Justin was excited because his class would visit the fire station. His uncle Frank was one of the firemen and would show the class around during the visit.

    The next day, Justin’s class left for the fire station and waited for Uncle Frank to come and start their visit. They began by looking at the big fire trucks. “Being a fireman is a hard job,” said Uncle Frank. “You need to be in good health and get enough rest.” The kids got to try on some fire hats and climbed on the trucks. After looking at all the trucks, the class went inside, and Uncle Frank showed them where they stay when they are not fighting a fire. Uncle Frank told them that when there is a fire, the alarm rings. Just as he finished showing them the alarm, it rang! All the men ran to get ready to leave for the fire. “I am sorry,” said Uncle Frank to the class. “We need to leave now, but Mr. Martin will stay with you.” The firemen ran quickly to the fire trucks and left the station. Mr. Martin showed the class around inside the station.

    That night Justin told his parents about the great trip to the fire station. “We learned some ways to prevent fires and what to do if our house ever had a fire,” said Justin. “It sounds like you learned a lot of good information,” said Dad. “We sure did,” said Justin. “I think I’m going to be a fireman when I grow up.”

A few years ago, the company I work for sent my wife and me to live in New York for a year. I've always loved running, so I was really   (1)  when I found out the apartment they had rented for us was next to Central Park. This   (2)   that every morning I could go for a run before I went to work.

 Because a lot of people had told me to be   (3)   of thieves(窃贼) in the park, so usually I didn’t take anything with me. What could they   (4)   from me if I didn’t have anything? But one morning, my wife gave me a $10 bill and asked me to buy some   (5)  on the way.  So I took a $10 note out of my wallet.

While I was running through the park, another jogger   (6)  into me. He said sorry to me and  continued running. I thought it was a bit   (7)   so I checked my pocket and found that the money was missing, I started to run after him right away. I   (8)   caught him by his arm. I started shouting and told him to give me the $10. I am not usually a hot-headed person,    (9)   I got really angry this time. This seemed to frighten him, and he  quickly put his hand in his pocket and gave me the money. Then he ran away as fast as he could.      

 I bought the bread and went home. As soon as I got home, I began to tell my wife my story. “You won’t believe what happened to me,” I   (10)  . She stopped me, “I know, you  left the money for the bread on the kitchen table.”

When I was seven years old, my family made me an ant farm (蚂蚁窝). First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box. Then we waited for the ants to arrive.

    After the ants were in the glass farm, they started to make tunnels (地道).I was amazed that each one knew well what to do. Each had its own job.

    On the fifth day something terrible happened. I put my face so close to the glass farm that I knocked it over. All the tunnels fell down. Although (虽然) the ants kept alive after their earthquake, one by one they began to die. I was frightened as I watched them give up building their tunnels to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm.

    My mother said that the ants were dying of sadness. They simply could not stand (忍受) that their tunnels were gone.

    Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, but it taught me much more.

    Over the years, I came to realize the importance of teamwork. Working together, the ants were able to make an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired (钦佩) for their hard work.

    But there was an even larger 1esson that I did not realize until recently：Adversity (逆境) is a natural part of life and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, we cannot give up when we are sad. We have to realize that if a tunnel is gone, we must build another.

Giving up is not a good choice.

Today is the first day of the week. In the afternoon, Mr. Read is driving his car to his sister’s school. Now he is very near the school. But he doesn’t know the way to it. At this time, he sees a young woman. Mr. Read comes out of his car and goes to her. “Excuse me! Where’s the school, please?” he asks. The young woman says, “It’s very near here. I want to go with you.”

Now the young woman is sitting in the car. Soon they come to a small house and she says, “Stop, please!” Mr. Read stops the car and says, “But this is not a school.” “No,” says the young woman, “this is my house. I want to get home early before supper time. Thanks for driving me home. The school is behind the factory. So go back to the factory and then turn right, and you can find the school.”

Five years ago, I met her in a shopping center. I was walking through the shop when I saw her. Then she came back to my house with me. After that, we became friends.Once she had to go into hospital to have an operation(手术) on her leg. I was worried about her and looked after her every day. I made breakfast for her. I was not good at cooking, but she never complained. I also helped her take showers. I have no idea why we can be good friends, because she is quite different from me. I like writing, reading and playing computer games. But she loves outdoor activities. She likes playing balls best. She also loves sleeping.She will run all around the house to lick(舔) my face if someone shouts “Kiss for Dad.” That is the only name she knows me by—Dad, though I call her by many names—Pickle, Missile and Little. But her real name is Pixar. This week she turns seven years old.

Once upon a time，a hippo（河马）lived in a river next to a big tree．

One day，a bird came and nested（筑巢）in the tree．The songs of the bird filled the hippo with so much envy（羡慕）that he couldn’t think of anything else．Every day he would think why he wasn’t born to be a bird even though the bird told him many times he was so lucky to be so big and such a good swimmer．

Finally，the hippo made up his mind that he would come out of the river，climb the tree and start singing．However，when he tried to climb the tree，it was very clear that the hippo didn’t have wings，nor claws to climb with．

Realizing that he would never climb up the tree，he angrily hit the tree until it came crashing to the ground．Then he stepped onto the leaves of the fallen tree，and began singing．

Unfortunately，hippos can’t sing，either．All that came from his mouth were terrible noises，and when the other animals heard this，they all came around to make fun of the hippo．

He was so ashamed by this．He also felt bad about having knocked the tree over．He used all his strength to raise the tree back up again，and look after it until it completely recovered．（康复）．

Nobody can be happy all the time. You may become unhappy sometimes,  (1)  ,when you fail an exam. Or you may become sad when you lose one of your friends or relatives. It’s   (2)   to have these feelings. If you don’t know how to solve these problems, you may  (3)    something from Jeff.

   Jeff almost went mad when his   (4)  was killed in a car accident. He   (5)   play soccer or go to the movies with his friends. Instead, he just sat in his bedroom and didn’t talk to  (6)   ,even his parents. Jeff felt that the world was unfair .He was quite angry with the driver   (7)   his car hit his brother, even though it was an   (8)  . After a few months, Jeff began to understand it was useless to be angry. Now he still   (9)   his brother, but he doesn’t hate the driver any longer. He is beginning to talk to his parents and this makes them happy again. He doesn’t   (10)  in his room by himself any longer. Instead , he goes to the movies or plays sports with his friends and he is feeling better now.

   What will the schoolbag be like in the future ? Do you go on carrying your bag to school now? I think nobody wants one shoulder to be lower than the other. In India, most of us would look on the reduction of textbooks as a way out. But in a country like America,there are always more options(选择). A company calledGo Reader has created a “schoolbag” which is the size of a laptop computer, weighing about 2.5kg. The “schoolbag” has a color screen and can “hold” all the textbooks that a student may need,says a report in “The Asian Age” newspaper.

The company plans to work closely with publishers of textbooks so that these books can be supplied on the Internet.What all the students will have to do is to download their textbooks. Marking notes and highlighting important parts of a lesson can be done just as generations of students have done on their textbooks.

  A young man entered the last interview of a company. The director found that the young man’s academic grades were very good.

   “Did you get any scholarships(奖学金) in school?” the director asked. “None,” the young man answered.

   “Was it your father who paid for your school fees?” the director asked.

   “My father passed away when I was one year old, so it was my mother who paid for my school fees,” the young man answered.

   “Where did your mother work?” the director asked.

   “My mother cleaned clothes,” the young man said. The director looked at the young man’s hands. He had a pair of smooth and perfect hands.

   “Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?” the director asked.

   “Never,” the young man answered.

   “I have a request,” the director said. “When you go back today, go and clean your mother’ s hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.”

   The young man felt that his chance of getting the job was high. When he went back, he happily asked his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange; happy but with mixed feelings. She showed her hands to the kid. The young man cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tears fell as he did that. It was the first time he had noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled.

   He realized it was this pair of hands that helped him pay the fees.

   The next morning, the young man went to the director’s office. “I cleaned my mother’s hands, and I know that without my mother, I would not be the person I am today,” he said.

   “This is what I am looking for in my manager,” the director said. “I want a person who can appreciate the help of others to get things done. You are hired.”