Once a man got lost in a desert. The water in his water bag had run out two days ago. He knew that if he didn’t get some water soon, he would surely die. The man saw a small house ahead of him and moved toward it. After what seemed ages, he dragged his tired body to the door with the last of his strength.

There was no one in the house and it seemed like it had been empty for quite some time. The man entered it, hoping that he might find water inside.

His heart missed a beat when he saw a hand pump (手摇泵). It had a pipe going down through the floor, perhaps tapping a source of water deep underground.

He began working the hand pump, but no water came out. He kept at it and still nothing happened.

Finally, he gave up. He threw up his hands in despair. It looked as if he was going to die after all.

Then the man noticed a bottle in one corner of the house. It was filled with water. He uncorked (拔去……塞子) the bottle and was about to drink the sweet life-giving water, when he noticed a piece of paper attached to it, reading “Use this water to start the pump. Don’t forget to fill the bottle when you’re done.”

What should he do? How would he feel as he watched the water disappear into the pump? What if the pump did not function? What if the pipe had a leak? What if the underground water had long dried up?

But then… maybe the instructions were correct. Should he risk it?

Hands shaking, he poured the water into the pump.

He heard a gurgling (汩汩声) sound, and then water came out.

Karie double-checked the words on her spelling test. If she got 100 scores today, she’d win her class’s First-Quarter Spelling Challenge and a brand new dictionary. Plus, Ms. McCormack had promised to do a handstand if anyone got a perfect score.

Three more words to go. N-i-c-e-l-y. Q-u-i-c-k-l-y. H-o-n-e-s-t-y. Wait! She’d spelled honesty, not honestly. She hurriedly erased the t-y and wrote l-y before handing in her paper. Ms. McCormack graded the test papers at the break. Meanwhile, Karie sat restlessly in her seat with her fingers crossed. Then, Ms. McCormack walked to the front of the room and cleared her throat. As if she were an Olympic gymnast, Ms. McCormack’s feet flipped (翻动) into the air.

“Congratulations, Karie! You did it!” she announced while upside down.

The whole class burst into applause! Ms. McCormack righted herself and presented Karie with her prize. Karie grinned as she read the label on the box:

To Karie Carter, for her perfect first-quarter score in spelling.

“Everything OK?” Mom asked as Karie burst through the front door after school. Karie didn’t answer. As if by magic, she took out her spelling test paper and prize and showed them to her mother. Mom hugged her, asking her to put the test paper on the fridge so that Dad could see it when he got home.

Karie took another look at the test paper before putting it on the fridge. Her hands stopped in mid-air. She just couldn’t believe her own eyes. Honesly?

YES! H-O-N-E-S-L-Y!

Mom sensed something unusual and asked why. Karie stuffed the test paper into her backpack and explained that she was just too excited. Mom brought her some tea. Yes, a “t” was exactly what she needed.

After drinking a little, Karie plodded (沉重缓慢地走) down the hall, lost in thought. How could she tell the class she hadn’t earned the prize after all? That Ms. McCormack did the handstand for nothing?

Later Dad came in with excitement.

The next morning, Karie went to school earlier than usual.

4 . Keller is a first-grade teacher at a school in Greenville County, South Carolina. She was on her way home when she noticed a little boy _______ his bike down a busy highway.

The _______ of such a young child in the midst of all that traffic _______ her. Instantly, she decided to _______ her car around. To her surprise, she _______ the little boy. He was one of her former students!

7-year-old Cameron wasn’t out for a casual bike ride. He was on a(n) _______ mission to save his diabetic (糖尿病的) father who had collapsed at home.

Cameron had _______ calling 911, but he didn’t know the code for his father’s phone. In the _______, he didn’t know how to place an emergency call from the phone. Even worse, when he tried seeking _______ from the neighbors, he ________ no one at their homes. Thus, the ________ little boy did the only thing he could think of. He hopped on his bike and ________ to his grandma’s house, which was five miles away from his. Not only did Keller ________ him and stop, but also she ________ emergency services. With the help of Keller, doctors were able to go to the home and help Cameron’s father in time.

This teacher helped a ________ save a life and the whole experience left Keller in awe. Both Cameron and his dad were grateful for the help they received in their time of need.

5 . Yesterday, a salesman called me by phone, on behalf of a telecommunication company, to sell his phone plans. I was at work and while I usually don’t _________to spend time with those conversations, I _________ myself that I couldn’t talk yet and proposed him to call me back one hour later, at 6 pm.

That’s what he did. So we _________ 15 minutes. He explained to me his different phone plans, which he stated to be better than my_________one. While listening to him, sometimes I was lost in my thoughts. I gave several “hmm hmm”, as a _________of approbation (赞同) and to_________ to him that I was still there. Sometimes, I felt a bit_________, especially as he had a bit of difficulty in correctly talking in French. But I stayed calm and _________ until the end of the discussion.

At the end of the conversation, he_________the following to me: “Thank you, Olivier. You are the first person in a long time, with whom I had a(n) __________     conversation. Usually, people__________at us, insult us, and treat us as thieves. Today, since 10 am, I hadn’t had a(n) __________ without an offense. I know you had a long day at work and you could have __________ in front of your TV or done something else. Instead, you listened carefully to me. I am __________ and I sincerely thank you. I wanted to tell it to you.”

I thanked him for this revelation. I realized how much he could have been the subject of verbal __________ , all through his working days. Yet, he was only doing his job. I hope he will have a good weekend.

A Thanksgiving Day story in the newspaper told of a school teacher who asked her class to draw a picture of something     1     they were thankful for. She     2     (think) over what these children were actually thankful for. And she knew that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys or tables full     3     food. The teacher was taken back with the picture Douglas handed in — a small childishly hand!

She remembered that     7     (frequent) at break she had taken Douglas,     8    small lonely child, by the hand. She often did that with the     9     (child). But it meant so much to Douglas. Perhaps this was everyone’s Thanks-giving, not for the material things     10     (give) to us but for the chance to give something to others.

9 . Some of my earliest memories involve sitting with my dad in his study every night when he came home from the office. I’d watch as he put his personal items away: his watch, wallet, comb and car keys. They would always occupy the same spot on the table every time.

Dad’s comb was jade green. I heard he bought it when he married Mum. Every night, he would smile, hand me the comb and say, “Be a good girl and help Daddy clean it, OK?”

I was more than happy to do it. At age five, this kind of task brought me such joy. I would excitedly turn the tap on, and then brush the comb with a used toothbrush as hard as I could. Satisfied that I’d done a good job, I would proudly return the comb to Dad. He would smile at me, and place the comb on top of his wallet.

About two years later, Dad left his sales job and started his own wholesale business. I started primary school. That was when things started to change. Dad’s business wasn’t doing so well, and our stable life started getting shaky. He didn’t come home as much as he used to. And when he did come home, it was always late and I’d already be in bed. I started to get mad. Why didn’t he listen to Mum and just stick to his old job? Why take the risk and place the whole family in trouble? Over the years, I stopped waiting for him to come home, and stopped going downstairs to check on him.

Now 28, I’ve graduated from college and got a job. Dad’s business has also started to get back on track. Yet the uncomfortable silence between Dad and me went on.

Two days before my birthday last year, Dad came home early. On that evening, I helped him carry his bags into his study as usual. When I turned to leave, he asked me to clean his comb. I looked at him for a while, then took the comb and headed to the sink.

It was a new comb. This one was brown. I hadn’t noticed that he’d changed it. After cleaning it, I passed it back to Dad. He looked at it and smiled. But this time, I noticed something different. My dad had aged. He had wrinkles next to his eyes when he smiled, yet his smile was still as heartwarming as before.

10 . Grace and her family thought they had lost Thor forever when they moved to Windsor, Nova Scotia from British Columbia last August.

“We probably spent seven or eight months looking for Thor,” Grace said. “What made it worse was that there were rumors(谣言) going around that there was dogfighting in our area. We still always hoped that somebody had taken him to be a pet, but you just never knew.”

“It was terrible. My daughter Bronwyn would try to find Thor everywhere, which had been a Christmas present for her. Even while watching TV programmes, she would say, ‘Oh, look! That dog looks like Thor!’” Grace said. Then the family moved, and the hope became impossible.

But one day, the phone rang. It was their former vet in British Columbia, saying Thor was in a rescue shelter(收容所) in High River, Alberta. He had been found at a work camp in the northern part of the place and taken to south by a man planning to keep him. But the man was forced to turn him over to the shelter when he couldn’t keep Thor in his rented home. Luckily, the ring on Thor’s neck gave people some information.

Thor was flown to Nova Scotia last week. The family picked him up at the airport. “Thor was just lying in his box and looking down, and my daughter walked over and said, ‘Hey Thor.’ He immediately stood up, trying to greet my daughter. We let him out and he jumped on her as if he was giving her a big hug and he kissed her face. Then he sat down suddenly at her feet and rolled over for attention. He was cute.” Grace said.