Once upon a time, a teacher and his student lay down under a tree near the grass area. The student asked the teacher, “Sir, I really don’t know how we ________ our friends?”

________ for a few seconds, the teacher then answered, “It’s a hard and ________ question.” The teacher continued. “Look! There is a lot of grass. Why don’t you walk there? Please don’t walk backwards; walk straight ahead. On your way, try to find a blade (片) of beautiful grass, pick it and give it to me. But just one.”

The student said, “Well. OK… Wait for me...” and walked straight ahead to the field.

A few minutes later, he came back.

The teacher asked. “Well, I don’t see a beautiful blade of grass in your hand.”

The student said, “On my journey, I found a few beautiful blades of grass, but I thought I would find a ________ one, so I didn’t pick them. But I didn’t realize I was at the ________ of the field, and I hadn’t picked any. I didn’t go back ________ you told me not to.”

The teacher said, “That’s what will ________ in real life.”

In the story, grass is the people ________ you; the beautiful blades of grass are the people that attract (吸引) you and the grassy (茂盛的) field is ________.

In looking for your friends, don’t always compare (比较) and hope that there will be a better one. By doing that, you’ll ________ your lifetime; remember that “Time never goes back.”

Welcome to Franklin Hotel. We will make you stay here as enjoyable as possible. We hope we will give you the best service (服务).

Room Service-You can use the service 24 hours a day.

Dining Room-You can have three meals a day in the dining room. Breakfast is from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Also the room waiter may bring breakfast to your room at any time after 7:00 a.m. If you need, please fill in a card and hang it outside your door before 6:00 a.m. Lunch is from 12:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner is from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Shop-The hotel shop is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Coffee House-You can drink coffee here at the following time:

12:00 a.m.-2 p.m. 8:00 p.m.-1:30 a.m.

Other Services-There is a cinema in the hotel. A film begins at 7:00 p.m. on Sundays and Wednesdays. Hot water is offered (提供) 24 hours.

Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word? If you can, you are unusual. Try to imagine (想象) what first few months of your life were like. I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying. As you grew older, you were awake more of the time. It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you. You watched and listened curiously (好奇地). You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things.

Then you began to try making the sounds you heard. And step by step you were able to make the right sound for one thing.

On that day you came to underhand the secret (秘诀) of language (语言). The secret is that a certain sound means a certain thing. One sound might be as good as another. But it is not as good as a word unless (除非) everybody agrees on its meaning. Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, they can understand each other. Then, and then these people do have a language.

After you found the secret of language, you learned words. Some of the words meant things, such as books, chair and shoes. Some words meant doing things, such as go and swim, and other words described (描述) things, such as good and dirty. Soon you learned to put words together to express (表达) your idea, such as “I want to go out and play with my friends”. This is language. By means of language people can communicate (交流). So we say languages are means of communication.