About five hundred years ago, an earthquake (地震) happened in a small village. Luckily for them, nothing was destroyed (毁坏) and no one was hurt. But a huge stone fell from a nearby mountain and stopped in the middle of the road.

    When the earthquake stopped, many people came to the road and saw the stone. Some of the strongest men tried to lift the stone out of the road. But they couldn't move it. They tried to push it but failed. They tried to pull it with ropes but nothing worked.

    "Well," they said sadly, "there's nothing we can do about it. We'll have to change the way."

    At this time a boy about 12 years old said, "I think I can help you to move the stone away.

    "You?" they shouted. "What are you talking about?" The men all laughed at the boy.?

    The next morning, some people came into the road. One of them shouted, "The stone is gone." More people ran out to see what had happened. It was true. The stone wasn't on the road any longer. It wasn't even near the road.

    The boy walked over to where the stone had been and said, "I buried it."

    The people looked rather surprised. "You see," he said, "I dug a deep hole next to the stone and I dug a small incline (斜坡) up to the stone and the stone rolled (滚) down into the hole itself. Then I covered it with earth."

    The villagers shouted, "Clever boy! Clever boy!" And some of them said, "Why didn't we think out this good idea?"

    When I was young, I went to a boarding（寄宿）school in Edinburgh. It was far from home because I1on an island in the north of Scotland.

    It was a music school, and I studied the violin. At the end of the term, we all packed our bags and our 2  to go home for the holidays. Most kids went by train or bus. Some were 3  by their parents. But I had to go home by ferry—14 hours overnight on the open sea.

    One summer, after packing my suitcase and violin, I said4to my friends. I took the train to the ferry terminal（渡船码头）and then got on the ferry. But when the ferry started moving, I realized a(n)5thing! I left my violin on the train!

    Oh no! What should I do? What would my dad say? He'd be really6! I got so scared（害怕）that I didn't sleep all night.

    The next morning, I7the ferry to meet my dad. After I told him everything, he laughed. I looked at him and couldn't believe it.8was he laughing?

    I always had a label（标签）in my violin case with my address and a telephone number. My dad told me, "A cleaner found your violin on the train and took it to the police. They  9 me and put it on a plane. It arrived an hour ago." 10, my violin was safe.  I was so happy!

The Phone Call

    It was getting dark. Paul looked out of the window and signed ( 叹气 ). Dad said he could come home by 5:30, but it was almost 7:00. Even if Dad came back, it wouldn't be much fun playing1in the dark. Paul walked into his room and threw his baseball into the corner. He tried to do some homework, but couldn't.

    The phone rang at about 8:00. It was Dad, "Paul, I'm2, but I couldn't play baseball with you tonight. I have to finish my work at the office. Maybe we can play this weekend. Oh no. How about next weekend?

    Paul couldn't understand why Dad was so3 He threw himself into the sofa and soon fell asleep. His book was still opened to the first page.

    The next day at school, Paul didn't hand in his homework and 4 a test. Mrs Green, his teacher, asked him to stay after school. "Paul, you didn't do your homework. You didn't pass the test and only got a D. This isn't like you. What's wrong?"

    Paul just sat there 5"Paul, if you don't want to talk, I will. I know that something's worrying with you, but you have to get it out. You need to tell someone.

    As Paul walked home, he thought of what Mrs Green said. Maybe he didn't do his homework because he wanted to get his dad's 6He knew Mrs Green was right. He decided to take her advice.

    When Paul got home, he 7his dad. But there was no answer. Then it went to voicemail(语音信箱). Paul began talking, "Dad, I can't play with you next weekend. I've got lots of problems with my homework. Also, I really don't want to spend another day looking out of the window and waiting, whenever you 8our plans, Dad, it hurts me. It's not too late to rebuild our relationship, but we have to start small. Maybe you can help me with my 9sometime. Dad, I love you. "

    As Paul ended the call, he felt much relaxed.  He didn't know whether his dad would be different, but it didn't matter.  He himself 10 He expressed his feelings to the right person. He had a clear head as he was doing his homework that evening.

    One day I was watching a movie at home and tears dropped from my eyes as I saw a moving picture. My three﹣year﹣old son came to me and asked me why I was crying. I 1 silent as I couldn't explain to him it was just an emotional（情感的） thing. To my surprise, he2 my face with his little hand and said, "Dear Mom, stop crying! You see3 will be fine. You're my good girl. So just get up and let's get ready for school." On hearing him saying this to me I could not help4. It was so funny for a child to say so. Later I5 that he had repeated almost the6 thing that I told him when he was crying.

    The first time a child begins to speak, he tries to7 what his parents have been telling him for a long time. Usually parents8 with the words "Mama" "Papa" and so on. But as the child continues learning and possibly starts speaking on his own without being9 we as parents always10he's still being guided by us. The only11 is that we're now doing that in a more passive （被动的）way than before. We always use words that we don't want our child to say, and when he says those words, we12where he has learned them. Even then, some of us don't realize that the child has learned the words only from13 only. Instead, we start to put the blame （ 指责） on either his friends or somebody who has talked to him when we are not present.

    So if you want your child to have perfect14, you'll have to set a good example to him. And if you can't do this, you have no right to expect your child to have such a thing. After all, the parents' words and behavior have a great15 on their children.