How old was I? I can't remember. Maybe I was only 10. It was the first 1 without my father because he was away for something. He left me to fill that sad place in my mother's heart. It was the Christmas when I stopped being a 2 and tried to play Father Christmas myself. I really wanted to make it happy and bright again. It was the Christmas of the 3.
Mom first saw the coat at Tobias, a nice 4 shop in our town's little shopping mall. It was dark green. And it was a 5, heavy, wool dress coat. Mom pulled it out from the rack(架) and held it up. “Long enough,” she said in a low voice and 6.
“I need a new coat,” Mom smiled before the mirror. She looked good on any clothes, 7 this coat suited her much better. She looked at the 8, then hung the coat back on the rack, standing there once more to 9
Eighty-seven dollars. But I decided to buy it for her. As we moved on 10 the mall, I found some excuse to return and asked one of the Tobias ladies to 11 the coat.
I helped clean every yard(庭院) in our neighbourhood—some yards twice, and soon I got the coat. The store ladies helped me put it in their biggest 12 with bright blue paper and thick silver ribbon(丝带). I don't remember 13 I got it home, but I can still feel the wonderful 14 and pride that filled me. I would imagine the big space which the box would take up under our tree. Here it was—joy, peace and15 —all in the box, waiting for Mom's surprise

    Simon was a smart boy in a single-parent（单亲的）family. Last year, his mother 1 him to learn the piano from me. Simon said that it was his mother's  2 to hear him play the piano.

    Simon played very hard, but he was really not good at it. He still went on 3.

    One day Simon 4 coming to my lessons. He called me and said his mother was in hospital  5 he needed to look after her.

Two weeks before a show from the students, Simon 6 my school. He told me he  7 stopped practicing the piano. He told me that he wanted to join us in the show. I saw something special in his blue eyes, so I said OK.

    Simon did very 8 in the show, and the show was on TV in the end. Later, Simon told me that his 9  was born deaf（聋的）, but she became better after watching the show on TV. It was a(n)   10 thing, wasn't it?

    Joe Brown had a shop where he 1 meat. One day a woman 2 into the shop at five to one. “I' m sorry. I' m late,” she said. “I 3 some more meat for my dinner tonight.” Joe had only one 4 of meat in his shop. He took it 5 the fridge and said, “This is $6.50.”

    “That piece is too 6, ”the woman said. “Haven't you got anything bigger?” Joe 7 into the room behind his shop, put the meat into the fridge, took it out again and closed the door 8 a lot of noise. Then he brought the piece of meat to the woman and said, “This piece of meat is bigger and 9 expensive. It' s $8.75.”

    “Good,” the woman said with a smile.

    “Give me 10 of them, please.”

    J.K. Rowling is the writer of Harry Potter, which is now one of 1 sellers in the world. She was born in Britain on July 31st, 1965. She had one sister who was two years younger than her. Both girls liked 2 to their father's bedtime stories. They especially loved stories about magic. Rowling wrote her first story3the age of six.

    On a long train trip in 1990, an idea came to her. She wanted to write about a boy who had magic but he didn't know it. In 1992, Rowling began4 the first Harry Potter book for young5. It appeared in June, 1997. The book was a great success. And the film came out in November, 2001. Now the Harry Potter series (系列) is6with people of all ages and about sixty7books were sold in 200 countries. In this series, Harry is an ordinary boy: polite, friendly, brave and clever. So when children read about Harry, they can imagine being like him. That's8the Harry Potter series has been so popular. J.K. Rowling is very9with the success. Now she's really enjoying life. She said she would go on 10 children's books.

    As an old Chinese saying goes, "Keep the old and you'll get nothing new". It's time to buy some new clothes for summer. But 1 will you do with your old clothes?

    Years ago, used clothes were 2 to younger brothers or sisters in one family. But now, most of us are the 3 child in the family, so we often wear new clothes. And people are buying more clothes 4 they are richer than before. Every year in China, people throw away about 26 million tons (吨) of used clothes 5 waste.

    In many countries, charity (慈善) shops collect and sell second-hand clothes. In those countries, people often shop for used clothes at charity shops like Oxfam. The British singer Victoria Beckham often buys from Oxfam. She said, "Here is a(n) 6 I want more people to know about: used clothes are not useless. We can give them 7 to people in poor areas. We can also try to make full use of these clothes in creative ways. For example, they can be used to make things like toys."

    Few Chinese cared about fashion years ago, but now more and more people are 8 in it. H&M, a fashion clothing brand (品牌), is inviting people 9 their used clothes into special boxes in its 45 stores in China. They sell some of the clothes at a lower price 10 cleaning them, so people don't have to worry about any health problem. As much as 95% of clothes thrown away can be re-worn or recycled. This helps people to cut down resource waste and give their clothes a new life.

    Last July, my 12-year-old car died on California's Santa Freeway. It was an hour before sunset, and I was 25 miles from home. I couldn't reach anyone to pick me up, so I1to take a bus. Not knowing the routes(线路), I thought I should just go east.

    A bus stopped. I got 2and asked the driver how far she was going. "Ten more miles, "she said. There was3bus I could take from there. This clearly was going to be a long night. I got off at the end of the route and she told me which bus to look4.After waiting for 30 minutes, I began to think about a very expensive taxi5home. Then a bus came up. There was no lighted number above its windshield(挡风玻璃).It was out of service, but the door opened. It was the same driver." I just can't leave you here, "she said." This isn't the nicest place. I will take you home." "You will drive me home on the bus? "I asked in 6. "No, I will take you in my car," she said. "It's a long way, "I insisted." Come on, "she said." I have nothing 7to do." She began telling me a story 8we drove from the station in the car. A few days9, her brother had run out of gasoline(汽油).A kind man picked him up, took him to a service station and then back to his car." I'm just passing the kindness along," she said. When I offered her money as a thank-you, she refused." Just do 10nice for somebody. Pass it along, "she said.