1 . Once upon a time, there was a man who worked very hard just to keep food on the table for his family. A few days before Christmas, he _________ his five year-old daughter after _________ that she had used up the family’s only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper.

As money was tight, he became even angrier when on Christmas Eve he saw that she had used all of the gold paper to _________ one shoebox. He was also concerned about where she had gotten _________ to buy what was in the shoebox.

The next morning the little girl, _________ excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, “This is for you, Daddy!” Holding the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier behavior, _________ what he had done to her.

But when he _________ the shoebox, he found there was nothing. “Don’t you know, young lady,” he said _________, “when you give someone a _________, there’s supposed to be something inside the package!”

The little girl __________ him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered, “Daddy, it’s not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was __________.” He fell on his knees and put his arms around the girl and begged her to __________ him for his unnecessary anger.

An accident took the girl’s life only a short time later. It is said that the father __________ this little gold box by his bed for all his life. Whenever he was __________ or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and __________ his daughter’s love.

4 . The man who invented the World Wide Web a few decades ago is calling for major changes to make it better for humans. In an open letter published on Tuesday, Berners-Lee said that the web was used by half the world's population.

Berners-Lee said the web had clearly created great opportunities for humans to progress and made life easier for millions of people. Actually, it also has offered opportunities to groups who traditionally cannot hear a new voice in society. However, he added that the web had also provided new ways for cheats to carry out crimes (犯罪).

“Against the backdrop of news stories about how the web is misused, it's understand able that many people feel afraid and unsure if the web is really a force for good,” he wrote.

Berners-Lee created a group called the World Wide Web Foundation. He is looking for help from governments, companies and people to become more involved in shaping the web to do more good for humans. His actual plan is called the “Contract(合同)for the Web”.

Under this contract, governments are called on to take steps to make sure all people can connect to the Internet and that personal privacy is respected. Businesses are asked to keep the Internet prices low so more people can use the web. In addition, companies should respect privacy and develop technologies that aim to put people first.

The plan also calls on people to create materials for the web and work with others to make sure that there is rich, quality information for everyone. Besides, people should seek to “ build strong communities that respect personal speech and human equality.” “The path to make the Internet better is the responsibility of everyone who uses it,” Berners-Lee added, “making big changes will not be easy, but will be very well worth it in the end.”

8 . Robin was 12 years old when his mother sent him to me for his first piano lesson. I preferred that students begin at an earlier _______ . I explained it to Robin that he was too old, but he said it had always been his mother's _______ to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student.

_______ Robin tried very hard, he didn't seem to have the basic sense of music. However, he _______ and at the end of each lesson he never forgot to say, “My mom's going to hear me play someday. "   But it seemed impossible, and I was _______ by his slow progress. One day, he _______ me that his mother was sick and he couldn't come to my class any longer. I was glad that he stopped coming, since he was really a bad advertisement for my teaching!

Several months later when I was preparing my students for a music show, Robin came to my home and said he had to _______ the show. I don't know what led me to _______ him to do that. Maybe it was the _______ in his eyes or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be all right. I was even more ________ when Robin announced that he had chosen one of the most difficult pieces of Mozart. I was not prepared for what happened next.

However, on the show his fingers danced ________ on the keys. He played so well that everyone ________excitedly when he was leaving the stage. In excitement, I ________ up to stage to congratulate him.

“How could you do it?” I could not help asking him a few days later.

“Well, I kept practising at home. My mom had cancer and just passed away the day I went to your ________ to ask for your permission to take part in the show. It was the first time she could hear me play on the stage. 1 wanted to make it ________ . ”

I was a single mother in my 30s who lived down and out with my daughter Peggy in a small apartment, struggling hard to make our needs meet.

One day, I headed to the downtown for an interview. I sat down in the streetcar, and there against the seat was a beautiful silk umbrella with a silver handle decorated with gold scrolls, among which there was a name carved.

On impulse(冲动) I determined to find the owner myself. I got off the streetcar in the heavy rain and thankfully opened the umbrella to protect myself. Then I searched a telephone book for the name, I found it immediately and called it, waiting patiently, and then a lady answered.

"Yes, “she said in surprise, with extreme excitement." It was my umbrella which had been stolen a year ago.”

So appealing was her pleasure that I forgot I was looking for a job and went directly to her small house. She took the umbrella, with teary eyes, explaining with choking voice that the umbrella was given by her parents, now dead, Her happiness at retrieving(找回)this special possession was such that to have accepted her reward would have spoiled something, so I refused her offer and left.

The following months were hard. I can only obtain temporary employment, for a small salary. What was worse, I had just lost my last job before Christmas, with only fifteen dollars left. Unless a miracle happened, I would be homeless in January, foodless and jobless. I had prayed steadily for weeks, and there had been no answer but this coldness and darkness.

The air was full of Christmas merriment, with the bells ringing and children shouting in the bitter dusk of the evening. But there should be no Christmas for me, I knew, no gifts, no remembrance whatsoever.

Thinking of this, I couldn’t control my tears on my way home, but I managed a smile so could greet my little daughter. She opened the door for me and threw herself in my arms, screaming joyously and demanding desirably for her Christmas gift. There I stood, frozen, overwhelmed by misery.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Peggy rushed to answer it, calling that it must be Santa Claus.

Suddenly, a note attached to one package caught my eyes.

Robert and Henry were good friends in the same class. They always played together and went home together. One day Robert and Henry were going home from school when Robert shouted at Henry and said ,“You are a coward(胆小鬼), and I won’t play with you.” Without any words, Henry was a little angry and went home alone.

The next day Henry went to school as usual, but Robert told all the boys that Henry was a coward and all of them laughed at Henry a great deal. Robert didn’t invite Henry to go home with him anymore. Instead, he played with some other boys who also thought Henry was a coward.   Every day after school, they didn’t go home directly but went to the river or somewhere to play.

A few days later, Robert was swimming with his new friends in a river, and he struggled in the water and suddenly cried “Help, help”. His new friends didn’t help him and ran away as fast as they could.

Robert was still struggling in the river.

Robert’s life was saved.