1 . I have been looking forward to visiting Paris since I was young. When my daily life in New Jersey seemed boring, I _______ about walking around the streets of Paris. With our financial situation _______, European travel became a _______. 

Travelling to France with my _______ was exciting, but it would not be _______ without facing problems and figuring them out. 

We had just started to get _______ with the Paris subway system. Thus using it was very difficult. We were walking at a slow pace _______ we realised the subway was about to leave. As soon as I _______ the subway, the doors shut with my mom on the other side. I did not have my cellphone, neither of us spoke a word of _______ and we had no idea how to ________ each other. My mom and I, who were both ________, began to pound on the doors. Suddenly, a man with a puzzled look on his face walked over to the doors and simply ________ them. My mom stepped on and we hugged as if we ________ for the first time in years. A huge sense of ________ washed over us, followed by embarrassment. 

________, my mom and I were able to celebrate the victories of finding destinations.

Gramma Goodie visits her grandsons every Sunday afternoon. Every visit starts the same. First she rings the doorbell.Then Chris jumps down the stairs.Jamie runs to open the door. And every time,Gramma Goodie has gifts.But the kids never know what she’ll bring.

Sometimes it’s something you need,like socks or underwear. Sometimes it’s movie tickets or a giant teddy bear.It could be a kite or a stuffed (填充的) baby kangaroo. It could be a lollipop (棒棒糖) that turns your tongue blue.

Well, one Sunday, Gramma rang the doorbell. Chris hurried down the stairs. And Jamie opened the door.

“Hello, my darlings,” Gramma Goodie said with a smile. “Look what I have for you.” She pulled out a pack of cards, and they played “Go fish” all afternoon. At the end of the day, Gramma gave the kids kisses. Then she said her good-byes.

As she drove away,Chris and Jamie heard their parents talking. They said that Gramma Goodie’s birthday was next Sunday. They were going to plan a special dinner and bake a delicious cake for her birthday surprise.

“Gramma Goodie has a birthday?” they thought. Both were a little puzzled.Grown-ups have birthdays? Who in the world knew?

“Well, we have to get her a gift,” Jamie said.

“But what?” asked Chris. “Gramma Goodie has almost EVERYTHING!”

Jamie thought about scarves and flowers. But Gramma had plenty of scarves and a huge rose garden. Chris thought about books, pillows and photo albums. A diary? She had one.An umbrella? She had that too. A radio? There is one in her kitchen. Oh, what would Chris and Jamie do? They spent all week thinking.

On Sunday, the doorbell rang.

“What’s this?” asked Gramma Goodie.

A man came home from work late, tired and unhappy, to find his 5—year—old son waiting for him at the door. How the boy wished to have fun with his father at home even for a short time.

“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

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

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

“That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.

“I just want to know. Please tell me. How much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy.

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

“Oh,” the little boy replied with the head down.

Looking up, he said. “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?

The father was angry. “If the only reason 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 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?” he thought to himself.

After about an hour or so, the man calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and 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 hard on you earlier,” said the man. “It has been a long day and I took out my anger on you. Here’s the $10 you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh. Thank you, daddy!” he shouted. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled(皱巴巴的)bills.

7 . My father loves his garden. He planted some seeds in it. But at that time, I didn’t understand why working in the dirt excited him so much.

Unfortunately, in early May, my father was seriously injured in an accident. He had to stay in bed for a while. My mother had several business trips, so she couldn’t take care of the garden. I didn’t want my father to worry, so I said that I would take care of his garden until he recovered. I assumed that the little plants would continue to grow as long as they had water, and luckily it rained fairly often, so I didn’t think much about the garden.

One Saturday morning, my father said to me, “Christine, the vegetables should be about ready to be picked. Let’s have a salad today!” I went out to the garden and was upset to see that many of the lettuce leaves and carrots had been half eaten by bugs. There were hundreds of bugs all over them!

I panicked for a moment but then I quietly went to the nearest store to buy some vegetables. When I gave the salad to him, he said, “Oh, Christine, what a beautiful salad! I can’t believe the carrots are this big already. You must be taking very good care of my garden.” I felt a little bit guilty.

Coming home, my mother saw the bag from the supermarket in the kitchen. I was embarrassed, and I admitted Dad wanted a salad but the garden was a disaster. I didn’t want to disappoint him so I went to the store. She laughed but promised to help me in the garden and weeks later I was finally able to pick some vegetables.

I carefully made a salad and took it to my father. He looked at it with a hint of a smile, “Christine, the carrots are smaller in this salad, but they taste better.”

Now, I better understand how putting a lot of effort into caring for something can help you appreciate the results more, however small they may be. Perhaps this was one of the reasons for my father’s love of gardening.

One weekend in July, Jane and her husband, Tom, had driven three hours to camp overnight by a lake in the forest. Unfortunately, on the way an unpleasant subject came up and they started to quarrel. By the time they reached the lake, Jane was so angry that she said to Tom, “I'm going to find a better spot for us to camp” and walked away.

With no path to follow, Jane just walked on for quite a long time. After she had climbed to a high place, she turned around, hoping to see the lake. To her surprise, she saw nothing but forest and, far beyond, a snowcapped mountain top. She suddenly realized that she was lost.

“Tom!” she cried. “Help!”

No reply. If only she had not left her mobile phone in that bag with Tom. Jane kept moving, but the farther she walked, the more confused she became. As night was beginning to fall, Jane was so tired that she had to stop for the night. Lying awake in the dark, Jane wanted very much to be with Tom and her family. She wanted to hold him and tell him how much she loved him.

Jane rose at the break of day, hungry and thirsty. She could hear water trickling (滴落) somewhere at a distance. Quickly she followed the sound to a stream. To her great joy, she also saw some berry bushes. She drank and ate a few berries. Never in her life had she tasted anything better.

As she picked her way carefully along the stream, Jane heard a helicopter. Is that for me? Unfortunately,the trees made it impossible for people to see her from above. A few minutes later, another helicopter flew overhead. Jane took off her yellow blouse, thinking that she should go to an open area and flag them if they came back again.

My Dad’s Best Flower

I remember my first home was a small apartment on the second floor with a lovely and spacious balcony. When my mom was busy in the kitchen, she let me stay on the balcony watching the kids playing in the street. On that balcony I played sometimes with my elder sister, Maria. She was seven years old and when my mom was absent, she was like a mother to me. The balcony was a great hobby place for my father. After his work he used to grow carnations (康乃馨) in flower boxes. His carnations were red, pink and white, and everyone appreciated them for their beauty.

He took care of them with so much love and devotion. He dealt carefully with his flowers like a mother taking care of her baby. Many times I sat on the floor of the balcony for hours observing him and his lovely flowers with patience. He was always doing something on that balcony. He was watering them every day, cleaning the balcony floor, changing the potting soil and when the stems were thick, strong and high enough, he started his improvement operation attentively like a doctor.

My dad took a tiny knife and with his left hand he held the stem of the carnation and measured the height. Then he made a small mark on the stem with his finger. Afterwards he made a sharp cut with the knife, just enough to fit in again of barley (插穗的芽). Then he bandaged the stem with a small bandage. His job was then to water the plants and to take care of them. “No one should touch them,” he said to Mom. Every day, when he came home from work he went straight to the balcony.

Mom used to tell us, “Do not touch Daddy’s flowers.” For us it was a fascinating experience to watch how the small stems were growing and making flowers. When the carnations had grown big enough, my dad enjoyed watching them every day. We the kids did too.

One day, my elder sister, who loved Dad very much, had a great idea.

When my dad arrived, he went as usual, straight to the balcony and saw his flowers lying on the floor like dead animals.