Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are verybusy trying to make money for my schooling. One day, my mother was sewing a quilt (缝被子). I silently sat beside her.

    " Mum, is there 1 between you and dad?" I asked in a very low voice.

    With surprise in her eyes, she2her work for a while. Then she said, "Susan, look at this thread (线). It can hardly be seen, 3it's really there. It makes the quilt strong. If life is a quilt, love should be a thread. Love is inside. "

    I couldn't understand her4 the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month.

    After they were back, my mother helped my father walk5on the country road every day. They were so kind to each other and it seemed they were the happiest couple.

    After two months my father6couldn't walk by himself.

" Dad, how are you feeling now?" I asked him one day. "Susan, don't7me, " he said, "I just like walking with your mum. I like this kind of life. "8his eyes, I knew he loves my mother deeply.

     Now I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our 9. Love is inside , making life10and warm.

    Do you like playing football? It is so popular among boys nowadays. Johnny, a twelve-year-old boy, 1 likes it very much. He used to 2 it in his room. His parents were very angry and told him several 3 not to play football at home because he could break 4, but he never listened.

    Last Sunday, his 5 went out for a walk and Johnny couldn't help playing football again. He was enjoying his game in the living room 6 his parents came in and saw him.

    “Oh, my God, Johnny, you know that playing with your ball at home is not 7. We are very 8 about you and are going to give your ball to another kid. You should obey(遵守)the rules 9 you are at home." Johnny's father said.

    Johnny felt very sad. He 10 that it was his mistake. He decided to obey the rules later, not only at home, but also at school.

    Johnnie Martin was born in a worker's family. His parents lived a simple life, saving money for the day when they could send him to a good university. They had dreamed that their son could get a good1and live a better life. However, to Johnnie, school lessons seemed like a wall that was impossible to go through.

    One day when he was in Grade 11, Johnnie went2the school psychologist's(心 理学家的) office to ask for help.

    "Johnnie, I've been studying your marks of all the tests at school. I've made a3study of them," said the psychologist.

    "I've been trying hard," Johnnie was about to4.

    The psychologist put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "People have different kinds of talents, Johnnie. There are painters who are5able to learn math, and engineers who can't sing on key. Some day you will find6you are good at, and when you do, you will make your parents and all of us very7you."

    Johnnie didn't go to university. He found a job working in the gardens around the town. Soon8amazing happened. His customers began to notice that Johnie had what they called a" green thumb" The plants he9grew, and the roses blossomed(开花). People started to accept his10for gardening， because he had an eye for color and light.

    One day while he was downtown, he happened to11an unused dirty land behind the city hall. He volunteered to make it into a garden. That afternoon as soon as he got the permission(许可), he started the work,12he couldn't afford all the tools or the plants that were13. People gave him young trees, rose-bushes, benches and many other things. Before long, it had become a beautiful little14.

    Today Johnnie is the head of the business in gardening. Wherever he and his men go， they15beauty before the eyes of people.

    The summer vacation is over. It's true that time always flies1. During the vacation, the weather was 2and I could not do much homework, but I lived happily.

    As the afternoon was hot, I did my homework in the3. I often got up at 6:30 and4in the garden for half an hour. After breakfast, I5reading English and Chinese and did some exercises in math. Those6me three hours or more. I worked quite7and made good progress(进步).

    I spent the afternoon outside. I went to8and it was funny. I would not go home until it was about five or six o'clock. Sometimes my friend came to see me and would spend some hours9music.

    In this way I spent my vacation10. And I not only studied well but also became a good swimmer. Now I am in good health and high spirits(精神).

    I'm Dingding. I 1from Beijing. I have(有) four2. They3 Helen, Sally, Michael and David. Helen and Michael are4the U.S.A. They are both(两者都) thirteen5 old. They are6Class One, Grade Eight. Sally7 from England. She is 8, too. She is in 9. David is from Canada. He and I are the same(相同的) age. We are fourteen. We are in Class Two, Grade Nine. Helen, Sally, Michael, David and I are in the same 10.

    One night in November, Itzhak Perlman gave a concert in a theatre. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that becoming a violinist is not a small 1 for him. He had to walk 2 the help of two walking sticks as a result of the disease he caught as a child. People sat 3 while he made his way to his chair and began his play. But this time, something went 4 Just as he finished the first few parts of the music, one of the strings(弦) on his violin 5 . We thought that he would have to stop the concert. But he didn't. Instead , he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then 6 the conductor (指挥) to begin again. The orchestra(管弦乐队) began and he played with such strong feeling and purity as they had never heard before.

    Of course, everyone knows that it is 7 for a violinist to play a pleasant work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman didn't want to accept that.

    When he finished, there was a terrible 8 in the room. And then people rose and cheered from every corner of the theatre.

    Perlman was excited. He smiled and said, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to 9 how much music you can still make with what you have left."

    So, suppose our task in this fast-changing world is to make music. At first we should try our best with all that we have. And then, 10 it is no longer possible, try to play it with what we have left.