B

    A man bought a donkey (驴子) at the market one day and took him home. Now the man has owned several donkeys already and he knew them very well. One of the donkeys was very strong and brave, another was moody(喜怒无常的). One donkey was very lazy, he hated going to work in the morning and he did as little as he could all day long. When the other animals were being loaded(装载) up, he always tried to be the last so that he would get the lightest load.

    The man took the new donkey into the yard. For a moment he stood there, looking at his new friends. Then, without thinking, he walked up to the lazy donkey and began eating comfortably at his side.

    Though it was late in the day, the man immediately took the new donkey out of the yard, straight back to the market. "You cannot do like this," said the merchant (商人), "It is only ten minutes since you bought him."

    "I don't need him any more," replied the man, "I know just what he is like from the friend he chose for himself. Take him away and give my money back. I don't need donkeys like him."

Ray Charles，a black singer and pianist of the USA．He had won 12Grammy Awards （格莱美奖） and performed at 10，000concerts around the world．Many musicians called him simply"the Genius"．

    Ray Charles was born into a poor family，without a father．When he was 5years old，his younger brother died，and around the same time，Charles started to lose his sight．By the age of 7，he was completely blind．He had already been learning the piano for a year，and when he went blind，his mother knew this would be the only way he would make any money in the future．All his life，Charles remembered her saying："Do it right，or don't do it at all．"

    Later he went to a school for blind and deaf children．There the teachers also encouraged him to study music．Sadly，while he was still at school，his mother died．He left school and in the early 1950s Charles organized a group of players．He sang，played the piano and wrote music．He made many classical CDs with famous artists such as Elton John and the Beatles．

In 2003a film of his life Ray was made．The part of Charles was played by a younger actor and musician called Jamie Foxx．The film director brought Foxx to meet Charles．After they had been playing together for two hours，Charles，then aged 73，jumped up and said："He's the one…he can do it．"A year later Charles died，aged 74．The film of his life has been as popular as his songs and means that the memory of Charles'music will live on．

    There would be a school party on Friday evening. The girls were talking about what they were going to wear.

    “I'm going to wear a black dress, so everybody will notice me,” said Emily. “How about you, Linda?”

    “I'm not sure. Maybe jeans (牛仔裤), an old shirt, and a hat. People will notice me more than you!” Linda said.

    “But what are the boys going to do at the party?” asked Jane. “Do you remember the last school party, last year? They just stood there, and we girls had to dance by ourselves!”

    “I hear that some of the boys learned how to dance this summer. Maybe it'll be better this time,” said Mary.

    The party was held on Friday evening. Groups of students arrived. The music began. The girls stood in a line on one side, and the boys on the other side. Mr. Green, their teacher, tried to get them together, but failed. After a while, Tim said, “I don't want to stand here the whole time. The party is only for two hours. It'll be over soon.” He started to dance. All the others watched him. Then David asked Emily if she wanted to dance. Then Jack and Linda. Then, all began to dance. Soon there were more dancers than watchers.

    When I first came to New York, I didn't have many friends. I got upset easily. Luckily, one of my co-workers (同事), Frank, took great care of me. Actually, he changed me.

    I used to be shy. I had a hard time talking Io strangers. Frank knew it.  And he helped me deal with it.

    One day we were at a restaurant.  I dropped a piece of pizza on my shirt while eating. Frank told me to borrow a Tide pen (去污笔) from someone. I was nervous, but Frank encouraged me. So I went to ask for help. In the end, I was not only able Io clean my shirt, but also made friends with a stranger.  It was a good start for me.  I became more and more confident (自信的).

    Frank was optimistic about life. He always finds a way to change the bad things into something good.

    Because of a new job, I moved to a new city. Frank and I communicated with each other less and less. Then, one day, I got a call from a friend. Frank had passed away. It was one of the worst moments in my life. There was nothing I could do to deal with my sorrow (悲伤) except go lo sleep.

    I looked at a lot of videos about Frank. At the end of one video, Frank said, "After the rain, the sun shines through the clouds." I remembered Frank's optimism. Then I stopped crying. I decided to smile a bit wider and love fife more.

    Qian Xuesen was born in Shanghai on December 11^th, 1911. He is known as "the father of China's space program" and "The king of the rocket".

    When he was 24 years old, Qian went to America for further study. After graduation, he worked in America for a few years, where his working conditions were better. In the early 1950s, he heard New China had been founded(成立) and decided not to stay in America any longer. He succeeded in coming back to his motherland in 1955 though the American government tried to stop him.

    In 1956, Qian Xuesen suggested setting up a special organization, which later became the leading organization for China's rocket and air travel program. In June 1964, China successfully created its first medium rocket. Qian also played an important role in developing China's first man-made satellite(卫星). On April 24, 1970, "Dongfanghong-I was successfully sent into the air."

    In 1964, a young man wrote Qian Xuesen a letter and pointed out a mistake in his published article. Qian immediately answered the letter and encouraged the young man to write an article out the mistake.

    Zhu Yilin, who was said to be the last student of Qian Xuesen, once said, "I learned a lot of professional knowledge as well as the spirit and attitude that a scientist should have from Mr. Qian, especially his deep love for the motherland. Without that, they couldn't have helped to develop science and technology when New China was badly development. Without that, he would not have made the great contribution(贡献)to industry in the late 1950s and early 1960s when conditions in China were too hard

    Mr. Qian has been dead for ten years, but he will live in the memory of Chinese people forever.