Mike is a factory worker. He works long hours every day. He is often very 1 after a day's work. His wife, Jenny, has no 2, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he 3 home from his factory.

    One day, Mike came home very 4 because he was very busy in the factory. He was very 5 when he got home.

    He was not 6 when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He 7 at her, “I'm going out to eat in a 8.”

    “9 for five minutes," said his wife.

    "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike.

    "Of course not," she answered. "But I 10 be ready to go with you in five minutes."

    Mr and Mrs Yates had one daughter.   1   name was Carol, and she was nineteen years old. Carol lived  2 her parents and worked in an office. She had some friends, but she  3any of the boys very much.

Then she met a very 4 young man. His name was George. and he 5 in a bank near her office. They went out together quite 6 , and he came to Carol's parents' house twice, and then last week Carol went to her father and said, “I 7 George, Daddy. ”

“Oh, yes,” said 8 .“he's a nice boy. But has he got any money?”

“Oh, men! All of you are 9 ,” the daughter answered 10 . “I met George on the first of June and on the second he said to me, ‘Has your father got any money?'”

    Thomas was a good student but he didn't respect others. One day，his aunt gave him a1as a birthday gift. He went around the classroom playing his drum. When others asked him to keep 2or play somewhere else，Thomas refused.

    Thomas's classmates couldn't 3the noisy drum，so they stopped playing with him. Joe, one of his classmates，invented special earplugs (耳塞)which allowed people to hear normal sounds, but stopped the bad ones. Thomas got very4with Joe. He even had a big fight with Joe.

    A few days later，a clock was put into the classroom，just next to the desk of Thomas. The clock was making the5like “Tick tock, tick tock.” Thomas couldn't concentrate on his study at all.6 ， the others，with their special earplugs，were OK. Soon Thomas started to 7how much he had disturbed his classmates with the drum，and how silly it had been to fight with Joe. In order to change the situation，Thomas decided to say8to his classmates. What's more，he9played his drum in the classroom. Seeing Thomas's great changes，his classmates10forgave (原谅)him and decided to play with him again. From then on，Thomas changed a lot and got along well with his classmates.

    One thorn(刺) of experience is worth many times of warning.

    Ralph Wick was seven years old. In most things he was a fine boy, but he would cry from time to time. When he could not have what he wanted, he would 1for it. If he was told that it would hurt him, and he could not 2 it, he would also cry.

    One day, he went with his mother into the 3. The sun shone. The grass was cut. The flowers were starting to come out.

    Ralph thought he was, for once, a good boy. A 4 was on his face. He wished to do as he was told. Ralph helped his mother with the farm work and he was very happy.

    “Now you must be tired and 5,” said his mother. “Have a good rest here and eat some cookies. I will get a beautiful red rose for you.” So his mother brought the red flower to him. When he saw his mother still had a white rose in her hand, Ralph 6 it.

    “No, my dear.” said his mother. “See how many thorns it has. You must not touch it, or you would be sure to hurt your 7.” When Ralph found that he could not have the white rose, he began to cry, and 8 took it away. But he was soon very sorry. The thorns hurt his hand. It was so 9 that he could not use it for some time.

    Ralph would never 10 this. From then on, when he wanted what he should not have, his mother would point to his hand which had been hurt before. He at last learned to do as he was told.

    A girl complained to her father about her hard life. She didn't know what she had to do and wanted to give up. She felt tired for fighting and fighting, one problem had been finished but another came.

    Her father, who was a cook 1 her into the kitchen. He poured water into the pans (锅) and boiled it. When the water was boiling, in the first pan he put some carrots, in the second he put some eggs and the last he put with coffee. He 2 them a few minutes without any words.

    The girl closed her mouth and waited impatiently, not knowing 3 her father was doing that. After about 20 minutes, her father turned 4 the stove, took out the carrots and put them in a bowl. He took the eggs and put them in another bowl. After that the 5 was poured into a cup. Turning back to his daughter, he asked, "What do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she answered.

    Her father told her to 6 her eyes and let her touch the carrots. She did and felt that the carrots were soft. After that he asked her to take the eggs and 7 them. Then she got boiled and hard eggs. At last, the father asked her to smell the coffee. "What is the meaning, Father?" He  __8 that each one had the same experience -the boiled water, but 9 had a different reaction(反应). The strong and hard carrots had become soft and weak after being in the boiling water. The eggs became hard after being cooked. The coffee was very special and it changed the water. "Who are you?" asked her father, "When calamity(厄运) 10 your door, what is your reaction? Are you carrots, eggs or coffee?"

    I stood there listening to my father shout at top of his voice," 1one of you did this?" We all stared down at the step. There was child's handwriting in chalk there. Would he guess it was me? I was so 2. When he asked me, I lied, "Not me, Dad." The others denied (否认) it as well. Of course, we all knew that one of us 3 have done it. But as the youngest and smallest of the three, I just couldn't find the courage to tell the 4 .

    To find out who had written on the 5 , Father gave us each a piece of paper and a pencil. "I want 6of you to write exactly what you see on the step." I tried my best to write the words 7 . I didn't want Dad to be able to tell it was me. He gathered up our pieces of paper and looked at them. "Since none of you will admit (承认) to have done it, then I will 8 you all." I stood there and said nothing. "I did it." My sister stepped forward and said she had done 9 she hadn't. She was grounded (被罚不准出门) for a month. I didn't tell my dad it was really me 10 many years later. I always felt sorry because of it. That was the last time I let anyone take the blame (承担责任) for me.