C

      The British King George was quite naughty (淘气) when he was a child. He spent all his pocket money on toys. His grandma, the Victoria Queen, worried about that. One day, George went out to play and he wanted to buy a toy horse in a shop. But the toy horse was 25 pounds and George had no money at that time. So after he went back, he wrote a letter to his grandma,"Dear granny, I would like to buy a toy horse. Will you send 25 pounds to me?"

       However, his grandma wrote back to him, "You have got too many toys, and I will not give you the money to buy toys any more. Now you should learn to save up."

       A few days later, his grandma got the second letter from George,"Dear granny, thanks for your letter. I sold it to a collector (收藏家) and bought that toy horse with the money."

    Mr. Brown was going away for a week. Before he left, he said to his son, "if anyone asks for me, you can tell him that your father has been out for doing something, and will be back in a week, then be sure to ask him to sit down for a cup of tea."

    "OK, Dad," said his son. But he was afraid his son couldn't remember this, he wrote these words down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. His son put it into his small pocket, took it out and looked at it every now and then.

    Four days passed, but no one came to see his father. The boy thought that there was no man to come and that the piece of paper was of no more use for him, so he burnt it that evening.

    The next afternoon, someone knocked at the door. The boy opened it. A man was standing at the door and said, "Where is your father?" The boy put his hand into his pocket at once and looked for the piece of paper. He could not find it. He suddenly remembered he had burnt it, so he shouted, "No more."

    The man was very surprised. He asked, "No more? I met your father last week. When did it happen?"

    "Burnt yesterday evening."

    Do you go to school every day by bike or in your parents' car? The American English teacher Margaret tells her story about taking a school bus in America.

    When I'm a primary school student, I love taking the school bus. It is interesting to talk to my friends and play games on the bus. It is like children-only party every morning and afternoon. On the school bus there is only one adult（成年人）—the driver. Most of the time, we are well-behaved because we like the driver and don't want to make him unhappy. But one day, one of the boys makes a face at a policeman driving behind our bus. The policeman makes our bus driver stop. Then he scolds（训斥）the naughty boy loudly. We all behave well after that!

    It isn't comfortable for young people to wait for the school bus in winter（冬天） because it is very cold, especially when there are strong winds（风）. Some students in cities have bus shelters（遮挡）, but country children have to jump（跳）up and down to warm up. Hurry up, spring!

One man was walking on the street with his worker. They saw a1 horse. The man liked it very much. So, he went to the owner and told him that he wanted to buy it.

The owner agreed and sold the horse at a good 2 . When the man went back home, he asked his worker to take the saddle（马鞍）away. To their surprise, there was a 3 bag under the saddle. After the worker opened the bag, he found some diamonds（钻石）inside. The worker was very 4 and shouted, "Look, sir! The horse you bought has diamonds with it!" But the man said to the worker, "I bought a horse. I only5 the horse, not for the diamonds. I must 6 the diamonds." Then the man went back to the street. He saw the horse seller was still there. He gave the small bag to him. The horse seller was7 surprised and said, "Thank you so much, sir. I hid the bag under that horse's saddle and I forgot it. Please choose a diamond from the bag as my8 for you."

The man replied, "I don't need any 9 for returning this. In fact, when I decided to bring back the bag, I already 10 two diamonds! They're my honesty and integrity（诚实和正直）."

One dull afternoon，Hannah came in with a telegram. 

"It's one of the worst telegram things，Mom，"she said. 

Mrs. March read two lines of it and dropped back into her chair. Laurie rushed downstairs for water，and Jo read aloud，in a frightened voice…

Mrs. March，

Your husband is very ill. Come at once. 

S. HALE

Blank Hospital，Washington. 

How suddenly the whole world seemed to change！For several minutes there was nothing but sound of crying in the room. Poor Hannah was the first to recover（恢复） and she said，"Get your things ready right away，Mom. "Mrs. March again read the message over，saying "I shall go at once，but it may be too late. Oh，girls，girls，help me to bear it！"

"Where's Laurie？"she asked presently. 

"Here，ma'am. Oh，let me do something！"cried the boy，hurrying from the next room. 

"Send a telegram saying I will come at once. The next train goes early in the morning. I'll take that. "

"Leave a note at Aunt March's. Jo，give me that pen and paper. "Jo well knew that money must be borrowed for the long，sad journey，and she felt as if she could do a little for her father. 

The short afternoon passed quickly. All other things were done. However，Jo came back with a mixture of fun and fear，satisfaction and regret in it，saying "That's my contribution（贡献） toward making father comfortable and bring him home！"

"My dear，where did you get it？Twenty－five dollars！Jo，I hope you haven't done anything stupid？"

"No，it's mine honestly. I didn't beg，borrow，or steal it. I earned it，and I don't think you'll blame me，for I only sold what was my own. "

As she spoke，Jo took off her bonnet and they were shocked to find all her hair was cut short. 

When I was told that my family decided to move from the only home that I had ever known, I ran into the garden and sat alone, crying, as tears were from my heart. Suddenly I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. It was my grandfather. 

"It isn't easy, is it, Billy?" he said softly, sitting down on the steps beside me. 

"Grandpa, "I replied through my tears, "how can I ever say goodbye to you and all my friends?"

"Goodbye is such a sad word, " he said. "Although we seem to have so many ways of saying goodbye, they all have one thing in common: sadness. "

Then he gently took my hand in his and took me to his favourite place in the garden, where a huge red rose bush(玫瑰丛) grew alone. 

"What do you see here, Billy?" he asked. 

I looked at the flowers, "I see something soft and beautiful, Grandpa. "

Kneeling, he pulled me close. "It isn't just the roses that are beautiful, Billy. It's that special place in your heart that makes them so. "

I saw my grandfather's tears. I had never seen him cry before. 

"I planted these roses a long long time ago. I put them into the ground the day my first son was born. That boy's name was Billy, just like yours. I used to watch him pick roses for his mother. One day a terrible war came, and my son went away to fight for the country. Three months later a letter came. My son had died in a village in Italy. All I could think of was that the last thing I said to him in his life was goodbye. "

Grandpa slowly stood up. He said, "Don't ever say goodbye, Billy. Don't ever give in to the sadness and loneliness of that word. I want you to remember the happiness of those times when you first said hello to your friends. Take that special hello into your heart. When you and your friends must part, I want you to reach deep within yourself and bring back that first hello. "

A year and a half later, my grandfather became badly ill. When he returned from the hospital, the family members were summoned(召集). It was time for the family members to say their goodbyes. 

When it came to my turn, I realised how tired he looked. His eyes were closed, and his breathing(呼吸) was slow and hard. I took his hand as gently as he had once taken mine. 

"Hello, Grandpa, "I said. His eyes slowly opened. 

"Hello, my friend, " he said, with a smile.