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     Elizabeth lived with her six children in a small house. One winter, there was a big flood(洪水) ,and quite a few houses were washed away, but Elizabeth's house was high enough to escape it.
     Elizabeth helped one of the families which had lost everything. She shared her home until the family could build a new house. Elizabeth's friends could not understand her since she already had so many children to take care.
      "Well," Elizabeth explained to her friends, at the end of World War II, there was a poor woman in a town in England .Her husband had been killed in the war and she had a lot of children, just like me now .”

      “The day before Christmas, this woman said to her children, “We won't be able to have much for Christmas. I'm going to get just one present for us all .Now I'll go and get it. She came back with a little girl who had no parents .Here's our present, she said to her own children. ”

      “The children were more than excited to get such a present. They welcomed the little girl happily, and she grew up as their sister. I was that Christmas present.”

    She was a poor child, but proud and arrogant（傲慢的）, and people said she was nothing but rude and impolite. When but a very little child, she had pleasure in catching flies to pull off their wings, stick them on a pin and watch them try to get off it.

    As Inger grew up she became even worse instead of better. She was very pretty, and that increased her arrogance. "You'll bring misfortune down upon you," said her own mother to her. "As a little child you often used to break things, and when you're older, I fear you'll break my heart." And she really did. Then she was sent into the town to be in the service of a rich family. They treated her as kindly as if she would have been their daughter and dressed her so well that she looked more beautiful.

    When she had been there for about a year, her mistress（女主人） said to her, "You are supposed to go back and visit your parents, little Inger." So she went, but only because she wanted to show them how fine she had become. When she reached the village, and saw her poor mother resting herself on a stone nearby, with a number of firewood. Inger turned away.

    Another year went by. "You must go and visit your old parents," said her mistress." Here's white bread for them." So Inger put on her new shoes, and walked carefully so that her shoes would stay clean and neat. When she came to somewhere dirty, she threw the bread on the ground and use it as a steppingstone to get across. But once she stepped on it, the bread went down quickly, carrying with the girl into the deep.

    Soon nothing could be seen but a black pool!

    In the state of Qin (秦国), there was a man called Shang Yang (商鞅). He was a statesman (政治家) and worked out many reforms(改革) for the state, like paying more attention to farming and giving rewards (报酬) to soldiers who were successful when at war.

    But these reforms were not easily carried out (执行) at first. Most people didn't trust Shang

    Yang. In order to solve this problem, Shang Yang came up wiIh an idea. He put a thin wooden pole at the south gate of the Qin capital. Many people came to see him and the pole.

    Then, in front of the crowd, Shang Yang said loudly, "The man who takes this pole to the north gate will get 10 gold pieces."

    It was a sample job and the reward was so large. However, some time passed and no one stepped forward. They all thought Shang Yang was making a joke.

    Hearing no answer, Shang Yang stepped forward and said, "The reward now goes to 50 gold pieces."

    This reward was unbelievably large. Finally, a man from the crowd came forward. He put the pole on his shoulders and walked to the north gate. True to his word, Shang Yang gave the man 50 gold pieces.

    After that, the people of Qin were all talking about what Shang Yang did about the pole. They believed he was a man of his word. So when Shang Yang began carrying out his reforms, the people followed him.

    Under these great reforms, Qin grew stronger and stronger. Al last, Qin made all the seven states into one empire (帝国).

    I was feeling a little blue because my mother had lost her job.

    One day, while I was1on the street, I heard the piano music and singing rising above the noise of the people. I walked more slowly to2where it was coming from. Then I saw a young lady sitting at a piano.

    She was singing songs about love,3 yourself and keeping on trying. The way she was singing made me a little comfortable. I stood there 4, watching her playing on such a crowded New York square. I thought that she must be 5enough to perform in front of so many people. She noticed me. I walked over and told her how good her6sounded. "Thank you," she said.

    "I have been going through a hard time recently, 7 you've made me hopeful again." I said to her.

    "I'm glad that I could help," she replied. "Why are you so 8?"

    "Well, my mum has lost her job, and I'm not sure what to do…"

    "Did you noticed the9you were walking? Your head was down," she said. "Don't be upset, because 10 comes in different ways and if your head is down, you might not see it. You should11more…lift your head up."

    I looked12her, amazed at how she was encouraging(鼓励) me. "13are you playing the piano here?" I asked her with a smile. She14that she saw a lot of unhappy people in the world and she tried to cheer15 up by playing music.

    I smiled a little wilder, realizing that no difficulties could stop me from going on.

    A teacher asks his students to write about their dreams. One boy writes seven pages. He wants his own farm and a large house on it. But his teacher tells him, "You are daydreaming. Do it again." Several days later the boy hands in the same article, saying, "I don't want to give up my dream even if you fail me." Years later, he makes his dream come true. One day, the same teacher takes some students to the boy's farm for camping. Seeing the big farm, the teacher feels sorry, "I once told you not to daydream. Luckily, you never gave up."