A little boy invited his mother to his school's first teacher-parent meeting. He never thought that she would  1 . But she did. He felt worried.  2  she was a beautiful woman, there was a scar(伤疤) that covered nearly the whole right side of her face.

 At the meeting, the boy was 3 to see other people having a good talk with his mother. But he felt sorry for his mother's face and sat in a chair  4  his mother. Just then he heard a talk    5    his mother and his teacher.

“How did you get the scar on your   6    ?" the teacher asked. She replied, “When my son was a baby, his room caught on fire one day. 7 was too afraid to go in, so I went in and ran towards his bed. Just then I saw a beam(横梁) coming down and I placed myself over him trying to  8   him. I was knocked but luckily, a fireman saved both of us.” She touched the scar.

“This scar will be here forever, but I have never regretted     9 I did for my son. You see, he is strong and healthy now.”

Hearing that, the little boy came out running to his     10  with tears in his eyes. He hugged(拥抱) her and held her hand tightly(紧紧地) for the rest of the day.

    It's Christmas at Clara's home. Many guests arrive to celebrate with the family. Clara's godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, makes toys. He gives Clara a very special gift of a 1 . Her brother, Fritz, is 2 . He takes the nutcracker away and it gets broken! After all the guests leave and the children go to bed, Clara 3 up at night and goes downstairs to get her nutcracker under the tree. She 4 asleep there. She dreams that all her toys come to life and are fighting against the bad Mouse King. The Nutcracker flies to 5 young Clara, but is struck down. Clara saves her Nutcracker by 6 her shoe at the Mouse King.

    With the Mouse King out of the way, Clara runs to the Nutcracker. When she kisses him, he turns into a prince! Then she and her prince enjoy a 7 trip along which they see dancing snowflakes and are welcomed by sweets.

    On Christmas morning, Clara wakes under the 8 holding her nutcracker. This story of Nutcracker is very popular,9 with kids. It was made into a ballet. Russian 10Tchaikovsky composed his beautiful music and that is one of the reasons why people love to watch it. See it at the theatre and yo'll find the story is also told by beautiful dances, rather than just words.

    Li Ming is a middle school student. He lives1a small village far from the school.

    Li Ming has to2up early in the morning, After a quick3, be runs to get to school on time, His father wants to4a bike for him. Li Ming knows that his mother is always5and needs much money to buy medicine.6he doesn't agree with his father to buy a bike. He keeps running to 7 every day. Now he is very strong. He is never late for school and his teachers often praise(表扬)8.

    Last week there was a sports meeting in his school. Li Ming ran9than any other boy and won the boys' 1,500 meters.10whole school cheered for him. He was very happy.

    It was a Sunday afternoon. It was 1 and Mike decided 2 swimming in the river. His 3, Jim, wanted to go with him.

    "Take him with you, Mike," said their father. "He will do 4 you say, I think."

    They 5 the river quickly. 6 people were swimming in it. Mike told Jim to play on the bank, and then he jumped 7 the river. About an hour later, Mike swam to the bank with a fish in his 8. Jim was very happy. He found a bottle(瓶) and put the fish in it.

    Jim did nothing but watch the fish that evening. Suddenly(突然) Mike heard Jim crying(哭) in the room. He ran to him and asked, "What's the matter(怎么了), Jim?"

    "The fish has died," Jim said. "I thought it was 9. So I took it out of the bottle and put it on the chair. I 10 wanted it to have a rest."

When my daughter was in primary school, she brought home four small twigs(细枝) from school to plant. None of them looked very strong and lively. But with hope for the future, I planted them somewhere in our backyard which could give them enough sunlight. Over the years, because of the poor soil(土壤), three of them died. Only one lived at last.

It grew crooked(不直的) and very slowly. In fact, it looked more like a fat bush than a tree. Later, I noticed that it was starting to die. The branches(树枝) were becoming bare. Only the top third of the tree was still green. I did my best to save it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer, but it didn't work.

Later one morning, I went out and looked at it again. I was thinking if it would be better to just cut it down. It would make the yard look cleaner. As I walked over to take a closer look at it, however, I noticed something moving within the leaves. It was a bird patiently building a nest in the topmost branches. I smiled when I looked at it. I thought maybe this old tree was still useful. It might not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a home.

This tree let me know that all of our lives have a purpose. It doesn't matter if we are young and strong or old and sickly. Until our last breath, we have things to do, love to give, and joy to share. We can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.

A little stream ran down from a high mountain far, far away through many villages and forests, until she reached a desert (沙漠). The stream then thought, "I've been through thousands of millions of difficulties. I should have no problems crossing this desert!" But as she started her journey, she found herself slowly disappearing into the sand. After many tries, she still failed and was very unhappy. "Maybe I can't reach the ocean in the end." she said sadly to herself.

At this time, a deep voice came, "If a breeze (微风) can cross the desert, so can a stream." It was the voice of the desert. But the little stream replied, "That's because a breeze can fly, but I cannot." "That's because you can't give up what you are. If you like to do it, let yourself evaporate (蒸发) into the breeze. It can take you across, and you can reach the ocean." said the desert.

"Give up what I am now and disappear into the breeze? No! No!" The little stream could not accept this idea. After all, she had never experienced anything like it before.

"The breeze can carry the vapor (蒸气) across the desert and let it leave as rain. The rain will form a stream again to continue its course." explained the desert very patiently.

"And whether you're a stream or vapor, your nature never changes." continued the desert. Hearing this, the little stream rushed into the open arms of the breeze, which carried her to the next stage of her life.

The course of our lives is like the experience of the little stream. If you want to overcome the difficulties in your life to get success, you should also change the way you used to be.