Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her sit by her window each afternoon, sewing(针线活) or reading.
     After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window. I would say to myself, "I wonder why that woman doesn't wash her window. It really looks terrible.”
     One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window inside. Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was seen clearly. Her window was clean! Then it dawned on me. I had been criticizing(批评) her dirty window, but all the time I was watching hers through(通过) my own dirty window.
     That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own mistakes?
     Since then, whenever I wanted to judge (评判) someone, I asked myself first, "Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?”
Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world about me more clearly.

    My six-year-old granddaughter, Cindy, and I stopped at a food shop for some bread. Cindy had1 it for several days. As we were going out of the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.

    The boy had no hair on the side of his head but a set of blue spiked(成锥形的) hair on top of it. His nose was 2 , and a ring ran through the hole. A chain went across his face and it was connected to his earring. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other.

    Cindy, who was walking ahead of me, 3stopped when he saw the boy. I thought he had  4 my granddaughter. I was wrong. My granddaughter backed up against the door and opened it as wide as it would go. Now I came face to face with the young man. I stepped aside and let him5. He replied very6, "Thank you very much."

    On our way to the car, I 7 Cindy for holding open the door for the boy. To my surprise, she didn't seem to be troubled by the young boy's 8 . But I wanted to make sure. I wanted to be ready to talk about freedom of expressing themselves and allowing people's  9   .

    As it turned out, the person  10needed the talk was me. The only thing Cindy noticed about the boy was the fact that his arms were   11 . "He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other. He would have a 12  time to open the door, " said Cindy.

    I just paid attention to the partially shaved (部分剃光的)head, the set of spiked hair, the piercing and the chain. She saw a person carrying   13 under each arm and heading toward a(n) 14 door.

    What my granddaughter said reminded me that I should change my ways of judging people and 15 my granddaughter to be open-minded and warm-hearted.

    Many expressions(表达方式) we use in American English come from movies and books. Today we will learn some expressions from Lewis Carol's famous book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This book is better known as Alice in Wonderland.

    The story is about a young girl falling for a long time down a rabbit hole. When she finally lands, she finds herself in a strange world. In this strange world are some of the most popular characters in children's books. Many of the expressions from the book have found their way into American English.

    The first character Alice meets is the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit is not a usual rabbit. Alice chases (追赶) after him, and that is where her adventures begin.

    In English, "chasing a white rabbit" means to chase an impossible dream. "Following the white rabbit" means you are in the middle of an unusual situation. This situation often challenges your thinking and changes your life. Like "chasing a white rabbit", "falling down the rabbit hole" means we get interested in something else and lose ideas about time.

    Later in the story, Alice is the guest at a tea party— a crazy tea party! There she meets the March Hare. The hare seems to be truly crazy. To be "mad as a March hare" means that someone is completely mad or crazy.

Using expressions from popular books can add special flavor(味道). And when used properly, they also show you have a deeper understanding of the English language.

    Bill Fuller, the postman, whistled(吹口哨) cheerfully as he pushed his bike up the hill towards Mrs Dunley's house. His work for the day was almost finished. His bag, usually quite heavy when he set out on his road, was empty now except for the letter that he had to deliver(递送) to Mrs Dunley. She lived over a mile from that village so that, when Bill had a letter for her, he always finished his day's work much later. He did not mind this, however, because she never failed to ask him in for a cup of tea.

    When Bill entered the gate of Mrs Dunley's house, he was surprised not to find her working in the garden. She usually spent most afternoons there when the weather was fine. Bill went straight round to the back of the house, thinking that she might be in the kitchen. The door was locked and the curtains were drawn. He returned to the front of the house and knocked hard on the door. There was no answer. Bill thought that this was very strange because he knew that Mrs Dunley hardly left the house.

    Just then, he noticed that her bottle of milk, which was delivered early in the morning, was still on the doorstep. This worried him. If Mrs Dunley had not taken in her milk, perhaps she was ill. Bill walked round the house until he found an open window. He squeezed(挤) through it. Then he went into the hall. There he almost fell over Mrs Dunley, who was lying at the foot of the stairs unconscious(昏迷不醒的). Realizing that there was little he could do for her, Bill rushed out of the house, stopped a passing car and told the driver to telephone for an ambulance(救护车) as soon as he got to the village.