B

    Nancy lives in Washington D.C. Her father has a store there and her mother is a reporter. She's six years old now and begins to go to school this year. It's a little far from their shop and her father drives a car to take her to school every day. So she's not late for class and her teachers like her.

    It's Tuesday today. Miss White is teaching them to count(数数) from one to ten. Nancy is studying hard. Soon she can count them. Miss White is happy and asks, “How many people are there in your family, Nancy?”

    Nancy stands up and begins to count with her fingers(手指), and then she says, “Two, Miss White.”

  “Who are they?”

  “My father and mother.”

  “Oh?” Miss White is surprised, “Two people in your family?”

  “Because now I'm not at home.”

    Ever since I was a child，my mouth has caused me trouble．I'm not a bad person；I have just had a hard time learning when to keep my mouth closed．

My mom has told me again and again，"Robert，your constant bad words are hurting me．If you continue to be this rude，you will get into big trouble．"

    It's been a problem at school several times，too，when teachers have told me something I didn't want to hear．I used to feel it was my duty to stand up for myself and tell them ______ off．

    One day in English class I began working on my homework until I heard a classmate talking behind me．It was Nathaniel，talking to himself as usual．

I said ever so nicely，"Nathaniel，would you be quiet?"

Nathaniel continued talking to himself．I quickly shouted，"Nathaniel，shut up!"

    For the next five minutes，we threw hurtful words back and forth at each other．

"At least I don't have an ugly lazy eye like you!"I shouted．

    I knew this would bother him deep inside．It would hurt his feelings and shut him up．

What I said filled him with anger．He tried to reach over my seat and grab me as he shouted．"That's it! That's it!"

    Surprised at his reaction，I sat back in seat．Never had I seen Nathaniel act like this before．

Later on，we were taken to the principal's office．

There，the principal told US to discuss the matter．It wasn't until then that I finally found that when I hurt someone physically，the wounds(伤口)eventually heal．But when I hurt them with my words，sometimes the pain never goes away．

    At the end of the discussion，I said sorry to Nathaniel．

    When I headed back to my room，I spent some time praying． I began to think about how often what I said hurt others．But I believe that as I keep praying and asking God to help me，he'll tell me when to keep my mouth closed．

    Emma's dream was to be a boxer. All her life, everyone said she couldn't be a boxer because she was a girl. They said that she should just get a normal job. Her parents told her that she would be killed one day if she kept boxing. It was hard to hear "you can't" all the time. Emma still decided to prove everyone was wrong.

    Emma's life was hard. Girls didn't like her, because they thought she was too manly (有男子气概的). Boys didn't like her, because they thought she wasn't as good at boxing as they were. Because of all these, Emma didn't have any friends at school. She always sat alone in the cafeteria (自助餐厅), and it was hard for her to find partners for group projects.

    However, Emma did have friends from her boxing class. They were all female (女人) boxers. They understood what Emma was going through because they were in the same situation. All they had was each other. They were a family. Because of this, Emma was always excited for boxing class. One day, she was going to be a famous boxer.

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of his cow. One day it was ill, the farmer was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" the vet asked the farmer when he arrived. "My cow is ill," said the farmer, "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and doesn't eat. She's making a strange noise." The vet looked at the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some strong medicine." He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better." "How should I give them to her? The farmer asked. The vet gave him a tube(管子) and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked worried. "How's your cow?" asked the vet. "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said." the farmer answered, "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put the two pills in it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first." the farmer said.