Mary waited anxiously for her turn in the empty dressing room. Never had she been so nervous before. This competition was of great importance to her comeback. “If I can win today,” she said to herself, “I can dance on the national stage next month.” Three months ago, her left arm was seriously injured in a car accident. After the medical treatment, she began to recover slowly. She practiced over and over again in order to regain her dancing skills.

“Hi, Mary,” in rushed her friend Jessica. “How is your arm? Is it going to influence your performance?”

“I guess it can be tolerated for I am to win the match.” said Mary with a determined look.

“Admirable! But I hear that a girl called Linda is really gifted and strong. She can be your real well-matched competitor. Come on!”

After Jessica left, Mary decided to practice her most difficult spin (旋转). “If I don’t try harder, I won’t grasp this chance.” She thought. But her arm began to hurt, making her worried. “Mary, what makes you think you have a chance tonight?” she said to herself. After the pain was gone, she continued to warm up.

A slim girl hurried in and put down an equipment bag on the chair. Then, she took out her dance dress quickly and put it on skillfully. Seeing Mary, she smiled politely and said “Hi, I’m Linda. I am the next one to you!” Mary nodded in reply but felt uncomfortable. “This is just my competitor. Because of her, I may lose tonight.” Her mind was wandering when Linda let out a scream, “Oh, God, I can’t find my music tape!” Linda searched her bag but in vain (徒劳). “It may be missing on the way.” With these words, she then rushed out.

Suddenly, Mary caught sight of a black box under the chair where Linda put her bag.

Holidays are not necessarily for fun or rest. Doing something meaningful can also gain special pleasure. When the final bell rang, the students were reminded that there was no school on Monday—the Labor Day. “Enjoy your extra day off” said the teacher to her class.

An extra day off unsuited Kayla just fine. She loved breaks. She wanted to go out to play with her friends. When the school bus dropped Kayla off, she ran into the house happily.

“How was school, Kayla?” asked her mom.

“It was great, Mom. I am excited about no school on Monday.”

“You just started back to school two weeks ago. Already in need of a break, huh?” asked Kayla’s mom with a laugh.

Kayla slept in the next morning. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. I trained most of the day, so Kayla enjoyed playing videogames inside. On Sunday, her friends came over and they played basketball for several hours.

Then it was Labor Day, you know, the extra day off that Kayla was so looking forward to. But Kayla was awakened early that morning by her dad. He told Kayla that in honor of Labor Day, the family would be cleaning both inside and outside the house. Kayla couldn’t believe it. This was a holiday. A day when she was supposed to be enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade while playing in her tree house. As Kayla wiped here yes, she began to wonder if this was just a bad dream.

“Kayla, your breakfast is ready. We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get a move on,” said Kayla’s mom. As she sat down at the kitchen table, Kayla asked her parents，

“Are you serious about working today? Isn’t Labor Day a holiday?”

“Yes, Kayla. It is,” replied her dad. “But your mom and I thought working hard today would make you appreciate why Labor Day was observed in the first place.”

At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.

But things began to change as she was doing the chores.

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.

5 . My younger brother would be leaving for college and I was leaving for a new job in Europe. We only had a few precious months left as a family living under the same _________. Everything would change in the _________.

A family of magpies (喜鹊) _________ in our maple tree. This family seemed to be extraordinarily lively. One early morning, the noise was so _________ that my dad went out to see what the birds were doing. He found a young magpie _________ around the yard, flapping (拍打) his little wings and yelling.

Dad looked up in the tree to find Mommy and Daddy Magpie sitting on a branch and glaring _________ at him. He had to do something for the poor little thing. Dad called the zoo for _________. They told him not to _________ it and assured him the baby would learn to fly on its own. Dad no longer _________ the magpie around the yard. He did, however, watch him ____________ from the living room window, just to make sure a cat didn’t turn him into ____________.

The next day I got a ____________ at my summer job. It was from my father. He never called me ____________. He asked me if I saw Morey before I left home—he named the bird Morey.

Driving home from work, I ____________ it wasn’t only about the magpie but also about his own little fledglings (幼鸟) who were ____________ the nest. It was about my brother and me. Dad felt as helpless as the Mommy and Daddy bird watching in the tree. He couldn’t make us fly nor could he ____________ cats once we left the nest.

I got home and found him looking out of the kitchen window with ____________ in his eyes. I ____________ him by saying Morey might have learnt to fly with very good parents raising him.

Soon it was the end of August. Bags were ____________ and it was time for my brother and me to leave the nest. In the end, Dad had nothing to worry about. He ____________ his little fledglings well. And we flew…

6 . A young businessman was traveling down a narrow street, driving a bit too fast in his new Benz. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and ___________when he thought he saw something.

As his car passed, one child appeared, and a brick smashed into the Benz’s side door. He slammed on the brakes and ___________ the Benz back to the spot from ___________the brick had been thrown.

He jumped out of the car, ___________ some kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting “What was that all about and who are you? Just what on earth are you doing?” ___________ a head of steam, he went on “That’s a new car and that brick you threw is gonna cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?” “Please, mister, please, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do!” pleaded the youngster.

“It’s my brother,” he said. “He rolled ___________ the stairs and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t ___________ him up.”

_______, the boy asked the businessman, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the ___________ swelling lump in his ____________. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the ____________, checking to see that ____________ was going to be okay.

“Thank you, sir. And God bless you,” the ____________ child said to him. The man then watched the little boy push his brother to the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back to his Benz...a long, ____________ walk. He never did ____________ the side door. He kept the damage to remind him not to ____________ life so fast that someone has to ____________ a brick at you to get your attention.

Life whispers in your soul and ____________ to your heart. Sometimes, when you don’t have the time to listen...Life throws a brick at your head.

It’s your choice: Listen to the whispers of your soul ____________ wait for the brick!

Do you sometimes ignore loved ones because your life is too fast and busy ____________ them to wonder whether you really love them?

7 . A couple had a son eleven years after they married. They were a loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eye. When the boy was around four years old, one day the father was very tired after work so he asked his wife to pick up their son. The mother, who was very busy in the kitchen, totally forgot about it.

Later the boy lost his way on the street. When the son was found missing, the mother hurried to look for him, but she didn’t find him. The mother felt very sad and didn’t know how to face her husband.

When the father went to the police station after hearing that the son was missing, he looked at his wife and said just four words. What do you think the four words were? The husband just said "I love you, darling."

The son was missing. If he had picked him up earlier, this would not have happened. There is no point in blaming (责备) anyone. His wife had also lost her only child. What his wife needed at that moment was comfort and understanding from her husband. That is what the husband gave his wife. Several weeks later, with the help of the police, the couple finally found their lost son. The family’s relationship became stronger over that time.

Sometimes we spend lots of time asking who is to blame. We miss many chances to give each other support and let each other feel the warmth of human relationships. Get rid of all your unwillingness to forgive, selfishness, and fears and you will find the world is much more wonderful.