Once, a king loved music so much that he searched the world for the best instrument. One day, a magic man1the king a harp(竖琴). The king took it to the palace, but2 he played it, the harp sounded terrible. Many3people tried it. They agreed that the harp was 4　and the king had been fooled. The harp was thrown out as rubbish.

A poor little girl 5　found the harp, and even though she didn't know how6 it, she decided to have a try. She played and played, the whole day through, for months and years. The music she produced was never perfect, 7　 each time it sounded a little better.

  Then one day, suddenly, the harp started to play the most beautiful music. It was in fact 8magic harp, and could only be played well by someone who would put in the necessary effort.

   The king heard the music from his window, and called the girl to the palace. When the king saw that she was playing his old harp, he was filled 9　 joy. At that moment he made the girl his own private 10　 , giving her and her family many riches.

    Long long ago there was a poor farmer called Fred. Fred and his wife, Doris, lived 1 together in their small old house. One winter night, the Luck Fairy(仙女) visited them.

    “Fred, you're a 2farmer. I'd like to give you a wish,” said the Luck Fairy.

    “A wish? ” said Fred.

    Fred and Doris smiled at each other. Then Fred said, “Thank you, Luck Fairy. We are very   3and happy. ”

    “4we are old, we still work in the fields everyday, ” said Doris.

    “You work very hard but you 5very little money. Would you like some gold coins? ” asked the Luck Fairy.

    “Oh no, my dear Luck Fairy. We are poor. But we have 6food to eat, ” replied Fred.

    “You can use the gold coins to buy some clothes. The winter here is very cold, ” said the Luck Fairy.

    “Though we haven't got 7clothes, we've got enough, ” said Doris.

    “Well, what about a nice new house? ” asked the Luck Fairy.

“Thank you, but I  8 my small old house very much. I've lived here since I was born. I don't 9 a new house, ” said Fred.

    “You're quite different from other people. I like you very much, ” said the Luck Fairy. “I wish you happiness and healthy forever. ” Then the Luck Fairy 10 and never came back.

    Mr. Black takes his daughter 1 a restaurant. They sit down, and there are a lot of  2 in the restaurant. They 3 for a long time, but no waiters come to their table.

    Mr. Black says, "I'm 4, I can't wait." He waits for a minute and says, "Now I am going to 5 something to get a waiter soon."

    He goes out of the restaurant and 6 the restaurant, "My 7is at a table in your restaurant, she 8 a red hat."

    The waiter finds the girl and he says to Mr. Black, "Yes, she's here. Do you want to 9 her?"

    "No," says Mr. Black, "But please give her something to eat quickly. She is very 10". Then he goes back to the restaurant. He is glad to see that a waiter is now at this table.

    My stutter(口吃) had always been much of a problem. I'd had so many specialists(专家) for my speech over the years. It hurt me until I met a new one in the hall.

    "Hello! I'm Mrs. Claussen. I hear you're from Texas!"

    "Ye-Ye-Ye-Yes m-m-m-m-m-m-aam I am..."My heart felt like it was pounding (剧烈跳动)through my chest and my hands were dripping wet.

    "Well," she said with a 1smile. "I've always like Texas."

    She turned out to be the best speech specialist I've ever had, not like 2who told me to clap my hands while speaking. She was different from others. She spent the first several weeks just talking to me — asking me all kinds of questions about myself, 3my feelings. And she listened. She then began to teach me about the speech. Not just about my speech, but about everybody's.

    I 4in my old school and was a pretty good tenor(男高音), but I learned that the new school's singing group was all 5. It was such bad news, for I thought that was the one thing I could really do well- and I could do it .However, Mrs. Claussen finally got me in the group. I felt like she really cared about me as a person, not just a 6student.

    During the next two years, my speech didn't get much better - except with her. When I was in college(大学), things got worse. I once even wanted to know 7I would ever be able to communicate! It was a very sad time, and I often felt alone. When I was feeling really sorry for myself, I remembered Mrs. Claussen had told me whether I could change my speech was all up to me. She had told me to fight for perfect speech, just 8speech. She was right about that. I finally improved my speech greatly.

    Many years have passed, but I think of her from time to time, wondering (想知道)if she had as much 9on her other students as she had on me. I like to think that she did. Her name was Mrs. Claussen... and she 10me. I'll never forget her.