A Smart Dog

    Rico is a dog who lives in Germany,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}When his owner says the name of a certain toy, Rico can find it. In fact, he seems to know the names of 200 toys!

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. They put his toys in a room and then told him to go in the room and find a certain toy. Since nobody was in the room with Rico, he had no help from anyone finding the right toy. The researchers did this test forty times. Rico found the right toy thirty-seven times!

    Then the researcher tried something else. They put seven of Rico's toys in the room and one new toy that Rico had never seen before.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. This new toy had a name Rico had never heard before. Rico found the right toy seven out of ten times.!

    Researchers cannot really say that Rico know words or languages.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}They believed Rico can think about what he hears and thin about what he knows. In fact, Rico seems to thin and remember thins as well as three-year-old child.

    From these tests, animal researchers know one thing for sure. Rico has given them a lot to think about.

    An old man is sitting on the sofa in his house along with his son. Just then, a crow (乌鸦) stops on their window.

    "What is that?" asks the father.

    "It is a crow." answers the son.

    "What is that?" asks the father again after a few minutes.

    "Father, I just told you. It's a crow." the son answers again.

    "What is that?" asks the old father a third time.

    "Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again?  I have told you so many times 'IT IS A CROW'!" shouts (大喊) the son.

    After a little while,  the father goes to his room and comes back with his old diary (日记). He asks his son to read one page. The son reads the following words in the diary:

    "Today my 3-year-old son is sitting with me on the sofa. When a crow is sitting in the window, he asks me 23 times what it is, and, 23 times, I answer, 'it is a crow' I hug (拥抱) him warmly every time he asks me the same question, again and again."

    When your parents get old,  do not look them as a burden (负担), but be kind to them. Remember they are the people who always love you. Love your parents, please.

    One day, I walked into a stranger as he walked by me. "Oh, excuse me." I said. He replied with a smile and said, "Please excuse me, too. I wasn't watching out for you." We apologized(道歉) and went our own ways.

    Later that day, when I was cooking, my daughter was standing too close to me. When I turned to reach for some milk, I nearly knocked her over. "Move out of the way." I shouted. She walked away sadly. But I didn't feel like I had to apologize to her.

    While I was in bed that evening, my husband said to me, "Dealing with a stranger, you were polite, but with a daughter you love, you were unkind. Your daughter brought you some flowers that she picked herself this afternoon. You'll find them in the kitchen by the door. Have you seen the tears in her eyes?"

    I quietly went and knelt down by my daughter's bed. "Honey, I am so sorry." I said, "Are these the flowers you picked for me?" She said, "I found them by the tree. I picked them because they're pretty like you. I knew you'd like them especially the blue ones." I tearfully replied, "Sweetie, I'm really sorry for the way I acted today. I shouldn't have shouted at you." "It's okay. I love you anyway." she said as she kissed me on my cheek.

    If we can be polite to strangers, why can't we be kind to the ones we love?

    When I was a child, I was a tomboy(假小子). I had a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. My brothers were two and four years older than I. We often played games together.

    Once, my brothers and I fell in love with playing a game called "stealing horses". Then my parents decided to buy my brothers guns. These were not "real" guns. Because I was a girl, I didn't get a gun. They shot and shot at everything with their new guns. I tried to "fight" them with my bow and arrows (弓和箭). But I was still in the poor position without a gun.

    One day while I was hiding behind a wall, looking out toward the fields, I felt a terrible blow to my right eye. I looked up just in time to see my brother lower his gun. Both brothers rushed to my side. My eye felt great pain and I covered it with my hand. "If you tell that to Mummy," they said, "We will get a whipping(鞭打) from Daddy. You don't want that to happen, do you?" I did not. "Here is a piece of wire(电线)," said the older brother, picking it up from the floor, "Say you stepped on one end of it and the other flew up and hit you." "Yes," I said. To be honest, I didn't want them to be punished. So I did as my brothers told me to do.

    A week after the "accident" my parents took me to see a doctor. Finally I knew my brothers were worried about my eye, so they told our parents what had happened and asked them to take me to see a doctor.