Mike is a factory worker. He is often very tired after a day's work. His wife, Jenny, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from his factory.

    One day, Mike came home very late because he was very busy in the factory. He was very hungry when he got home.

    He was not happy when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He shouted at her, "I'm going out to eat in a restaurant." "Wait for five minutes," said his wife. "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike.

    "Of course not," she answered. "But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes." 

A

    Mrs. Brown is a woman about forty-five. Her husband has a factory in the town and gets much money. Her three children are all intelligent and they work in their factory. She has nothing to do at home and lives a happy life. Mrs.Brown likes meat and cakes very much. Her husband and children often buy some for her. And she doesn't like sports and often gets up at eleven o'clock in the morning. So she gets fatter and fatter and now it's difficult for her to walk. Sometimes she thinks something is wrong with her heart. She went to see a doctor one day. The doctor looked her over carefully and said, “You have got a heart disease, Mrs. Brown. It's bad for your heart to eat much sugar and meat. You'd better eat a piece of bread for each meal.”

    “That's easy, doctor,” said the woman. “But when do I have to eat the bread, before a meal or after a meal?”

    Fans of basketball all know who LeBron James is. His fans like to call him King James. The 33-year-old basketball star was again the best player in the last season of the NBA. The most popular American sports magazine Sports Illustrated also named him the best player for the fourth season in a row (连续).

    King James was born on December 30 in Ohio, the USA. He is 203cm tall and weighs 113kg. He is the perfect combination (结合)of strength, size and speed. Some people see him as the best physical specimen (体格范本)in sport.

    James beat Golden State Warriors' player Stephen Curry, 29, to the number one place, even though Curry had a great season. Last season (2015-2016), the two top players led their teams to the highest rank of the NBA. So people had different ideas about who might be the best player. James finally won the award because he helped his team Cleveland Cavaliers beat Curry's team in the NBA Finals.

    To his fans all over the world, James is the king. He is also a hero to many sports fans in the United Sates, especially in his hometown Cleveland. At a celebration in the city after he won the NBA Finals, James made a short speech and thanked everybody in his team. He said that he could not have won the award without them. He even bought each of them a gold headphone as a gift!

    James also started The LeBron James Family Foundation. It raises money and helps people in need. By now, the foundation has spent $41 million sending poor children to universities in his hometown. Maybe that is another reason why his fans love him so much.

When my brother and I were children, we spent a few weeks each summer in the countryside with our uncle. He was a geologist and loved to go on long {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(步行) to find stones to add to his collection at the university.

One {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(星期六) morning, our uncle gave us two backpacks. "You can help me carry the samples(样本)," he explained. The whole day, we walked around the countryside, and every now and then, our uncle put stones in our bags. We were a bit {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(惊讶的) that sometimes he also took some stones out from our bags, but thought he had just found better samples.

We {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(到达) the house in the late afternoon. The backpacks were so heavy that we were really tired out when we put them on the ground. Yet our uncle's backpack was nearly {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(空).

"Why did you give us so many stones?" we asked.

"I didn't. You did," he said, waiting for a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(一会儿) before continuing. "You did not know it, but I made you go through a little attitude(态度) test today."

"What do you mean an ‘attitude test'?" we were {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(想知道).

"You see, I listened to every word you said. And if you complained(抱怨) about anyone or {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(任何事情), I added a stone to your bags. But whenever you talked about something in an attitude of positive(积极乐观的) thinking, I took out a stone. And now look at your backpacks."

We did. Surely, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(我们的) were full.

"I hope you will {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(记住) this little attitude test and live your life wisely. The more negative thoughts you have, the heavier your mind is.

 Once upon a time, many frogs lived in a pond. There was a king among them. One day, the king frog decided to have a competition." There is a tree near the pond. Whoever climbs to the top of this tree will be the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (win)." he said.

 All the frogs were excited {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (take) part in the competition. As soon as it started, they began climbing one by one. But many frogs fell down. Some frogs felt sad {#blank#}3{#/blank#} stopped climbing. And some continued. Those who didn't try said," No one can do it. It's impossible." Some frogs heard this, and they {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (lose) hope and stopped trying, too. But one frog didn't give up. He {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (successful) climbed to the top after some tries. All the other frogs were quite {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (surprise). They all wanted to know how he was able to do it.

{#blank#}7{#/blank#} frog who won the competition told them he was deaf and couldn't hear anything. He thought the frogs below were cheering {#blank#}8{#/blank#} him, saying," You can do it." The kind words made him try harder, and finally he could climb to the top.

 This story teaches {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (we)a lesson. We should stick to our {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (goal) instead of listening to negative(消极的) words from others, and then work harder to achieve them.

A few years ago, I had a wonderful Christmas experience that finally changed how I celebrated the festival. Now I've decided to 1  it with all of you. 

Before that Christmas, I was running around like a crazy person to get 2  ready. One day I took my three little kids to the market to buy the last things for the next day. After walking and shopping for a long time, I was terribly 3  and kept thinking to myself, "What is the true 4  of Christmas?"

When I was walking towards the exit(出口) after I finished 5 , I noticed an old man sitting on the bench 6  an envelope in his hand. He handed something to a well-dressed, 7  man and said, "Merry Christmas!" It was a $20 bill. The young man was in great 8  and asked, "Are you serious?""Yes. Merry Christmas, " he replied. So the young man got the money and left 9 . 

"What's he doing?"I was more puzzled(困惑的) 10  I saw him giving more bills to some other shoppers. Just then he 11  and walked over to me. Then he pulled a $50 bill out of his envelope and handed it to me, saying "Merry Christmas!"

My face turned 12  and said, "Sir, I don't need fifty dollars. ""Well, then, " he smiled and said, "find someone who does. Merry Christmas!" And he left 13 . What a kind man he was and how many people he helped out that day! All of a sudden, for the 14  time I felt the real Christmas spirit. And I decided I'd spread his spirit and find someone who 15  that $50. From then on, I was used to teaching my kids about love and kindness and letting them feel the spirit of Christmas. Merry Christmas, everyone!