1 . What time will the dinner be?

2 . A man came home from work late to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

“Yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.

“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

“If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”

Looking up, the little boy asked, “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?”

The father was angry, “If the only reason why you asked that is that you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard every day for such this childish behavior?”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. “How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?”

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down and started to think: “Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 because he really didn’t ask for money very often.”

The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door. “Are you asleep, son?” He asked. “No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.

“I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too strict with you earlier,” said the man. “It’s been a long day and I took out my bad feelings on you. Here’s the $10 you asked for.” The little boy sat straight up, smiling, “Oh, thank you, daddy!” Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled(褶皱的)bills.

The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father. “Why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father complained. “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied. “Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

Scout could clearly remember the night she had to leave her home in Poland. It was the beginning of World War II and her family had to escape as soon as possible. She quickly packed a suitcase with a few pieces of clothing, her diary, and her most prized treasure, a silk scarf (围巾). Scout and her best friend, Betty, had persuaded their parents to buy them matching scarves, which they took as a symbol of their friendship. Scout didn’t know she was going to America and would not be returning.

Scout 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. Scout was afraid that Eliza would lose the scarf, but the granddaughter promised, “Don’t worry, Grandma. Nothing’s going to happen to your scarf. You’ll see that it’s going to bring both of us luck.” And with that, Eliza kissed her grandmother and left for the interview.

Leaving the interview, Eliza felt confident that she had got the job so she decided to celebrate by going to a restaurant. Sitting at her table, Eliza felt an elderly woman staring at her for a long time.

“I’m sorry. Do I know you?” Eliza asked.

“I’m sorry, dear, but you remind me of my best friend,” the old woman replied. “She looked like you and used to wear a scarf just like yours.” Eliza listened carefully, with her eyes and mouth wide open. She had heard stories of her grandmother’s best friend and knew the meaning of the scarf. Could this woman be Betty, her grandmother’s childhood friend?

Then the old woman introduced herself, “My name is

The old woman agreed to go with Scout.

4 . As we walk the “path of life”, we may sometimes wish to be alone with our own thoughts, for quiet periods of reflection can lead to personal improvement. However, social life is also important to us. More often than not, close friendships will help smooth out the sometimes rocky road that we are all meant to travel.    1    

The first is the peace that comes from sharing with friends our joy, sadness, success and failure. Here, friendship has a double advantage.    2    And a trouble shared becomes a trouble halved! With true friends, we feel free to share our joy and sadness in full measure. Indeed, the human heart depends on such opportunities for comfort and protection.

    3    We often find it easier to recognize other people’s weaknesses than our own. As a result, if we are guided only by our own feelings, our judgments might be one-sided. On the other hand, our friends are better able to offer advice on important decisions. Also, when we want to talk our problems over with a friend, we have to put our thoughts into words first. This alone helps make our thoughts clearer and brings us a more thorough understanding of our problems.

The last is the help that a friend may offer in many different ways. There are so many things in life that can only be achieved with the help of friends. Friends may have many different ideas and skills.    4    

By the way, it should be pointed out that enjoying the company of a crowd is not the same as being with friends.    5     The relationships should be carefully developed. In this way, we can better walk the “path of life” with the comfort, advice and help from our trusted friends.

Hello, everyone. Today I’d like to share with you about the person I’m most grateful to.

Thank you for listening.

8 . He was already asleep. His bag stood ready by the backdoor. His pencil box was filled with ________ sharpened pencils. A big day lay ________ . My eyes filled with tears as I thought about his new ________ in the morning. My baby was off to high school.

I thought back to his first day of kindergarten (幼儿园). How he ran in ________ to the bus as my heart broke, how his smiling face in the window caused my tears to flow. I thought about how ________ it was to let go of his hand and let him fly ________ for the first time. But this time, I found it was even harder.

Kindergarten is Mother’s Day gifts made with handprints. High school is a funny ________ and a “Love you, Ma.” Kindergarten is excited talks about his day. High school is just “My day was ________, Ma.”

Kindergarten is the ________. High school is the beginning of the end. You know that your time with him at home will become less and less. The moments where your family will always feel ________ at the end of the day are coming to an end. I’ve raised him to ________ us. I’ve raised him to be independent.

As I watched him ________ the bus to high school, my eyes filled with tears again and my heart ached more deeply than it did on his first day of kindergarten. The bus ________, and my eyes met his. He gave a quick wave and ________, “Love you.” And then he made a silly face, and he wanted his mom to go back into the house now and set her mind at ________. I waved back and laughed. High school, here we come.