Mike is a factory worker. He is often very tired after a day's work. His wife, Jenny, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from his factory.

    One day, Mike came home very late because he was very busy in the factory. He was very hungry when he got home.

    He was not happy when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He shouted at her, "I'm going out to eat in a restaurant." "Wait for five minutes," said his wife. "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike.

    "Of course not," she answered. "But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes." 

Ten-year-old Barack Obama was one of the only three black students at his school in Hawaii, US. He felt very different from most other students. White girls wanted to touch his hair. ①A white boy asked him whether his father ate people.“I lied (说谎) to them that my father was a Kenyan prince. But I kept asking myself who I am," said Obama. However, 37 years later, the boy made history—Obama became the first black president in the history of the US.

    Obama was born in 1961, to an African father and a white American woman in a small town in the US. He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii. ②This unusual background made him want to know who he was. He once drank much wine to help forget this question.

    With the help of his friends, Obama finally went to college. His hard work made him a star at Harvard. Later, he became the third black senator (参议员) in the history of the US. During his race to the highest post in the US. Obama talked about his background. He called for a United America, rather than a white America or a black America.

    Obama's success has made Martin Luther King's dream come true. That is: A man should not be judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.

    We walked all afternoon with Infadoos and Scragga. Their men walked about a hundred metres ahead of us.

    “When did your people, the Kukuana, come to this place?”

    “They came from the north many thousands of moons ago,” Infadoos explained. “When they reached the mountains, they could go no farther. They stayed here where the land is good and there is water.”

    “Do you live here in peace?” I asked.

    “There have been two wars. Once an army came down from the north, but we killed most of them. Soon after that, we fought among ourselves.” He said, “The king at that time had two sons—twins. When he died, both young men wanted to be king. One of the twins, Twala, killed the other and became king.”

    “Did the dead man have a wife and children?” I asked. I knew that if he did, the fighting could start again one day.

    “Yes. He had a wife, Imotu, and a son, Ignosi. They ran away.” He pointed to a village a short way ahead. “That is the village where Imotu and Ignosi first hid,” he said. “We shall stay there tonight.”

    As soon as we were within a mile or so of the village, an army of men came out. As we passed them, they shouted a welcome.

    Their women were in the village. They stopped whatever they were doing to watch us pass by, but they were not rude. As soon as we were comfortable in a hut, they came with milk, honey, and cooked food.

    A young man brought a fat young ox which he killed and cut into pieces. We took a few pieces for ourselves and gave him the rest. We don't want them to think we were selfish.（选自《所罗门王的宝藏》，有删节）

    I was feeling a little blue because my mother had lost her job.

    One day, while I was1on the street, I heard the piano music and singing rising above the noise of the people. I walked more slowly to2where it was coming from. Then I saw a young lady sitting at a piano.

    She was singing songs about love,3 yourself and keeping on trying. The way she was singing made me a little comfortable. I stood there 4, watching her playing on such a crowded New York square. I thought that she must be 5enough to perform in front of so many people. She noticed me. I walked over and told her how good her6sounded. "Thank you," she said.

    "I have been going through a hard time recently, 7 you've made me hopeful again." I said to her.

    "I'm glad that I could help," she replied. "Why are you so 8?"

    "Well, my mum has lost her job, and I'm not sure what to do…"

    "Did you noticed the9you were walking? Your head was down," she said. "Don't be upset, because 10 comes in different ways and if your head is down, you might not see it. You should11more…lift your head up."

    I looked12her, amazed at how she was encouraging(鼓励) me. "13are you playing the piano here?" I asked her with a smile. She14that she saw a lot of unhappy people in the world and she tried to cheer15 up by playing music.

    I smiled a little wilder, realizing that no difficulties could stop me from going on.

    Four beggars (乞丐) usually met at an old shack (小窝棚) at the end of the day. One day, they were very upset because none of them had got much in their begging bowls.

    "I only got this piece of meat today," the first said. "I hardly got anything," the second said. "I just picked up these few vegetables outside the fruit and vegetable store." The third complained that all he was given was a handful of herbs(香草) that he couldn't eat on his own. The fourth beggar didn't do much better. "I only got the handful of old, dried beans, but they aren't very nice!"

    As they sat around the fire, one of them had a great idea. "Let's put all our bits together and boil them. In this way, we can make a tasty dish and share it." They all agreed.

    However, the first beggar thought, "I don't want to share. I'll just pretend (假装) to throw my meat into the pot. They'll never know and I'll eat my meat later." So he pretended to put the meat into the pot. Now the same idea had also hit the other beggars and the shack was so dark that no one could see what the others were doing.

    Finally, one of them suggested that the dish should now be ready and, in turn, each of them helped himself to a bowl. They drank the hot water in absolute(绝对) silence, learning that selfishness doesn't taste all that good.