An eight-year-oldgirl heard her parents talking about her little brother. All she knew was thathe was very sick and they had no money. Only a very expensive operation (手术)could  1 him now and there was no one to lend themthe money.

    When she heard her daddy say to her tearful mother, “Only a miracle (奇迹)can save him now,” the little girl went to her 2 and pulled all her money from itshiding place and counted it 3.

    She hurried to a drugstore（药店）withthe money 4 her hand. 

  “And what doyou want? asked the salesman. “It's for my little brother,” the girlanswered. “He's really, really 5 and I want to buy a miracle.”

  “Pardon?” said the salesman.

  “My brother Andrewhas  6  badgrowing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So howmuch does a miracle 7?”

  “8we don't sell a miracle here, child. I'm sorry,” the salesman said with a smile.

  “Listen, 9 it isn't enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me 10 it costs.”

    A well-dressedman heard it and asked, “What kind of miracles does your brother need?”

  “I don't know,” she answered with her eyes full of  11. “He's really sick and mum says he needs an operation. But my daddy can't pay for it, so I have brought all my money.”

  “Howmuch do you have?” asked the man. “$ 1.11, butI can try and get some 12 money,” she answered.

  “Well, what a luck” smiled the man.“$ 1.11, the price of a miracle for little brothers.” He took up the girl's hand and said, “Take me to where you live. I want to see your  13 and meet your parents. Let's see if I havethe kind of miracle you need.”

    That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, afamous 14. The operation was 15 and it wasn't long before Andrew was homeagain.

    Although people everywhere seem to enjoy drinking coffee, they don't all have the same coffee culture. In Europe for example, coffee shops are common places for people to meet friends and to talk while they drink coffee. On the other hand, places like this were not as common in North America in the past. Instead, people in North America liked to drink coffee in their homes with friends. The coffee culture in the USA changed when Starbucks coffee shops spread across the country.

    The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the USA. It was a small coffee shop that cooked its own coffee beans. The coffee shop's business did well, and by 1981 there were three Starbucks stores in Seattle.

    Things really began to change for the company in 1981.That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment（设备）. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, which caused his great interest. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did. In 1982, the original Starbucks owners hired （雇佣）Schultz as the company's head of marketing(市场营销).

    In 1983, Schultz traveled to Italy. The special environment of the espresso（浓 咖啡） bars there caught his eyes. Back in the USA, Schultz created an environment for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable and casual, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Starbucks began opening more stores across the USA. Then the company opened coffee shops in other countries as well. Today, there are more than 16,000 Starbucks coffee shops all over the world.

    However, that does not mean Starbucks has not had problems. In fact, many Starbucks stores have closed over the past few years. On the one hand, this is because there were too many coffee shops competing for business in one small area. On the other hand, stores in some countries closed because the coffee culture there did not match with the “feel the same everywhere” environment offered by Starbucks.

    It's Sunday morning. Peter and his friends had a great plan for the weekend, but the weather is bad.

Sarah: We have to change (改变) our plan for the weekend. What about going to the museum?

Sheila: I' m sorry. I don't want to go to the museum.

John: Well, how about going to the cinema?

Peter: That's a good idea. What's on at the Palladium?

Sarah: Smurfs The Lost village. It's a very interesting new cartoon movie.

Peter: How boring! I always feel bored with such cartoon movies. I think they are for little kids.

John: Well, an exciting movie is also on at the Palladium, The Fate of the Furious. I always love action movies.

Sarah: I heard it was fantastic. Let's go to see it.

Peter: OK. Action movies are my favorite.

Sheila: Great. Let's buy the tickets online now.

    It seems like it was only yesterday - getting out of school on a hot summer day. My friends and I would race each other to the street comer. We always wanted to be the first in line to see "Uncle Lee".

    "Uncle Lee" arrived every day after school on his motorcycle. He happily sold us cold ice creams from the freezer on the side of his motorcycle. It wasn't much, but it made me and my friends so happy.

    Recently, filled with these memories, I decided to take a trip back to my old school. I wanted to see if I could still buy an ice cream from old "Uncle Lee" Sadly, when I got there, I could not find him anywhere.

    So I stopped by my old headmasters office. We had a nice chat and I told him all about my successful business. Then I asked him about "Uncle Lee". "Oh, that's right," he said to me, "you boys were always so fond of Uncle Lee'. I'm sorry to tell you, but he had to retire (退休)."

    "Why is that?" I asked.

    I'm not really sure," my headmaster went on, "I think the government wouldn't renew his license."

    Without doubt, I was feeling quite sad when I left my old school. I decided to walk down those old streets for a while and reviewed the memories of my youth (青春).Then, just as I was thinking about going home, I saw him. It was "Uncle Lee"! He was, of course, much older, but I would never forget that face.

    So I ran over to see him. He still remembered my name I couldn't believe it! We talked for a while, but it was getting late, so I had to go.

    Later that night, I began to wonder more about why the government would make that old man stop doing the job that he loved. Then I thought about my own children. "They'll never have the chance to know an 'Uncle Lee'", I thought.

    It is true that Hong Kong is changing every day. I only hope that we will not lose the things which make us truly special.