As the saying goes, "Friends are treasure in our lives." I remember when I was growing up, my mom always ____(1)____, "Half the fun of doing anything is sharing it with others." It's true. Friends make  ____(2)____ enjoy the taste of our success and joys and comfort us in our challenging moments. They provide a mirror for us to learn more about ourselves. I've always looked at friends as family ____(3)____. They enrich our lives. As a famous writer said, "A friend is a present which you give to ____(4)____."

    To be a good friend, it's important to be a good listener. Hear what your friend says first rather than make  ____(5)____ quickly.

    Patience(耐心)is an important part of being a good friend,  ____(6)____. You know the old golden rule, "Care  ____(7)____others the way you would like them to do you." The support of a friend during a difficult time can make a difference between success  ____(8)____ failure. Encouragement and confidence are the ____(9)____gifts that can change a person's life.

    We should choose our friends carefully, because they can have a great influence on our lives. As  ____(10)____ told me, "The attitudes(态度)of your friends are like the buttons(按钮)on a lift. They will either take you up or down."

  Happiness is very important to everyone. We want to have good feelings every day. But how can we   (1)   happy?

     Feeling happy means forgetting. There are some unhappy things around us. They make us nervous,worried,   (2)   or jealous. What should we do then? Forget them and you will be happy.

      Feeling happy means   (3)   . Give a helping hand to   (4)   in trouble. Give your   (5)   to an old person on a crowded bus. The more you give others, the   (6)   you will feel.   (7)   just learn to give.

       Feeling happy   (8)   means working hard. Try your best to make your plan come true,   (9)   you’ll have a feeling of pride and happiness.

       To be happy can make us    (10)   healthy, let’s  keep happy from now on.

Life comes in a package. This package includes happiness and sadness, failure and success, hope and despair. Life is a learning process. Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a better person. With each passing day we learn to deal with kinds of situations．

Love plays an important role in our life. Love makes you feel wanted. Without love a person could become cruel. In the early stage of our life, our parents are the ones who show us with unconditional love and care, they teach us about what is right and wrong, good and bad. But we always tend to take this for granted (认为理所应当). It is only after marriage and having kids that a person understands and becomes sensitive to others’ feelings.

Happiness achieved by bringing a smile on otherˈs face gives a certain level of fulfillment(成就)．Peace of mind makes you feel happy. No mind is happy without peace. We realize the true worth of happiness when we are sad．Sadness comes from the death of a loved one or the failure .But all of these things will pass away.

Failure is the way to success, and it helps us to touch the sky, teaches us to survive and shows us a specific way. Success brings in money, fame, pride and self-respect.

Hope is what keeps life going. Parents always hope their children will do well. Hope makes us dream. Hope builds in patience. Life teaches us not to despair even in the darkest hour, because after every night there is a day.

   Life teaches us not to regret over yesterday, for it has passed and is beyond our control. Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be bright or dull. So what we can choose is to work hard today, so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.

As a teacher, I have met many students. Jess is one of the most unforgettable students.Jess was a Grade 8 student who always respected her classmates, although, she hardly received any respect in return. Students often laughed at her behind her back.

Tim was a handsome student. His classmates liked to be friends with him. It was clear that he was a confident and popular boy.

When the school talent show came around, Jess asked to sing a song. I was not sure if I should allow her to take part in the show. I was afraid that other students might laugh at her. However, I knew that it would be unfair to say no,so her name was on the list of performers.

On the day of the show, the whole school sat in the main hall. The show began and I was happy to see that every performance was greeted with cheers.

Then it was Jess’s turn. She stepped onto the stage and the music started. But she became nervous and forgot her lyrics (歌词). She looked sad and was about to give up when the most surprising thing happened. Somebody clapped (鼓掌) to the beat of the music. I looked around to see who it was. It was Tim.

He was clapping proudly. He also asked his friends to join him, and they did. Slowly,the claps spread from Tim to other people. As the song ended, all the students and teachers cheered. The smile on Jess’s face that day is what I’ll never forget.

When I was small, my mom used to give the family a funny special treat from time to time－she would make breakfast food for dinner.

I remember she did so one night. She had been at work all day but wanted to do something special for us all. On that evening, my mom put a plate of eggs and very burnt toast(面包) in front of my dad. I waited to see if anyone noticed. But my dad just took his toast, smiled at my mom and asked me how my day at school had been. I don’t remember what I told him that night. But I remember watching him put butter on that toast. He ate it up as usual.

After dinner, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the toast. I’ll never forget what he said:“Honey, I love burnt toast.”Later that night, I went to kiss daddy good night. I asked him if he really liked his toast burnt. He wrapped(紧抱) me in his arms and said：“Your mommy worked very hard today. She’s really tired. And a bit of burnt toast never hurt anyone!”

Life is full of imperfect things. Nobody is perfect, either. I’m not the best at anything. I forget birthdays and other important events just like everyone else does. But I’ve learned something important from my father. Understanding is the basis of everything, whether between a husband and wife, a parent and child or just between two friends. Remember, burnt toast never hurt anyone. It’s the people with the kind thoughts who make life worth(值得) living.

On the evening of last Sunday while I was reviewing my lessons in my room, it suddenly began to rain.   (1)   as usual, I stopped to listen to the rhythm（韵律）of the rain. For many years, whenever it rains, I couldn’t   (2)   listening to it and thinking of the garden in which I spent my childhood in my hometown.

  When I was a little girl, my family lived in a big house with a big garden in the countryside. The garden was full of flowers and   (3)  , with some bamboos in front of the wall. Whenever it rained, I   (4)   to sit in the front of the house, listening to the rhythm of the rain and watching the   (5)   raindrops.

  When small drops of rain fall from the heaven in a row, they form(形成)a curtain made up of pearls（珍珠）; when the raindrops   (6)   the ground, a lot of small sprays（水花）will splash（溅出）and then  (7)   slowly.

  I have been   (8)   interested in watching such a scene. Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I feel calm and peaceful in my heart. This feeling of peace makes me think a lot about life. We are the   (9)   of the earth, and one day we will embrace（拥抱）our mother earth and stay with her forever. Life is short and we should treasure it.

  Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I learn to understand the   (10)   of life.

When I was in middle school, I got mad at my parents because they would never give anything to the homeless that passed by us.

On a family vacation in Washington D.C., there was a homeless man down the street. My family  (1)  with our eyes at our feet. On our final day in the city, when my parents went for an evening walk, I ran out of our hotel room  (2)  and ran down to the street to the homeless man.

He looked at me curiously, surely not  (3)  anything from a middle school girl. I asked him what he would have for dinner. He replied he would have hamburgers.

I ran into the grocery(杂货) store down the block and  (4)  five hamburgers and many other foods. I ran back with a grin(咧嘴笑) on my face and  (5)  the grocery bags full of food to him. His  (6)  has been in my mind since then.

I ran back to the  (7)   as soon as possible. When my parents  (8)  , my dad told me he had a story for me. He asked if I still  (9)   the homeless man down the street from our hotel and I shyly nodded. He then told me, with a grin on his face,  (10)  they were returning from their walk the homeless man was  (11)   grocery bags full of food with other homeless people around and they were all smiling and laughing when they  (12)  . I smiled at my dad but never to this day have told him the  (13)  story of the homeless man.

I still haven’t forgotten that man’s smile but I wish I had the  (14)  to do this often. One small  (15)  act by a middle school girl can begin a series of effect of smiles and dignity(尊严). So please, share a smile and give some dignity to the homeless.

You don’t have to give thousands of dollars to help someone. Sarah, a girl from Michigan, the USA, （1）just by giving her （2）_. Sarah was seriously ill when she was a baby. It is difficult for her to move. Sarah has to   (1)   around with a walker. （4）_, the 11-year-old girl doesn’t give up, she uses her experience to help others.

Last summer, Sarah   (2)   three days a week for seven weeks at the Grand Rapids Comprehensive Therapy(治疗) Center. She was one of （6）_patients for“Therapy and Fun”, a program for special-needs children, Sarah’s （7）_ was to help the special needs children and provide them （8）_advice and encouragement(鼓励).

Sarah says that she’s（9）_ she can share her knowledge with others, and that working at the center taught her a lot, too.”I feel my life is getting better because I can help others in my way,”she said. Mary Van, Sarah’s fourth-grade teacher, said that,”Sarah has the help of other students around her, but she shows them that she’s there （10）_ them too.”

One Sunday, my son asked me if he could ride up to his primary school on his bike and meet his friend. He wanted both of them to ride back to our house so they could play video games and jump on the trampoline (蹦床). I have to admit(承认), part of me wanted to say no. We could go to pick him up or his parents could bring him over here, I thought.But my son is eleven years old now. And after all, I do let him ride his bike to school. But I also drive my daughter to school and I can see him on the way, making sure he is getting there safely.

My husband thinks I am overprotective. I don’t dare(敢于) to let my children walk anywhere without one of us going along. As you go out of our neighborhood, there is a shopping center across the street. My son always asks if he can ride his bike or walk over to the drugstore(药店) by himself. But crossing that street is just too dangerous. The cars fly around the corner like they’re driving in a car race. What if he gets hurt? What if some teenager bullies(欺凌) are hanging out in the parking lot?

I want so much to give my children the freedom that I enjoyed having when I was growing up but I couldn’t make my decision to do so, because there are dangers around every corner. Too many kidnaps(绑架). I went online and discovered there are 41 kidnaps in my area alone.

I honestly don’t think my mom worried about such things when her children were young.

Growing up in the 1970s was indeed very different. I never wore a helmet(头盔) when I rode a bike. We were all over the neighborhood, on our bikes and on foot, coming home for dinner and then back out again until dark. We rode in the back of the truck and didn’t wear seat belts. I walked to and from school every day.