I can't help thinking about the face of that little beggar girl all the time．I can see the glad light filling her eyes when I laid the dime(一角硬币)in her little dirty hand．

    How much I had thought of that dime，too! Grandpa gave it to me a whole month ago，and I had kept it ever since in my red box upstairs；but those sugar apples looked so beautiful，and were so cheap—only a dime apiece(每个)一that I made up my mind to have one．

    I can see her—the beggar girl，I mean—as she stood there in front of the store，in her old dress，looking at the chocolates laid all in a row．I wonder what made me say, “Little girl，what do you want?''

    How she stared at me，just as if nobody had spoken kindly to her before．I guess she thought l was sorry for her, for she said．“l was thinking how good one of those gingerbread rolls would taste，I haven't had anything to eat today．''

    Now，I thought to myself, “Mary Williams，you have had a good breakfast and a good dinner this day，and this poor girl has not had a mouthful．You can give her your dime；she needs it a great deal more than you do．''

    I could not resist(抗拒)that little girl's hungry look—so I dropped the dime right into her hand，without waiting for her to speak，walked straight away．

    There were two men who lived next to each other. One of them was a retired teacher and the other was a businessman. Both of them had planted many different plants in their gardens. The retired teacher seldom watered his plants and didn't pay a lot of attention to them. But his neighbor was very careful with his plants and watered them often.

    The retired teacher's plants were small, but still looked okay, while the businessman's plants were much bigger and greener. One night, there came a storm with a heavy rain and strong wind. The next morning, both of the neighbors came out to check in their gardens. The businessman saw that his plants had come out from the earth, and were totally out of life. But the retired teacher's plants nicely stood where they were.

    The businessman was surprised. He went to consult (咨询) the retired teacher. "We both grew the same plants and I cared for my plants better than you did. How could your plants still be okay?"

    The retired teacher smiled and said, "Because you gave your plants too much attention. You made it too easy for them to grow. I gave my plants just a little bit of water, so they had to grow deeper to absorb(吸收) more water. That is why my plants survived."

My favorite animals are monkeys (猴子). I like them{#blank#}1{#/blank#} they are smart. Here are some new {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (photo) of monkeys in my phone. They make me happy when I see them. 

There is a monkey festival in my hometown. "Where are you {#blank#}3{#/blank#}?" you may ask. I'm from Lopburi. The festival is important to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (we). It is usually on {#blank#}5{#/blank#} last Sunday of November. You can see all {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (kind) of foods on the big tables. The food tastes {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (good). It's all for monkeys. The monkeys sometimes fight for food. That {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(sound) funny, right? The monkey festival attracts (吸引) many people every year. People can watch some {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(interest)shows, too. The performers (表演者) wear beautiful clothes. I always have much {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (fun) at the festival. 

When I was in the middle school, I seldom raised my hands to answer questions in class. And I found lots of my classmates were just like me. When the teacher asked a question, I always lowered my head because I was afraid that the teacher saw me.

One day, in a foreign language class, Mr. Black gave us a lesson. He wanted us to be active in class, so he asked us some questions, but no one answered. "At the beginning of the class, let me tell you a story. " He said.

"When I came to the United States to study, the university often invited famous people to make speeches. Before the beginning of every speech, I found an interesting thing. The students around me always took a cardboard folded （折叠） in half, wrote their names in bold （粗体） with the most eye-catching color, and then placed the cardboard on the seat. So when the speaker needed the answers from the students, he could see and call a listener' s name directly. "

"I couldn't understand that. My classmates told me the speakers were all top people who meant chances. When your answer was to their surprise, it meant they might give you more chances. In fact, I really saw a few students got great chances because of that. "

After listening to the story, I understood that the chance will not find you itself. You must show yourself all the time so that you can find a chance and then catch it.

One day, my father and I were in line to buy tickets for the circus（马戏表演）. And a family was standing in front of us.

The family had eight children. Their clothes were not expensive but clean. The children talked about the clowns(小丑), elephants, monkeys and other things excitedly. It was their first time to go to the circus.

The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly answered, "I want eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus. "

The ticket lady said the price. The man's wife lowered her head and there was no smile on the man's face. He quietly asked, "How much did you say?"

The ticket lady said the price again. The man didn't have enough money. How could he tell his eight kids the bad news? My dad put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and dropped(掉下) it on the ground. (In fact, we were not rich!) Then my dad said, "Excuse me, sir, this dropped out of your pocket. "

The man knew what was going on. He looked into my dad's eyes, held my dad's hand in his, and took the $20 bill. "Thank you, sir, thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family. "

My father and I went back home. We didn't go to see the circus that night, but we didn't care.

Lisa had always been overweight. She wanted to 1 weight (体重), not just because she wanted to look 2 and healthier, but also because it would make life easier. For example, it was 3 for Lisa to find ready-made clothes that would fit. She had to ask a tailor (裁缝) to make clothes that were 4 enough.

In school she needed a special chair which was bigger and stronger than 5 chairs. If she went for a walk, she got tired very 6 . She also 7 the way people treated her sometimes. "People look at me and even make fun of me. That's unfair! It's true that I'm overweight, but I don't think people 8 treat me differently because I'm big. I can't enjoy having dinner with my friends because I'm afraid of getting 9 ." Her friends and family never made fun of her. Instead they tried to 10 her. They want her to be happy and healthy. Sometimes 11 Lisa was feeling sad, she didn't want to speak to anyone.

But now things are quite different. Last month her classmates were preparing for the School Art Week. Someone advised Lisa to 12 the main role of the proud Queen who was tall and fat. Lisa agreed and practiced a lot. Soon after the play, Lisa became the star, she did 13 well that all the teachers and students remembered the proud Queen. 14 stood around her and said "congratulations" to her. She even 15 the School Best Actress for her wonderful performance.

Now Lisa doesn't worry about being fat any more, she believes in the English saying "Every dog has its day."