One day while driving from my home to work. I noticed a car in front of me had a wobbly(不稳定的) wheel. It was clear that the wheel had been changed recently and had not been fixed correctly. On a slow road this would not show much of a problem but I knew a highway was coming soon. There the traffic would move much faster and the driver would be in danger as the wheel could come off at that speed.

    I was driving a large jeep at the time and the car in front was a small one driven by a young lady on her own. So as I tried to flash(闪) my lights and wave her to pullover,  I was worried that she wouldn't pull over on the road side when she found in her mirror a single man chasing(追) her down in a jeep and waving for her to pull over.

    Thankfully. she trusted more in the good nature of people and pulled over where I could explain the problem. She said the wheel was changed only the night before and that she would pull into the nearest garage(修车间) where the repairman had tools to fix the wheel correctly.

    My belief is that the act of kindness was hers and not mine. How so? Well, it was she who chose to believe in the possibility that people are good over the belief that bad things would come from being waved over to the side of the road by strangers.

    I am glad I was able to wave her down in time and so a serious accident might have been avoided. But I am even happier that she believed in a stranger.

    One year, a college in the United States announced that it would offer a lot of money for the pure white marigold(金盏花). The high reward attracted so many people, but in the nature, besides golden, the marigold is brown, and it is not easy to get the white one. So after they were excited for a time, many people had forgotten the announcement.

    One normal day after 20 years, the college received a letter and 100 seeds of pure white marigold. It was an old woman of over 70 years old. Some experts in the college doubted it, but in order not to let her down, those seeds finally took root (根）in the earth. The miracle appeared after one year; the field was covered by pure white marigold.

    Therefore, the old woman who was always unknown to the public became a new focus.

    The old woman was a flower-lover. When she read the announcement 20 years ago, she got very excited like others. But her eight children were totally against her decision. After all, a woman who never knew the seed genetics(遗传学) couldn't complete what the experts could never do, so her thought was only a day dream.

    Still, the old woman didn't change her mind and went on working. She planted some of the most common seeds and took good care of them. A year later, when the marigold came out, she chose one faintest(最暗淡的) from those golden and brown flowers and got the best seed. The next year, she again grew them and chose...Day after day, year after year, through many seasons, the old woman's husband died, her children flew far, a lot of things happened in her life, but only the wish to grow the pure white marigold took root in her heart.

    Finally, after 20 years on the day we all know, in the garden she saw a marigold, which was nearly white, but as white as silver or snow.

    A problem even experts couldn't deal with was solved by an old woman who didn't understand genetics. Was it a miracle  (奇迹）?

To take root in the heart, even the most common seed, can grow into a miracle!

C

    When my wife and I went to live in an Arab country, my friends told us to be prepared for a culture shock. Later, we realized that the advice given to us by our friends was correct.

    The culture shock started with the weather. Here, the burning sun can cook an egg in a minute! The hot weather made us feel so tired that we were falling asleep at mid-day!

    Another culture shock was the working week. We worked from Saturdays to Wednesdays, including Sundays. It was also strange to see people praying in a certain direction! They have strict rules for women. They do not let people see their faces in public. They do not let women drive cars, either. All dresses worn by women have to cover the body completely. They believe that women cannot be seen in public.

    At the weekends, we went camping in the desert. I will never forget watching the sun setting over the desert. We also enjoyed riding on the camels. In the end, we enjoyed living there, but their culture is very different from the American culture.

     Nancy is an English school girl. She studies in a middle school. She has a little brother. His name is John. John is only four. Nancy likes him very much.

    Today is Sunday. Nancy wants to do her homework. She takes out her pencil-box and opens it. “Oh, dear! Where's my pen?” She can't find her pen. She goes to ask her brother in his bedroom.

   “John! I can't find my pen. Can you see it?  Oh, what are you doing with my pen? ”

   “I'm writing to my friend, Peter.” John answers.

   “But how can you? You don't know how to write! ”

   “It doesn't matter. Peter can't read. ” John says.

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

    You may know the song Happy Birthday very well. But do you know about its writer? It was written by an American girl. And she became very rich after that.

    When she was a child, she was poor. Once, her friend invited her to her birthday party. She was pleased but sad because she didn't have enough money to buy a gift for her.

    "The party is coming soon, but now I have little money." Tears ran down her face.

    Later that night she was in bed, thinking about the gift when the door opened and her grandma came in." What happened? " her grandma asked. Hearing the girl's story, she said, "Don't worry. I think I can help you. How about singing a song together? Happy birthday to …"What a beautiful song! They sang and sang. Suddenly she woke up. It was a dream! She decided to write it down at once and sing it to her friends at the party.

    When she sang the song at the party the next day, her friends were very happy. "How wonderfully you sing! We haven't heard such a beautiful song before. Thank you for giving me the special gift." said her friend. And they learnt to sing it together. Later the girl became well-known in America.