthday, all her friends come to her house and say happy birthday to her. They watch TV, play games and eat the birthday cake together. And she can get a lot of presents(礼物).

    May has a little brother. He is five years younger than his sister. She likes him very much. He was born(出生) in April. Can you guess his name? Haha, his name is April. Oh, April will have a sister next month, the second month of a year. Can you guess what her name is?

    A rich man was riding along the road and saw an old man digging in his garden. There was a young tree lying on the ground. The rich man asked the old man, "What kind of tree are you planting there, my good man?

    "This is a fig(无花果)tree, sir," he said.

    "A fig tree?" the rich man was very surprised." How old are you, may I ask?"

    "I am ninety years old."

    "What!" shouted the rich man." You're ninety years old. You are planting a very young tree now and it'll take years to give fruit. You certainly don't hope to live long enough to get any fruit from this tree." The old man smiled and said, Tell me, sir, did you eat figs when you were a boy?" "Sure," the man did not know why he asked this question.

    The old man asked, "Who planted the fig trees?"

    "I don't know."

    " You see, sir," the old man said slowly," our forefathers(祖先) planted trees for us to enjoy and I am doing the same for the people after me."

    The rich man was quiet. Then he said, "You are right, my good man. We should do some things for the people after us. Thank you very much." Then he rode away.