An eighty-year-old couple were having trouble with their memories. One day, they decided to see a doctor. The doctor told him that there was nothing serious, but he suggested that they should start writing things down to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left.

Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asked, “Where are you going?”

“To the kitchen.”

“Will you get me an ice-cream?” asked the wife.

“Sure.”

Then his wife asked him to write it down.

“No, I can remember that,” replied the husband.

“Well, I also want some strawberries and cream on top. You'd better write it down, or you will forget that,”said the wife.

“No, I can remember that,” the husband got a little unhappy and went into the kitchen.

After about 20 minutes, the husband returned with a plate of fish. The wife laughed, “Haha! Your bad   memory! I wanted some bread with cream.”

    I arrived at my mother's home for our Saturday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. I knew they were all made herself. She was preparing for a quilt show on TV. When we began to fold and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the bottom of one box.

    I pulled it out. "What's this?" I asked.

    "Oh?" Mom said, "That's Mama's quilt."

    I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had made the pieces together.

    "Grandmother made this?" I asked in surprise. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This certainly didn't look like any of the quilts she had made.

    "Yes, right before she died. I brought it home with me last year and made some changes,"

Mom said, "I'm still working on it. See, this is what I've done so far."

    I looked at it more closely. She had made a line straight(直的). At the center of the quilt, she had stitched a piece of cloth with these words: "My mother made many quilts. She didn't get all lines straight. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it finished. Her last quilt."

    "Oh, this is so nice, Mom." I said. I was sure now that by completing my grandmother's quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized that I held in my hands a family treasure. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and continued with the loving hands of another.

    Two brothers took a trip in the forest together. At noon they took a rest and fell asleep. When they woke up, they saw a stone next to them. There were words written on the stone: Let whoever finds this stone go into me forest. In the forest a river will appear. Let him swim across the river to the other side. There he will see a bear and her baby. Let him take the baby from her and run up the mountain with them. On the top of the mountain he will find happiness."

    After reading the words, the younger brother said, "Let us go together. We can find happiness."

    "I am not going into the forest," said the elder brother. "It's too dangerous. We may get lost. We may be eaten by the bear. Instead of finding happiness, we may die at last."

    "In my opinion," said the younger brother, "you are wrong. If you do not make an effort and try hard, nothing in the world will be achieved."

    Then the younger brother set off, and the elder remained behind.

    The younger brother did all the things. When he reached the top of the mountain, the people came out of their houses to meet him and made him their king. He had been a king for five years. In the sixth year, another king captured his country. The younger brother became an ordinary man again.

    One day, the younger brother arrived at the house of his elder brother. The elder brother was living m a village, neither rich nor poor. "You see," said the elder brother, "l was right. Though you may have been a king, you have nothing now.

    "I don't think so," replied the younger brother. "I may have nothing now, but I shall always have something to remember, but you have no memories at all."

    Bob Smith is old. He has two big houses and a new car. He has no wife, but he is a father of four children. He has two sons and two daughters. One son is from Canada. His name is Jack. The other is from England. His name is Mike. One of his daughters is from China. Her name is Meimei. She is eleven years old. The other is from America. Her name is Lucy. She's eleven, too.

    Bob Smith is not the children's real father, but he loves them very much. The children love their "father", too. Bob Smith has many toys for the children. He gives different toys to different children. The boys play with toy cars. The girls play with doll and toy animals. Bob Smith is their good friend.

    Peter and Mike are very good friends. They are in the same class at school. They often go to school and play t{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, and they often visit each other's home at weekends, too.

    Now they are b{#blank#}2{#/blank#} eight years old. Peter's mother has got a new baby. Peter is very glad to have a little brother, so he is always talking about his younger brother to Mike.

    At first Mike is very interested in the new baby because he doesn't have any sisters or brothers. But after some time he begins to get tired of Peter's endless talking about it. He also feels a little jealous (嫉妒) of his friend.

    One morning before class, when the two boys m{#blank#}3{#/blank#} at the school gate, Peter says to Mike cheerfully, "Do you know, Mike, my little brother, has put on nearly half a pound in weight this week."

    "That's not much at all," answers Mike. "I know a baby who can put on more than ten pounds a day."

    "Oh, that can't be t{#blank#}4{#/blank#}," answers Peter. "W{#blank#}5{#/blank#} baby is it?"

    "An elephant's," says Mike.

    A girl went to her father and told him that her life was too hard. She said she couldn't work all the difficulties out 1. She just wanted to give up.

Her father said, "I think I know 2 I can help you. 3 me." They went into the 4. Her father put a potato, an egg and some coffee beans into three different bowls of water. Then, he started to boil (煮沸) the water on the stove.

After some time, he turned the stove 5 and took out the potato, the egg and the beans. He then showed each of them to his daughter.

"Look. The potato was hard before I boiled it, but now, it is 6 and weak. The egg was fragile (易碎的) until I put it in the water—now, it is hard inside. But the coffee beans were different. When they met the boiling water, they changed and became delicious 7."

Life 8 problems to us all. The potato, egg and coffee beans were all met with the same problem. But they each solve the problem in their own way. It is up to you to take the difficulties you face and find something good in 9. By making a(n) 10, the father taught his daughter a life lesson.