At first, Michael didn’t see the black smoke or flames shooting from the windows of his neighbors’ home. He and his wife had just parked around the corner from their own house when they got a call from one of his daughters: “The house next door is on fire!” He went to check. That’s when he saw two women and a girl helpless and heartbroken on their doorway.

“The baby’s in there!” one of the women cried. Though the fire department had been called, Michael, then 64, immediately ran inside. “The baby” was 8-year-old Tiara, the woman’s granddaughter and a playmate of Michael’s three youngest kids.

The thick smoke caused Michael to stumble blindly around, burned his eyes, and made it impossible to breathe.

After a few minutes in the smoke-filled house, he retreated outside to catch his breath. “Where is Tiara?” he asked desperately.

“The second floor,” her aunt shouted back.

Michael knew he couldn’t hold his breath for long. However, taking a deep breath, he went in a second time. The darkness was overwhelming. Yet because the house had a similar design to his, he made it to the second floor. He turned to the right and was met by intense heat. He was already out of breath.

“Baby girl, where are you?”

His throat and lungs burned as if he’d inhaled fire instead of the smoke in the air. Every blink stung his eyes. All he could hear was the crackling and popping of burning wood. Then a soft but distinct moan emerged. Still unable to see, Michael fell to his knees on the hot wood floor. He crawled toward the sound, feeling around for any sign of the girl. An unlucky thought crossed his mind: I’m probably gonna die up here.

Finally, Michael touched something.

Tiara was safe now; however, Michael fainted down to the ground, unconscious.

Lena could clearly remember the night she had to flee her home in Hungary. It was the beginning of the Second World War and her family needed to escape fast. She quickly packed a suitcase with a few pieces of clothing, her diary, and-her most prized possession - a beautiful silk scarf. Lena and her best friend, Monika, had persuaded their parents to buy them matching scarves, which they each wore tied around their neck as a symbol of their friendship. Lena had no idea that when she left for America that night, she would never return. Her family settled on the sunny west coast in California.

Lena kept that special silk scarf for many years. One day she decided to give it to her granddaughter, Eliza, to wear to her first job interview for good luck. Lena was afraid that Eliza would lose the scarf, but her granddaughter reassured her, “Don’t worry, Grandma nothing’s going to happen to your scarf. You’ll see, It is going to bring both of us luck today.” With that, Eliza kissed her grandmother on the cheek and left.

That afternoon, Eliza left the interview feeling confident that she had got the job-She decided to celebrate by going to a restaurant. As she sat at her table, she felt someone staring at her.

Sitting next to her was an elderly woman who could not take her eyes off her. “I’m sorry, do I know you?” Eliza asked.

“I’m sorry, dear, but you remind me of someone I once knew,” the old woman replied in an accented voice. “My best friend looked like you and used to wear a scarf just like the one you’re wearing around your neck.” Eliza felt goose bumps go up her arms. She had heard stories of her grandmother’s best friend and knew the significance of the scarf. Could this be Monika, her grandmother’s childhood friend?

Eliza introduced herself and waited to hear the name of the other woman.

They walked the short distance to Lena’s home and rang the doorbell.

Opening presents carefully selected by our parents is our family tradition on Christmas morning, which always pushes the festive atmosphere to the climax. However, this year’s Christmas seemed not as happy as usual.

It was Christmas Eve when my sister and I decided to open our presents before our mom got home from work. Though worried about ruining my mom’s original plan, we still wanted to sneak a peek (偷看) at the gifts in advance, driven by a strong impulse of curiosity. Since my sister was older, and that put her in charge, she opened the first gift while I was ordered to stand guard at the big picture window in our front room. I was to report any suspicious activity or person, namely our mother, who can easily capture the details of life.

I was so excited that I could barely stand still. I also couldn’t keep my eyes on the window very long. My head moved from the window to my sister and back to the window again. I felt like I was watching a Ping-Pong match.

“All right!” my sister shouted. She pulled out a jewelry box. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

I jumped up and down. “Yeah, it’s my turn!”

“No,” she said. “It means that there must be some jewelry under here.” I watched my sister rummaging (翻寻) through the presents under the tree, trying to find one she thought was small enough to be a necklace or earrings.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” I complained, stomping my foot.

“Are you watching for Mom?” is all that she said. I couldn’t do anything except stand guard as she opened present after present. Finally, when my sister’s curiosity was satisfied and she had finished wrapping her last present back up, we traded places.

My heart hammered so hard that it felt like my chest was moving in and out. My sister reminded me to be careful so I wouldn’t tear the paper, and to wrap the present back up the same way that I had found it.

After unwrapping a few presents, I found it faster to open one end of a present and peek inside. “Headphones! How can my mom know what I want! Without any hesitation, I pulled the headphones out of the box.

I was about to put them on when my sister shouted, “Quick! Mom’s coming!”

Christmas morning finally approached, and we were ready to open our presents again!_

Last Sunday morning, my parents and I were going on a vacation in Sydney, where my grandparents lived, to celebrate my birthday. Actually, celebrating my birthday in my grandparents’ home had been a family tradition. As a result, their neighbors, warm-hearted and friendly, were familiar with me. Sometimes, they even came to the house and brought me birthday gifts in person.

We took the subway there as usual. When we got off the subway, I found I had lost my bag. The bag was memorable to me because it was given by my parents when I became a senior high school student. It also had some valuable items inside, including an expensive watch a birthday gift from my grandparents.

I couldn’t help but cry because the bag meant so much to me.“What’s the matter. Lily?” my mom asked. I told her that I might leave the bag on the subway. Hearing that, she comforted me and said. “We have plenty of time. Let’s talk to the staff (工作人员).”

Instantly, my parents reported the situation to the staff at the subway station. A kind worker smiled to me and said. “If someone found it, they would hand it in.” He asked us to wait patiently for a while, and then he called for help．After half an hour, the worker didn’t give us any information. I started to become anxious and lose hope. My father said. “No news is good news.”However, the worker finally apologized to us and let us wait for the information on the recovery of the missing bag at home. We had to go to my grandparents’ house first.

In the afternoon, while I, together with my grandparents and my father, was preparing for a birthday party, I heard my mother talking to someone on the phone about my lost bag. My heart was beating violently, and I was expecting something extraordinary to happen. Sure enough, my mother got me to answer the phone, “Good news, Lily. The call is just for you, from the kind worker. He said a girl called Beatrice had sent the bag back.” I felt amazed that the girl’s name is the same as my friend’s in Sydney.

I took the phone, and then the voice of the worker who had helped us at the subwaystation came from it.

My family and I were dancing happily when someone knocked at the door.

In my community, there is a little boy who suffered from congenital muscle disease. He always considered himself the most unfortunate person in the world. Although he looked no different from ordinary people, it’s difficult for him to do some delicate movements. He often lost control of his hands and dropped things on the ground. Even after a short run, he would easily get out of breath. Depression and inferiority made him almost always alone. All of these make his mother very worried.

Then one spring, the boy’s mother bought some saplings (树苗) from a nearby market. She intended to plant them in the forecourt. She told her children to plant a sapling each person. The mother said to her three children, “Whose seedling grows best, I will buy him or her a favorite gift.” The boy also wanted to get his mother’s gift. But seeing his brothers and sisters carrying water to water the trees happily, anyhow, an idea hit him: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So watering it once or twice, he never attended to it.

Several days later, when the little boy went to see his tree again, he was surprised to find it grew some fresh leaves instead of withering (枯萎), and compared with the trees of his brother and sister, his appeared greener and more vital. He wondered what on earth had happened. As expected, his mother kept her promise, bought the little boy his favorite gift and said to him, “From the tree you plant, you will become an outstanding botanist (植物学家) when you grow up.”

Since then, the little boy slowly became optimistic. One day, the little boy lay on the bed but couldn’t sleep. Looking at the bright moonlight outside the window, he suddenly recalled what the bi ology teacher once said, plants generally grow at night.

“Why not go to the forecourt and take a look at my tree?” he said to himself.

From that night on, he understood what his mother meant and decided to change himself.