My mum was young when she fell pregnant with me. After I was born it was decided that my father's relatives would  (1)   me in   Manchester. No one spoke about Mum. Eventually, I was shown letters from Mum,  (2)   that she was a drug addict.

         All this was running through my head as I arrived in Glasgow on 27 December last year. My sister Leanne, from my mother's side, had  (3)   me down on Facebook, and we had been  (4)   for a while, but had met only once or twice. Leanne had been brought up by our mother's parents, and had some  (5)   with Mum throughout her life. She was now living in Canada, but returning for Christmas and  (6)   to see all the family together. A big party had been arranged to welcome her back, and everyone would be there, including our  (7)  .

      In a very short time my sister and Ihatcheda  (8)  . I'd meet my sister as she arrived at Manchester airport, then we’d drive up to Glasgow  (9)  . Keeping it a surprise gave us a rush. After about a four-hour drive, we were there. I'd  (10)   called someone “Mum” before. But there she was.

        We embraced (拥抱) and were soon  (11)  . We could hardly get the words out fast enough. Seeing someone so alike looking back at me was the strangest but most  (12)   experience. Though a lifetime may have  (13)   us, this woman at a party in Glasgow was my mum. She  (14)  at me for a second, before giving me a tight hug. All she could say was that she never thought we'd  (15)   again.

      She'd been  (16)   of drugs for five years. She told me how she now works for a charity that helps young people  (17)   the same problems she had. We now talk regularly, and I feel  (18)   she's my mother. That's something I couldn't have even  (19)   when the door opened to her at that Christmas party. Life may be short, but it's always  (20)   enough to reconcile(和好).

Once there was an old farmer, with a horse which was almost as old as himself. He   (1)   one morning with his young son   (2)   the horse before it died. Father and son walked,   (3)   the farmer did not want the horse to be   (4)   .

They met two men on the road   (5)   said: “Why are you walking, farmer? You have a horse. It's  (6)   

to market.” The farmer knew that this was   (7)   , so he rode on the horse,   (8)   his son walked.

Then they met two old ladies. “   (9)   are you doing up there, farmer? Can't you   (10)   how tired your boy is?”   (11)    the farmer got down, and his son rode   (12)   .

   (13)  , three old men stopped them. One said: “Why are you walking, farmer?   (14)  . It's too hot for an old man like you to walk today.” So the farmer got up   (15)  his son, and they   (16)  .   (17)  , a young woman passed them. “Why aren't you walking?” she asked. “It isn't   (18)  to market. Give your poor old horse a rest.”

So the farmer, and his son, got down   (19)  .

It is a fact that you cannot please   (20)  the people all the time. 

I have ten close friends I have grown up and played with. People do not know for sure when we   (1)   together, but every Friday night they watch our games.

After going to college, I always watched the seniors play on the football field. I   (2)   what made them so passionate (充满激情的). Later I realized they played football just because of their simple   (3)   for the game. I have seen what it takes to   (4)  . We just need devotion, confidence and courage. It does not necessarily take the most   (5)   person to get the job done,but the one who wants success more than any other person. Soon I began to apply those  (6)   to my everyday life.

This  (7)   has helped shape who I am. What I have  (8)   from football gives me the confidence to succeed in life. My good academic performance is just the beginning of my success, and I owe (把……归功于) my good   (9)   to football. It has taught me to try hard to succeed in   (10)   I do. No one will ever see me give up, because I simply won’t.   (11)   I start something, I will finish it and do it   (12)  .

  (17)  .

  (20)   to improve my health mentally and physically. I will always cherish (珍惜) my football experiences.

Last summer Tom and his friends George and Bill wanted to take a vacation, but they did not have much   (1)  . So they decided that a short mountain climbing was the only trip they   (2)   afford.   (3)   each of them liked climbing, the vacation would be a lot of happiness.

Tom   (4)   all the plans. He decided that they should   (5)   the cost for food and gas   equally and that each one should bring some extra(额外的)   (6)   because the weather there was usually   (7)  .

The boys were not   (8)  , so they climbed slowly the first day. The weather was   (9)  , and they enjoyed the fresh   (10)   as they climbed up a narrow path. Tom   (11)   the weather to stay nice,   (12)   late in the afternoon there was a heavy rain. The boys ran toward a   (13)   and decided to camp there that   (14)  .

When the sun   (15)   the next morning, they continued   (16)  . As the boys went higher, the climbing became   (17)   dangerous, and by late that afternoon it seemed as if the trip was not going to end.

When they finally   (18)   the top of the mountain, they saw a beautiful sight. The  (19)  of the sunset were yellow, red and gold. The boys were very happy and they enjoyed the views. The farms and fields of wheat and corn   (20)   looked very small. In the distance, they could see trees, hills and valleys. They spent four more days in the mountains. They really had great fun.

 For a period of a month some time ago, I became a vegetarian. Some people won’t eat meat because they think it is cruel to animals, or because of health  (1)  . My reason is a little  (2)  : it is love.

 I  (3)  wanted to honor my grandmother by not eating meat. My grandmother spent a large part of her life as a vegetarian, and some of my happiest childhood  (4)   in Vietnam were of sharing a meal with her.

 In fact, as a child, I learned how to  (5)  food not from dishes my mother often cooked, but from the simple meals my grandmother  (6)  . Often, dinner with Grandma would come with interesting  (7)  she had known from her childhood.

 Grandma  (8)  more than a decade ago. Now I am an adult living in San Francisco, and Grandma’s vegetarian suppers and stories have become a  (9)   past. But one morning it   (10)  to me that I could no longer hear the sound of my grandmother’s voice, because she had left me forever. So I  (11)  to become a vegetarian for a month. It is something Grandma would do as a way to  (12)  those who had died before her. And I could do no less.

 In a city famous for its dining experience, this was  (13)  . I turned down several dinner parties  (14)  offending(冒犯) the hosts. I

  (15)  walking by restaurants where the  (16)  of good cooking wafted(漂浮) in the air. My best friend wondered  (17)  I was going through a mid-life crisis.

 In truth, I wanted to change my  (18)  many times. What got me through that month-long diet was this  (19)  memory of my grandmother. Now, I followed her  (20)  . I invited friends who wanted to taste vegetarian food. And as we ate, I told them stories I had known as a child.

A young man, who had graduated from a well-known university, was applying for a job as a manager in a big company. The president did the final   (1)  .

He discovered the youth was  (2)   and felt satisfied. Then the president asked who paid for his school fees. The youth answered, “My mother did it. She worked as a clothes   (3)   .”

The president requested the youth to  (4)  his hands. So the youth did. They were smooth. Then he asked, “Have you ever    (5)   your mother wash the clothes before?” The youth answered, “Never, my mother always wanted me to     (6)   .”

“Go and clean your mother’s   (7)   when you go back today, and then     (8)   me tomorrow morning,” the president said     (9)   .

The youth felt his chance of getting the job was high, so when he went back, he   (10)   requested his mother to let him clean her hands. However, his tears fell    (11)   he cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. It was the first time he had   (12)  that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled (布满皱纹的). After that, the youth didn’t say a word and washed all the remaining clothes for his mother    (13)  . That night, Mother and Son  (14)  for a very long time, longer than any talk before.

  (19)   of family relationship.”

The president said, “You are    (20)   . This is what I’m looking for to be my manager.”

        During a recent vacation I visitedDusseldorf, a city in the former West Germany. The nine-day trip left a deep impression on me. I arrived at Dusscidorf airport at six. It was already dark outside. The first thing I needed to do was to find a place to   (1)  .I decided to telephone the youth hotel. But to use the   (2)     I needed some coins. I asked a lady for     (3)    To my surprise, she    (4)   me three coins to use. But all the phones in the  (5)   needed phone cards. And phone cards could only be     (6)   at post-office during the daytime. I was afraid I   (7)   be able to call the hotel. An old gentleman helped me. He couldn’t speak English but     (8)    that I needed to make a phone call. He showed me where the   (9)    was and inserted(插入) his phone card. I called the youth hotel and found a place to stay that night. kindness of    (10)   make me feel that I was not far from    (11)   .And my first day in Germany wasn’t as    (12)    as I expected.

    Whenever I went, I asked people for   (13)   . It surprised me that almost every young German could speak English    (14)  . Older Germans    (15)   speak English every well, but they would try to help me whenever they could. One middle-aged man I   (16)   diretions even drove me to the place I was looking for. My experience in Germany completely changed my    (17)    of Germans. Before, I thought they were unfriendly to foreigners. In many World War II films Germans are     (18)  .But things changed     (19)  .And the people couldn’t be        (20)    friendly.

Last November, Jan and Dave Griffith took their dog, Sophie Tucker, on a sailing trip. They were having a  (1)  time until there was a storm one day. While the Griffiths were  (2)  hard to keep the boat safe, they  (3)  about Sophie. A moment later, she was found    (4)  . The couple was  (5)  that she had drowned. "We were able to    (6)  her in the water but, because it was a grey day, we couldn’t find her even though

we searched    (7)  for over an hour," Jan Griffith told BBC News. "We thought that once she  (8)  into the water she must have gone,     (9)  the     waves were so big." The Griffiths returned home in tears over the loss of their beloved pet.  (10)  four months later, they received

some  (11)  news: Sophie had been found on an island,  (12)  and well. She had swum five miles after  (13)  the ship, and had  (14)  by eating small animals. The people discovering her  (15)  thought that Sophie was a wild dog because she did not let people come  (16)  to her. However, when the Griffiths came to pick her up, Sophie immediately  (17)   they were her owners. After Jan Griffith called her name, "She started banging (撞) the  (18)  of the cage (笼子) and when they let her out, she almost knocked us down." Her  (19)  was finally over. Sophie is 

doing well at home, relaxing by the pool. But Jan is still not    (20)  what her dog went through. Sophie was just an ordinary house dog:

The Value of an Hour

A man came home from work late, tired and upset. Then he found his five-year-old son   41  for him at the door. The little boy asked him how   42  he made an hour. “That’s none of your business. If you   43  know, I make $50 an hour.” the man said impatiently. Then the little boy,   44  his head down, asked again   45  he could borrow $25 from his father. The man was a little angry because he

46  his son was to buy a silly and useless toy   47  some other nonsense with that money, so he   48 . The little boy, quietly and sadly, went to his own   49  and shut the door.

A moment later, the man started to feel  50  for what he said just now. He knew for sure his   51  really didn’t ask for money very often, so he went to the little boy’s room to find out the   52 . “Sorry, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,”   53 the man. “Here’s the $25 you asked for.” The little boy sat straight up,   54  so happy. Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some crumpled-up (压皱的)   55 . Seeing thatthe boy already had money, the man   56  started to feel angry.

The little boy   57  counted out his money, and then looked up at his father with a happy look. “Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an

  58  of your time? Please come home   59  tomorrow. I’d like to have dinner with you.” the little boy said. With tears in his eyes, the man put his arms around his little boy, and   60  him that he would surely do it.

It was the last day of the final examination in a large eastern university. On the steps of one building, a group of engineering students were talking about the exam that was going to begin in a few  (1)  . On their faces was confidence. This was their last exam — then on to   (2)   and jobs.

Some talked of jobs they already had; others talked of jobs they   (3)   get. With the certainty of four years of college, they felt ready and able to take   (4)   of the world.

The coming exam, they knew, would be a(n)   (5)   task. The professor had said they could bring   (6)  books or notes they wanted, requesting only that they did not   (7)   each other, during the test.

   (8)   they entered the classroom. The professor passed out the papers. And smiles   (9)   on the students’ faces as they noticed there were only five essay-type questions.

 Three hours had passed   (10)   the professor began to collect the papers. The students no longer looked confident. On their faces was a frightened expression. Papers in hand, no one spoke as the professor faced the class.

 He looked at the   (11)   faces before him, and then asked, “How many completed all five questions?”  (12)  a hand was raised.

 “How many answered four?” Still no hands.

 “Three? Two?” The students moved nervously in their seats.

 “One, then? Certainly somebody finished   (13)   .”But the class remained silent.

 The professor put down the papers. “That is exactly what I   (14)   ,” he said. “I just want to impress upon you that,  (15)   you have completed four years of engineering, there are still many things about the   (16)   you don’t know. These questions you couldn’t answer are relatively   (17)   in everyday practice. ” Then smiling, he added, “You will all  (18)   this course, but remember — even though you are now college graduates, your education has just   (19)   .”

The years have forgotten the name of this professor, but not the   (20)   he taught.