It was a Saturday afternoon. The color of the sky was changing, first light gray, then dark gray, and finally dark and dense. The wind was blowing heavily, and the trees were swaying in the strong wind. It began to rain cats and dogs. Soon, the road was filled with puddles from the rain.

On such a stormy afternoon, my mother took my five­year­old brother, Christopher, and me to a new big toy store she had read about in the newspaper. “So many toys，” the advertisement had shouted in full and flashy color, “that we had to get a huge warehouse to fit them all！”

Christopher and I couldn't have been more excited. We ran across the parking lot, through the cold and biting rain, as fast as our little legs could carry us. We left our mother outside to battle with the frustrating umbrella, which never worked when she wanted it to. “Christine! Take care of your young brother！” Mother shouted at the top of her voice.

“Christine! I'm going to find the Lego section (乐高积木区)! There's a new pirate ship I want, and I have four dollars! Maybe I can buy it！” Christopher exclaimed and ran off excitedly. I only half heard him. I took a right turn and, to my wide­eyed delight, found myself in the midst of the Barbie (芭比) World.

I was studying a Barbie and doing some simple math in my head when suddenly an earthshaking clap of thunder roared from the storm outside. I jumped at the noise, dropping the doll to the floor. The lights flickered (闪烁) once and died, covering everything in a blanket of blackness. Thunder continued to shake the sky and lightning illuminated the store for seconds, casting frightening shadows on my mind.

“Oh no，” I thought, “Where's Christopher？”

“Christine, I'm here.”

Better to Give than to Receive

When a special occasion arrives, a gift often finds its way to a doorstep or an office desk. But once in a while, a present arrives at an unexpected moment as a reminder that someone is thinking about us.

Wanda Anderson remembers such a gift.

The rosebushes were finally in full bloom that day. Seeing roses always brings to mind Wanda's childhood memories. To this young girl, those flowers were a luxury. "We never had money to buy extra things, so even a tired rose was something to cherish," Wanda said.

Nowadays, to have a backyard filled with many different roses is pure enjoyment. Wanda especially loves the very first blooms. Her husband, Dale, devotedly tends the roses and knows this little fact about his wife. So, on this particular morning, he picked the very first flowers of spring, fresh from the garden, just for Wanda.

But as Dale came back, he was met by a neighbor who had dropped by. As the woman turned to go, Dale graciously (有风度地)handed the roses to her. Even though their visitor insisted she didn't want to take them, she was repeatedly assured that the flowers were hers to keep.

“I told her I was happy for her to keep them, but I really wasn't," Wanda said, recalling the emotions she was feeling right then. Seeing her very precious first blooms go out of the door filled her with regret.

Throughout the rest of the morning, Wanda argued with herself, knowing logically it was “better to give than to receive. Nevertheless, she wished she could have kept the roses for herself.

Later that day, the couple just arrived at the post office, where they were about to park the car.

Then, without warning, a bunch of multi-coloured roses appeared at the car's window.

For the rest of the day, she was happy and moved.

It was at least two months before Christmas when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bicycle. Her old Barbie bicycle was just too babyish, and besides, it needed a new tire.

As Christmas drew nearer, her desire for a bicycle seemed to fade, —or so we thought, as she didn’t mention it again. Merrily, we started purchasing the latest fashion—Baby Sitter’s Club dolls—and beautiful story books, a doll house, a holiday dress and toys. Then, much to our surprise, on December 23rd, she proudly announced that she “really wanted a bike more than anything else.”

Now we didn’t know what to do. It was just too late, with all the details of preparing Christmas dinner and buying last-minute gifts. So here we were—Christmas Eve around 9:00 p.m., having just returned from a wonderful party, looking forward to our evening ahead—hours of wrapping children’s presents, parents’ presents, a brother’s presents and friends’ presents. With Almie Rose and her six-year-old brother, Dylan, lay comfortably in their beds. Now we could only think of the bicycle, the guilt and the idea that we were parents who would disappoint their child.

“What if I make a little bicycle out of clay (黏土) and she can trade it for a real one later?” my husband Ron thought.

On Christmas morning, we were excited for Almie to open the package with the clay bike.

Several years ago, I was living in New York and working for an airline, so I never got back home for Christmas. My Christmas was happy too with some other colleagues around. But in my heart I was sad because I couldn’t stay with my family. Sometimes my colleagues would say our Christmas was filled with tears. But this Christmas was different. I was lucky. I had the whole day off, which meant I could stay with my family on Christmas Eve.

When Christmas morning came, I awoke to a small hand on my face. “Dad, Merry Christmas!” was all my younger son had time to say. He seemed to be racing against time. I knew he was hunting for gifts with his brother eagerly. I got down stairs just to see the two little boys’ faces as they looked at the pocket rockets Santa Claus(圣诞老人) had left them. I realized that the real Christmas was for the children who had deep belief in the amazing power of Santa Claus. At first, their fingers went almost shyly over their toys. When their inspection(检查) had been completed, the two boys ensured that the gifts were really delivered by Santa Claus and they dragged everything into the center of the living room.

Delight flooded the room. As their mother began giving out gifts, I smiled to myself, wondering how my unexpected gifts this year would be received. With so many Christmas spent outside, I had prepared so many gifts for my children and together with my wife. I hid them in several secret places. But the children were excellent detectives and they found all of them. They were happily opening packages, thanking considerate Santa Claus for his kindness and ability to know their desires. But I had not received a single one. I knew they had forgotten my existence with my absence(缺席) from their Christmas these years.

I had to admit that my disappointment was growing.

Suddenly my wife walked up to me.

At the end of the class, Mr. Smith announced our assignment for the next Monday was to talk about someone we were grateful to instead of a book report. Upon hearing it, I couldn’t help complaining to Mareya that I was so nervous about having to talk in front of the whole class.

“ Arizona ,you’ve been in at least three plays ,” Mareya pointed out.“ If you don’ t get stage fright in front of those big audiences, why are you bothered by a few kids in our class ?”

It was true, but in a play you were part of a group. I shook my head. Plus, there were so many people I was grateful to. There was no way I could possibly pick just one. Plus, even if I picked one I’ d have no idea what to say. Plus, even if I figured out what to say, I was a million- percent positive I’ d mess up if I tried to say it out loud! I’ d be standing there with everyone staring at me, waiting for words to come out of my mouth.“ Oh , my goodness !” I pulled my sweatshirt hood ( 兜 帽 ) over my face, put my hands over my ears and said,“ I don’t want to talk about it !”

But one thing about really good friends who knew you really well was that they didn’ t always do exactly what you asked them to. Mareya could be pretty pushy talking of being helpful. She scribbled(潦草地写) something on a piece of paper , lifted my hood, and smiled. She’ d drawn a funny elephant (named Franky) with the word BREATHE coming out of its trunk .

“ This is Franky, the ‘everything is going to be all right’ elephant ” Mareya giggled. She held the picture up to her ear and asked, “What’ s that you say, Franky? You think my friend Arizona should come over to my house this weekend so we can work on our talks together?”

Paragraph 1. And that was exactly what happened.

Paragraph 2 .On Monday morning, however, I decided to talk about Mareya.

I was in my room, unwilling to head to the community theatre with “my brother” Henry. He was just adopted by my parents recently. I was not in the mood for being onstage with him.

“Kristie, come here,” my mom called. Following her voice, I found her outside the bathroom, holding a wet book. She gave the book a shake. “Henry’s book was in the bathtub. Did you put it there?” She glared at me—something she never did before Henry came to our home. I didn’t wet his book on purpose. Tears of hurt clouded my eyes. Worse still, she promised to buy him a new copy. My heart ached. Henry was stealing my mother’s love. He was ruining my life.

Meanwhile, Henry was just nearby, absorbed in working on a complicated rope knot (绳结) as usual. Why did a boy like him do the girly work? Far from manly!

Soon, it was time to have to set off for the community theatre. As Henry walked ahead of us to the car, my mom took me aside and said in a low voice, “It’s the first time for Henry to be onstage. Be kind to him, Honey.” I nodded but sighed. Being kind didn’t use to be hard. But after Henry moved in, everything felt different. The theatre used to be a special place for my parents and me. With Henry involved, it didn’t seem so special any more.

Finally, it was our stage time. My heart beat wildly. I forgot my annoyance at Henry for a while. As we kids lined up, ready to act out our short play, I realized how loosely I had tied the drawstring (束带) on my skirt. Sure enough, my skirt began to drop. Laughter from the audience could be heard, and even though I was wearing shorts under my skirt, I could feel my face burst into flames. However, my hands were full. If only someone could help me out!

Right then, Henry sensed my embarrassment.

After the performance, I found Henry and tapped him on the arm gratefully.

Yumi stood at the door of the cabin (小屋).She watched black clouds roll across the sky. "This has been an awful vacation, she said to Mei. “We've been in this cabin all week because of this rain. Then I wanted to go into town with Mom and Dad today, but you got sick."

"I couldn't help it,"   Mei cried.

Yumi didn't listen to her. “My friend Sue is lucky. She's an only child. She never has to miss out on things because of a little sister,"   she said.

With an angry click, she turned on the radio. “Word is just in,"   a man said. “There is a chance of a flash flood in Green Valley. The water in Copper Lake has reached the top of the dam. The dam could give way at any time. People in Green Valley are in danger. They should move to high ground right away. "

“Should we leave?” Mei asked.

“No, Mom and Dad will be home soon. I don't want to leave until they get here, ” Yumi answered.

Yumi was upset. Every past year she loved their vacations in Green Valley. But this year the rain spoiled(毁掉)everything. The sky grew darker. Heavy rain beat against the windows, and thunder shook the cabin. "Yumi, I'm scared," Mei said. “What if the dam breaks?”

“It won't," Yumi said. She hoped Mei believed her. Yumi didn't want Mei to know how scared she was.

The radio stopped in the middle of a song. A man came on the air talking loud and fast. “The Copper Lake Dam has broken. Everyone in Green Valley must move to high ground NOW!”

Yumi's heart raced. "Let's get out of here!” she cried. She took Mei's arm and pulled her outside. They could hear a terrible roar(咆哮)coming from the far end of the valley. Yumi and Mei dashed up the muddy road behind their cabin. The thundering roar grew louder. Yumi looked back. The wall of water was coming faster. It seemed to be swallowing all of Green Valley. In another minute it would hit them.

Yumi saw a large tree just ahead.

In a short time the flood water began to go down.

There was something in the elderly woman’s grace that caught my eye. Although slow and unsure of her steps, the woman moved with deliberation(从容), and there was no hesitation in her gestures.

It was a few years ago, and I had taken a part-time holiday-season job in a video store at the local shopping mall. From inside the store, I could see the people outside rushing by.

The elderly woman entered the store, along with her daughter, who was displaying a serious case of impatience, rolling her eyes, sighing and checking her watch every few seconds. I guessed if she had possessed a rope, she would have fastened it to her mother to drag her along to keep step with the rush of other shoppers.

The elderly woman separated from her daughter and began to seek through the DVDs on the nearest shelf. After the slightest hesitation, I walked over and asked if I could help her find something. The woman smiled up at me and showed me a title written on an old piece of paper.

Rather than rush off to locate the DVD for the woman, I asked her to walk with me so I could show her where she could find it. Looking back, I thought I wanted to enjoy her company for a moment. Something about her deliberate movements reminded me of my own mother, who’d passed away the previous Christmas. I missed my mom and still felt regretful about the moments when I’d used my impatience to make her life unhappy.

As we walked along the back of the store, I introduced its floor plan: old television shows, action movies, cartoons, science fiction. The woman seemed glad of the unrushed company and casual conversation.

We found the DVD and she thanked me, saying that it was the one she’d enjoyed when she was her daughter’s age. Unwillingly, I accompanied her to the cash register, realizing I had to return the elderly woman to her daughter, who was still tapping her foot at the front of the store.