Mum's Christmas Surprise

    Molly ran back home from school and dropped her schoolbag on the sofa. Then on the table she saw “Mum's Wish Book” – a mail order catalog（商品目录） from a gift shop. “Mum,” she said excitedly to herself, “this year you'll get the gloves you want!” Molly had walked a dog for a neighbor and saved her 1 all year to buy Mum the gloves.

    She opened “Mum's Wish Book” and hoped that she could find these 2 in it. Teas ran down her face when she saw the gloves in the catalog. Mum wouldn't buy them for herself, because the family had a 3 time on the farm. She once heard Mum say to Dad, “Maybe some day, I'll have the money to get them.”

    Molly ran out by the back door and went straight to the post office. There she carefully filled out the order form torn from the catalog.

    “I need to buy a stamp to 4 the form.” She said to Mr. Smith, the only worker in the post office.

    “Umm, a pair of gloves?” said Mr. Smith, as he passed a stamp to her.

    “Yes, It's a Christmas gift for Mum, but please don't tell her. It's our 5, OK?” Molly didn't realize how white Mr. Smith's beard was until that moment. In face, he reminded her of Santa Claus.

    As Molly walked back home, she decided to tell Dad her secret. “You've got to check the mailbox every day,” said Molly 6 to Dad. He nodded, with a big smile.

    Coming home from school every day, Molly peeked at （偷看） Dad when Mum wasn't 7, but every time he shook his head.

    On Christmas Eve, Dad came back from mailbox, still empty handed. Molly felt 8 when she went to bed, because she didn't have the gloves for Mum.

    Before Christmas dinner, as Mum took the apple pies out of the oven, Molly began 9 the table. Suddenly, they heard someone pulling up the driveway. From the window they saw Mr. Smith making his way to the door, with a box in his hand. Mr. Smith 10 Mum the box, “I believe this is yours.”

    Mum looked from Dad to Molly and opened the box. Her eyes lit up when she saw the gloves. “Oh, who bought these for me?” she asked.

    “Santa did,” said Molly smilingly.

    “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” Mr. Smith, with a loud laugh.

    It was Christmas that no one would ever forget.

    I was born with the ability to run very fast. As a result, I was the best runner in my school. I 1 get the first place in every race. But that was before a terrible traffic accident, which changed my life completely.

    After I woke up in a hospital, I found that I lost all feeling in my legs. I 2 sitting in my wheelchair. Sometimes when I thought about it, I got really sad inside. When I was 3 in my room, I even cry. However, thanks to my father, I am not going to cry about it any longer, and I'm not sick or helpless.

    Not long ago, Dad talked with me in person. And this conversation helped me to change. He told me to be brave. "You can be good at 4 else besides running. Try to find it out, Jane!" said my father, with a 5 expression on his face. 6 I started playing chess. Before I never thought of playing something like chess, but now I'm getting pretty good at it. I 7 Dad last night. Dad said I could enter their chess competitions.

    Before my accident I used to be good at a lot of things and I never really thought about it. But with chess I really have to think about it a lot and practice and try. 8, now I have to practice lots of things, and when I'm able to do a thing without 9, I have the feeling of winning though it isn't a/an 10.

Once upon a time, there was a young man called Ma Liang He was poor. But he was kind and hard-working and liked drawing. One night, he dreamed(梦见)that an old man gave him a magic paintbrush(神奇的画笔)and asked him to use it to help poor people. When he woke up, he found the magic paintbrush in his desk.

From that day on, he used the paintbrush whenever people needed help. When he saw that people had no water to use or drink, he drew a river and the river came to life. People could bring water from the river.

Then many people knew about the magic paintbrush. But a few days later, a rich and bad man heard that the magic paintbrush could turn everything to life. He took the magic paintbrush away from Ma Liang's house and put Ma Liang into prison(监牢). Then he drew a lot of pictures with the paintbrush, but they could not become real.

So he said to Ma Liang, "If you draw some pictures for me and make them real, I will make you free."

The young man agreed and drew a sea first. Then he drew a golden mountain which was far away from the sea. The bad man said, Draw a big ship quickly. I want to go there to get the gold."

After the young man drew a big ship, the bad man jumped into the ship with his family and friends quickly. When the ship moved to the middle of the sea, the young man drew a large wave(波浪)and they never came back.

Zou Aimin is a border defense soldier(边防战士). He {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(工作)on the top of Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province.

The 29-year-old young man {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (来到) to the outpost (前 哨)after Zou got his PhD(博士学位) from Jilin University. He is one of the few soldiers in the province with such a high level of {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(教育).

It often {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (下雪) heavily there in winter. The weather is too cold-the lowest temperature in recent years was-47 ℃."At the beginning, it was very difficult to fall {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (睡着) with the wind outside crying like a wolf,"Zou said.

The road {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (通往) to the outpost is often cut off in winter because of heavy snow. As a result, there is never enough water on the mountain top. So the soldiers can only take a bath once a month. Although it's hard, Zou and his team also spend time training {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (他们自己) to take on many other tasks-they learn to cook and cut hair for each other.

Most of the soldiers were born between 1990 and 1999, but they like to treat the {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (困难) as valuable experiences and stories that they could"show off"to their {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (朋友) at home.

"Sometimes we {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (喊叫) and sing songs happily. They are the cheerful moments when we can feel what‘defending (防守) our border' means,"said Zou.

My son Daniel began surfing at the age of 13. Daniel's love for the ride was tested one 1 afternoon. 

"Your son's been in an accident, " the lifeguard(救生员) reported to my 2 Mike over the phone hurriedly. "3 he came up to the top of the water, the point of the board was headed towards his eye. "

Mike rushed our son to the hospital. Daniel 4 26 stitches(缝线) from the corner of his eye to the bridge of his nose. 

I was 5 home from a meeting while Daniel's eye was being stitched. Mike drove 6 to the airport after they left the doctor's office. He greeted 7 at the gate while Daniel was waiting in the car. 

"Daniel?" I questioned. I remember thinking the waves(波浪) must have been terrible that day. 

I ran to the car. I sobbed(抽噎) in his arms, telling him how 8 I felt about not being there when the lifeguard called. 

"It's okay, Mum, " he said. "I'll be fine. The doctor said I can go back in the water 9 eight days. "

Was he 10 ? I wanted to tell him that he wasn't allowed to go near water again until he was 35, but 11 I controlled myself. 

He kept asking me to let him go back on the 12 for the next seven days. One day after I 13 " No" to him for the 100th time, he beat me at my own game. 

"Mum, you taught us never to 14 what we love. "

I gave in. Back then, Daniel was just a boy with deep 15 for surfing. Now he is among the top 25 surfers in the world. 

For some teenagers, being an adult is the coolest thing in the world. Adults don't do homework {#blank#}1{#/blank#} take exams. They do what they like and make money. How wonderful! But is it true?

Last month, Grade 7 students at Sunshine School had a taste of the adult world. The teachers asked them {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(finish) a piece of special homework called" Working with your parents for one day". 

Wu Jing's mother works as {#blank#}3{#/blank#} ticket collector in a park. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}6 am, the girl who is 14 years old set out for work with her mother. It was dark and cold. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the park opened, they did some cleaning and preparations. When the {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(visitor) came, they greeted with a smile. After standing for the whole day, Wu was really tired. 

"She is {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(busy) and more tired than I knew. I should help her more, " said Wu. 

Li Shiyi, 14, spent her day {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(help) in a car. Her father is a taxi driver. She had to pick up passengers and help with the luggage. Li {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (think) it would be easy to sit in a car and tour the city. But soon she found that her father didn't even have time for lunch. 

"Now I {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(real) know how hard it is to make money, " Li said. "We should care for our parents more and never waste money. "