Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food. As they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks.

One day, Ali took Zahra's shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it a secret. Zahra agreed and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra's school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.

Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city.When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.

The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞) with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.

Ali looked up and saw the other boys rushing ahead.

Filled with delight, Ali walked home quickly.

I Like Travelling

I’m looking forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

A GIFT FOR GRANDPA

Jack and his brother Harry were filled with excitement, as they planned to visit their grandparents again this summer vacation

The big day came at last. After the happy family got ready, they set out for the grandparents’ cagerly On the way, the brothers were excitedly talking about the fun they had with grandparents.

A little blue house with a tall white chimney finally appeared. Behind the house was the forest carrying their good memories with Grandpa. They arrived at the driveway, at the end of which Grandma was waiting for them joyfully.

Jack and Harry each gave Grandma a big hug and then swept to the living room, shouting excitedly “Grandpa, we are back!” Seeing his grandsons, Grandpa was wild with joy and tried to get up with all his strength from the chair but in vain. A helpless expression flashed on his face. Grandma explained that his health was declining rapidly and maybe couldn’t stand up on his own forever. But Grandpa declared stubbornly (倔强地), “I can!” Certainly, he was stuck in his boyish way. Mum and grandparents were happy to meet again after a long time. They sat together and chatted about what happened recently.

The brothers were soon bored with adult conversation, went out and wandered into the forest. Tall trees stretched up to the heavens with large branches crossing each other, while young ones rose straight like soldiers. Grandpa was once a great explorer full of wisdom. He could tell where the birds came from only by their calls and songs. The trees, birds, lizards, lots of bugs. . . How many merry moments they spent with Grandpa in the kingdom!

But now Grandpa couldn’t get up. This made them worried. “We’d think out a way to cheer him up. ” Jack said. “Grandpa is a bird lover, and we can catch him a bird. ” Harry suggested. “But he hates birds being caged!” Jack shook his head

Then a bright idea came to Jack’s mind. “Why not make a cane(扔杖) out of a young tree?”

Harry thought it was a good idea.

Jack and Harry handed the cane to Grandpa.

In the busy city of New York, such an amazing thing ever happened. On a cold Friday night, a poor artist stood at the gate of the subway station, playing his violin. The young violinist was a student at an Arts College named Joseph, who did so every day in order to earn his tuition fees. He planned to attend advanced studies in Vienna and had booked the flight the next morning. Though the music was great, people were quickly going home for the weekend. Joseph was playing his last chapter when a middle-aged man looking pretty excited slowed down his pace and put 50 dollars into the hat, for which Joseph was grateful.

The next night, the young artist came to the gate of the subway station as usual, and put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different from the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Then he began playing the violin.

Before long, the young artist was surrounded with many passers-by, who were all attracted by the words on that paper. It said, “Last night, a gentleman put an unexpected thing into my hat by mistake. Please come to claim it as soon as possible.”

It caused a great excitement and curiosity. They were dying to know what the unexpected thing could be. After about half an hour, a middle-aged man ran there in a hurry and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed his shoulders and said, “Yes, its you. You did come here. I knew that you are an honest man and would certainly come here.”

The young violinist asked calmly, “ Did you lose something?”

“Lottery(彩票). It’s lottery,” replied the man.

The violinist took out a lottery ticket. “Is it?” he asked.

The middle-aged man nodded promptly and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it, “It is worth a million dollars!”

The story turned out to be this: The middle-aged man is an ordinary office clerk.

This was the scene just now. Out of curiosity, some passers-by asked Joseph.

A freezing rain washed the street in front of the small-town bar. I sat staring at the watery darkness, alone as usual. I had been in that old pub for a half hour, quietly holding a drink, when my thoughful stare finally focused on a medium-sized lump (一团) in a puddle (水洼) a hundred feet away.

I remembered the night before, a dog named Shep came into the bar begging for potato chips. He was starving and just the size of the lump. “Why would a dog lie in a cold puddle in the freezing rain?” I asked myself. The answer was simple: He was too weak to get up.

The shrapnel (弹片) wound in my right shoulder ached all the way down to my fingers. I didn’t want to go out in that storm. Hey, it was，t my dog. It was just a stray (流浪的动物) on a cold night in the rain, a lonely drifter (流浪者).

“So am I,” I thought, as I laid down my drink and headed out the door.

He was lying in the water. When I touched him, he didn’t move. I thought he was dead. I put my hands around his chest and lifted him to his feet. He stood unsteadily in the puddle, his head hung like a weight at the end of his neck. Half his body was covered with mange (兽疥癣). His floppy ear were just hairless pieces of flesh dotted with open sores (疮).

“Come on,” I said. His tail wagged once and he followed weekly behind me. I led him to a safer comer next to the bar, where he lay on the cold ground and closed his eyes.

A block away I could see the lights of a late-night convenience store. It was still open. I bought three cans of Alpo and fed him. But his tongue hung out and only the tip of his tail moved. 1 wanted to pet him, but he smelled like death and looked even worse. The local vet (兽医) was still at his office, so I loaded the poor dog into a taxi and headed there.

The vet checked the pitiful dog immediately.

I sighed loudly and said, “He’s got a home.”

Joe was an old man aged 75. He lived happily with a beautiful family. Then his children grew up and moved to different cities in pursuit of a good career and future. He was left living in a small village carrying the memories of his dead wife.

Joe had four grandchildren. They used to visit him during their holidays. It was now their vacation time and Joe was eagerly waiting for their arrival. He prepared his home for the kids, cleaning the house, mowing (修剪) the garden, and buying their favourite foods and dresses.

In the process of these busy arrangements, he lost his watch. The watch was gifted by his dead wife when their first child was born. Joe treasured the watch. After his wife’s death, it became his only companion with its “tick, tick” sound throughout the silent night.

He was happy with the kids at home and forgot about the missing watch. It was only the next day when he was about to take a bath that he remembered the watch was lost. He saw it last when he was arranging things in the barn (谷仓).

He was very upset. His grandchildren asked him why he was feeling so low and what was troubling him. Joe said, “Dear children, I lost the most precious watch I have ever had and ever got in my life. It was a gift from your grandma. I lost it while cleaning the house! I feel like I’m missing my heart.” The children tried to comfort him. One granddaughter asked, “Grandpa, do you remember when you saw the watch last before it went missing?” Joe said, “I guess when I was cleaning the barn!” The children rushed to the barn to search for the watch.

The barn was full of waste materials, books, broken furniture, etc. They searched for more than two hours with the help of Joe, but could not find it Joe was completely at a loss and asked the children to stop searching. All felt sad and left, disappointed.

I started my dormitory life this year and met my roommate Kate. In the process of getting along, we found that we both enjoy reading and watching science fictions. With similar hobbies, our relationship immediately became closer. We went to class and canteen together every day in pairs.

Although we considered each other as the best friend, there were frictions in our life style. I was never very neat, while Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled everything. I always looked for everything.

Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other and never stopped trying to change the other person’s life style. Our friendship went ups and downs like a boat on the sea. Dissatisfaction with the other was accumulating.

War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I was rather irritated (激怒). How could she act like that? I could not control my temper either. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder. Neither of us was willing to calm down to be a good listener.

The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her dear grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled under her covers, burying her face. From where I stood, I saw her back slightly up and down. Obviously, she was sobbing. That was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.

Slowly I began to move.

She was watching in disbelief, her tears dried.