One day a lion met a spider, who was just busy making a web. The lion 1 for a while and said，"How clever you are! How did you learn to do that?" The spider answered proudly," I learned it from my mother."

    The lion watched a longer while. Then he asked the spider, "But why don't you catch your food in the way that I do?"

    "I am just a small animal," the spider 2 ."I cannot run fast or fly. 3 with my web I can catch flying insects(昆虫)，and I don't even have to run after them."

    The lion then asked," Could you make a 4 for me? Then I would not have to run after animals either."

    "Sorry,"the spider said."My web can only catch flying insects. But you cannot love 5.

them."

    The lion was 6 with the spider. She did not have to work 7 for food. And she would not help him get his food. So he hit the web and broke it. But the spider jumped 8 the lion's back and bit him.

    "Now you will remember me," said the spider as she jumped into the grass. "Think carefully 9 you do something bad to other animals. Some of us may be small, but we are very smart."

    The lion tried to scratch(挠)his back, but he could not reach 10 the spider bit.. It itched (发痒)for several days. He remembered the smart spider for a long time.

    For Pineda, it was a long way to succeed.

    His story began in El Salvador; where he was born with something wrong with his mouth. He had great 1 in speaking. At age 2, his family's house burned down. Pineda was hurt  2, and his legs needed to be cut. His mother died when he was 8, and he3years on the streets before he was taken in by an orphanage(孤儿院).

    Finally, at the orphanage, Pineda began to receive support and encouragement. He taught himself to play the guitar. He began his4with other musicians. Then the group went to Chicago, where Pineda, then 18, 5the attention of many people, who wondered what they could do to help him.

    A hospital offered him free medical care. A rich man agreed to6for Pineda's tickets to and from El Salvador.

    When he was in the hospital, Pineda began7music, and wondered if he might be able to record his own album(音乐专辑).Soon with the help of a musician, "The Sound of Gratitude(感激)" was born. On October 15^th, Pineda went to a Chicago club to8his new songs to strangers, and to the friends who had helped him come so far,

    It was 9that Pineda had come into such a good luck, after having so many years of hardship(艰难). "We have a 10 in El Salvador, 'Suffer(受难）first, then enjoy.' I guess that's what's happening. " he said.

    It was my 14th birthday and I would have the biggest party ever. The number of the 1 had quickly grown from seven to seventeen. Nearly every girl in my class was 2.When each guest excitedly 3 the invitation, I was especially happy.

    The 4was full of shouts and laughter. We had just finished a game of Twister when the door bell rang. I was so 5 and I could feel my face turning red, because when I6the door, there at the front door stood Sarah Westly the quiet girl who sat next to me in music class﹣and she was holding a 7.I thought about the guest list. How did I 8to invite Sarah？

    I remembered that I only added a name to the 9 when someone showed an interest in me. But Sarah had 10 done that. I accepted the box, a gift from Sarah, and asked her to join the party. "I can't 11," she said." My dad's waiting in the car. "At that moment I felt bad about forgetting to invite Sarah and really wanted her to rest for some time in my room." Thanks, but I have to go, "she said, turning 12 towards the door. "See you Monday."

    I didn't open the box until the party was 13. Inside the small box was a ceramic(陶瓷) tabby cat. It was the best gift I had received 14 I didn't like cats. I later 15 that the gift looked exactly like Sarah's cat, Seymour. I didn't know it then, but now I realize that Sarah was my true friend.

Painting from Memory

    I was born in Damyang, a beautiful place known for its bamboo forests in Korea. I spent much time in the forests painting pictures of the1. Painting is one of my talents. I lived there until last year when my family moved to New York. My mother, a scientist, was asked to come work here.

    There are no bamboo forests, I said, there is nothing to 2 in NewYork. Don't worry, you will find many things to see and paint there, my mother said. I still felt 3 . But I will miss home, I said. Then you can paint pictures of your favorite places. They will make you feel at home even in New York, she said. So when we moved, I brought my forest paintings with me.

    New York was not easy at first. I missed home a lot. Yet when I looked at my paintings of bamboo, I felt much better. I soon 4 friends at school too. They also like painting, and we now paint in a group after school.

    Last month, we had a new neighbor, Varvara, an old lady who moved from Russia, to be closer to her daughter. She was sad to leave her home. My mother and I often visited her. She told us her unbearable homesick and everything about her hometown Vyborg. I could 5 her home in my head.

    Varvara missed her home so much that she became ill. I worried about her and I wanted to do something for her. I had ever been in her 6 before. At least, I had my forest paintings of home. However, she didn't even have that. Unless …

    A few days later, I met Varvara on the stairs. She looked better but still sad. I gave her my gift: a painting of Vyborg. I had painted it from her 7 .

    She began to cry as she saw the painting. At first, I was worried that she didn't like it. Later, she told me that those were tears of joy. I knew just how she 8 wherever you go, hometown is always with you.

    A lady wanted a birthday gift from her husband. For many months she had liked a beautiful ring, and knowing her husband could1it, she told him that was all she wanted. On the morning of the birthday, her husband told her how2he was to have such a good wife, and how much he loved her. He gave her a beautiful gift package. She opened it and 3 a Bible(《圣经》).Angrily, she raised her voice and said to her husband, "With all your money, you give me a Bible？”She was so 4 that she left him.

    Many years passed and the lady was very5in business. She owned two large companies. She 6her husband was very old, and thought perhaps she could go to 7him. But before she could, she received a letter telling her that he had died, and gave all of his possessions(财产)to her. She needed to come back and take care of things.

    When she arrived at his house, sadness filled her heart. She saw the 8 new Bible, just as she had left it years before. With tears in her eyes, she opened it and began to turn the pages. A ring9from the Biole to the floor and a card could be seen. She picked it up and found it was the ring she wanted in those days. And on the card was the date of her birth, and the words" LOVE YOU ALWAYS".

    10your gift is not packed in the way you want it, it's because it is better packaged in the way it is！Always appreciate little things; they usually lead you to bigger things! The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched for they must be felt with the heart.