An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year -old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) perched (栖息) on their window.

The father asked his son, “what is this?” The son replied, “It is a crow.”

After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, “What is this?” The son said, “Father , I have just now told you, it is a crow!”

After a little while, the old father again asked his son for the third time, “What is this?”

At this time some expression of irritation (恼怒) was felt in the son’s tone when he said to his father with a rebuff (生硬回绝) . “It’s a crow , a crow.” A little while later, the father again asked his son the fourth time, “ What is this?”

This time, the son shouted at his father, “ Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this?’

A little while later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered (发皱的) diary, which he had maintained since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:

“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I did not at all feel annoyed but I rather felt love for my innocent son.

After reading the diary,

Feeling ashamed , the son got down on his knees before his father.

The Person I Respect

We have a lot of respectable people around us.

Stephen and a Bowl of Noodles

Stephen,a 14-year-old boy, was seen walking alone in the street. It was almost 10 o’clock at night.

His eyes were filled with tears when he recalled (回想起) the quarrel he had with his mother this evening. His mom asked about his low grades in the recent exam, and Stephen replied with a careless attitude. So she scolded (训斥) him for being so careless. Stephen got so upset that he quarreled with his mother and then stormed out of the house without realizing he was a so at fault.

He walked for hours, cold and hungry. Suddenly, a delicious smell caught his attention. It was from a small noodle shop. Stephen stopped in front of the shop, eager for a bowl of hot noodles but he didn’t have even a single penny in his pocket. With a sad face, he stood there for a minute and decided to leave.

Just when he was about to go away, the shop owner saw him and invited him in. Stephen said he had no money for the food. The shop owner smiled, saying, “It’s OK. I won’t charge you for it.” Then the shop owner served him a bowl of delicious noodles.

Stephen was in tears when he ate the noodles. The shop owner asked what had happened. Stephen told him about the quarrel with his mother and that he felt his mother did not understand him.

Hearing this, the shop owner smiled and said to Stephen,“ My dear young man, now think about your mom!”

Stephen realized his mistake and thanked the shop owner.

Ma Tao puts the dinner he has prepared at the door of the panda house. Ma Tao’s daily     1     (task) as the head of the Beijing Zoo panda team include feeding pandas, cleaning the panda house and writing observation reports.     2     (choose) as “The Best Worker of the Capital”, Ma     3     (be) a giant panda “father” for 30 years.

“The oldest panda here is ‘Dadi’, born in 1992. The youngest was born in 2015,” said Ma, as he introduced the 17 giant pandas at the Beijing Zoo.

“Both visitors from China and abroad love the giant panda for its cute charm.     4    , contrary to its gentle appearance, it is a dangerous animal. The Beijing Zoo included the giant panda in a list of 27 wild animals for public     5     (aware). It may attack if it     6     (feel) threatened, so we always have to take care     7     keep a safe distance. In addition     8       hard work, the most important thing for the job is to care with love,” said Ma.

When Ma joined the Beijing Zoo, there were only three resident giant pandas. Seeing the improved zoo conditions and the     9     (grow) number of pandas being born, Ma is overjoyed. “To do an ordinary job for a lifetime. I feel it’s worthy,” he said     10     (proud).

For a long time, I had been looking for a piano of my own to practise on. There was a piano shop on the street along which I walked every day to school. Whenever I passed the shop, I would stop, looking at the beautiful piano standing in the comer of the shop window. How I had been dreaming, day and night to possess a piano like that!

Unfortunately, my father was just a clerk. Times were tough during the Depression, and there were five mouths to feed, besides buying coal and wood for the stove. In order to save money, even on cold winter days, my father would walk the seven miles every day to get to work. No he could never afford to buy me an expensive piano. Though he knew I wanted to play that piano so much» buying it was an extravagance (奢侈品) well beyond our family’s income.

One day after school, I went as usual to the shop window to look at the piano. However, to my surprise and disappointment, the piano had gone. I should not have been surprised as others had the right to buy it, if they could afford to. Tears filled my eyes when I thought of not being able to sec that piano any more.

Disappointed, helpless and sad, I wandered aimlessly up and down the street. After about an hour. I returned home. I had just entered into our house, when I heard my mother calling me. I brushed away my tears and followed the sound of her voice into the dining-room.

I could not believe my eyes.

As soon as my father appeared, I hugged him tightly.

10 . When faced with a pandemic, people may become more forgiving. For me, this has become a time to_________my estranged（疏远的）father.

When the COVID-19 lockdown started, my thoughts turned to my father I_________know. He'd separated from my mother when I was a baby, and never_________much even after my mother died. Battling a drug addiction, he'd ended up in jail. I admit that my_________was "really ugly" when he tried to contact me in my young adulthood.

Thirteen years on, the arrival of the pandemic made me_________our relationship again. I didn't want another one of my families not to be here. Now he, who has long_________the habit of taking drugs, works as a pizza delivery man in Florida. Knowing that he has to leave his house and_________for a job during the pandemic, I realized that I had to make things_________without any delay. A few days ago, I called him to_________for my no accepting him. Meanwhile, I was scared he would__________me. However, when we got on FaceTime together, his smile was just so__________. We were mirrors of each other smiling at one another. And it was a good__________.

I took our previous father-daughter relation for granted. However, the COVID-19 crisis has led me to reconsider what's the most__________in my life—the security and affection of the family—and made my efforts to__________and reconnect with each other.

When people cut off contact with a family member, it may not be going to be permanent. Unexpectedly, the virus__________that timeline.