2 . It is just past five o’clock on the Chinese New Year’s Eve. The dinner table is already________with white china plates and bowls, full of all sorts of dishes. Luo Yan,________the cover of a large bowl to breathe in the________smell of the soup his wife and mother have prepared. His son, Bofeng, happily takes a________of the chicken his grandfather has already________for him.

Six-year-old Bofeng has not________his grandparents in person for almost a year, and he is full of joy and excitement.________, the whole family could not be happier to be together. Despite the________outside, their happy faces fill the air with warmth while merry________rings throughout the house. The young couple and their son have settled in the________city. Every year, they travel a long way back for the Spring Festival, for their________of “three generations under the same roof”.

After dinner, the whole family________around the television to watch the Spring Festival Gala, while eating snacks and________each other excitedly. In the warmth and________of the room, Luo Yan talks about his plan for the future. “I hope we won’t have to be separated again,” he says, looking at his ageing parents. “We’ll come back more ________. After all, home is where all family members are together.”

Every time Jim crossed the street on his way to work, he would see a little girl selling flowers on the street. She sat by a large green board with the names of the flowers and their prices on it. Unfortunately, no one paid attention to her, and she rarely sold anything. Jim wanted to help her, and one day he got his chance. His aunt would retire, and he thought a bouquet (花束) would be a great gift.

“Hello, could you please make me a bouquet of roses?” Jim said as he approached the girl.

The girl didn’t raise her head and just stared at the same spot on the ground. “I’m Cassy. Thank you for buying flowers from me,” she said. “Could you please select the flowers by yourself and give them to me? I will tie them together for you. I can’t see. ”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jim said as he picked the flowers and handed them to her. Within several seconds, the girl made a lovely bouquet for Jim.

“Here,” she said, holding the bouquet. “That’ll be $5.”

“Thanks. They’re beautiful,” Jim said and walked away after placing the money in the hat beside Cassy.

The next day, Jim went to work and he decided to have a quick talk with Cassy on the way. However, he didn’t see Cassy where she used to be that morning. He thought she might be late and decided to meet her the next day, but she didn’t show up for the next few days in a row (连续地).

Jim was concerned about Cassy, wondering if something bad had happened to Cassy. Surprisingly, he finally met Cassy again on the street with her flowers.

Jim was so delighted to see Cassy that he ran to her at once.

Jim then drove Cassy to her home, where he met her sick mother, Jade.

Now one foot, now the other

Bobby was named after his grandfather, Bob. Bob was the one who helped Bobby learn to walk. “Hold on to my hands, Bobby,”his grandfather said. “Now one foot, now the other.”

One of the best things Bob and Bobby did was to play with the old wooden blocks that were kept on a shelf, in the small sewing room under the front stairs. The blocks had pictures of animals on them. Bob and Bobby would put the blocks one on top of the other very slowly, building a tall tower. Sometimes the tower would be almost finished. “Just one more block,” Bob would say.“And that’s the elephant block.” And they would carefully put the elephant block on the very top. But Bob would sneeze and the tower would fall down. Bobby would laugh and laugh. Then Bob would sit Bobby on his knee and tell him stories.“Bob, tell me the story about how you taught me to walk,” Bobby would say. And his grandfather would tell Bobby how he held Bobby's hands and said, “Now one foot, now the other. And before you knew it ...”

Then one day Bobby came home from school and his grandfather wasn’t there. “Bob is in the hospital,” Dad told Bobby,“He’s had a stroke (中风) and he is too sick to see anyone.” Months later, his father told him that Bob was coming home.

“Now, Bobby,” Dad said, “Bob is still very sick. He can’t move or talk. And he can’t remember us.”Bobby just nodded and didn’t say anything.

One day, Bob tried to say something to Bobby, but the sound that came out was awful. Bobby ran out of the room.“Bob sounded like a monster!” Bobby cried. “He can’t help it, Bobby,”Mom said. So, Bobby went back to the room where Bob was sitting.

“I didn’t mean to run away, Bob. I’m sorry,” Bobby said. “Do you know who I am?” Bobby thought he saw Bob blink (眨眼睛) his eyes.

“Mom,” Bobby called. “Bob knows who I am.”

“Oh Bobby,” Mom said. “Your grandfather doesn’t recognize any of us.”

7 . One pet parrot (鹦鹉) Louie managed to save a Tennessee family. The Kleins were woken up by the bird’s repeated and ________ cries. “If it hadn’t been for him, I probably would have been asleep during the disaster.” Barbara Klein recently told a news agency, “Louie is a true ________. He started shouting ‘Fire’. He had never said that ________ before.”

When they woke up, they were shocked to find the ________ had spread across the rooms of the house. Barbara immediately carried her 5-year-old granddaughter and ________ out of the house. But her husband Larry ________ escaped, and then was sent to hospital for the ________. “Larry ran to the kitchen and was trying to ________ the fire with water,” Barbara said, “Later he ran back into the house to try to ________ our pets and his guitar. He kept saying he couldn’t breathe and I was shouting at him to ________ the house. I quickly told him to get down and he crawled (爬) out.” Barbara said her husband had to ________ in hospital while doctors tried to cure him so that he was able to attend the sixth birthday party of his cute ________.

Although there was nothing left in their home, the family received ________ from a large number of kind people. ________, Louie didn’t survive with them. However, to everyone’s relief, a generous person provided a flat to the Kleins and ________ a new baby parrot to the family. “We call him Louie Jr.,” said Barbara.

It was just another busy day until I met the boy on the bus. He was not a passenger like me. He was, what we call a street child, an 8-10-year-old kid with a worn T-shirt. These poorly dressed kids were seen almost everywhere in Dhaka city. But what was special about that boy was his face. There was “something” in him that caught my attention. That was an angelic(天使般的)baby face with little care.

He got straight into the bus as it stopped at a traffic light. The bus helper shouted at him in the first place. But instead of talking back, the boy kept silent and started handing out a piece of paper to all the passengers. What was written in the paper was, in short, that his father died a couple of years ago. His mother worked at houses. He badly needed money to help his family, so he wished someone warm-hearted to buy chocolates from him.

This was nothing new to people who took a bus every day and I was no different. I had my earphones on, listening to some relaxing music to kill time. When he came to me to get the paper back, I casually gave him some money. Thankfully it brought some smiles on his face. He was about to give me ten chocolates in return for the money I gave to him when I stopped him.

“I don’t like chocolates, brother. So there is no need of chocolates. You can have the money,” I said.

All of a sudden, the smile on his face disappeared.

“I’m not a beggar. Please take the chocolate, or take your money back.”

His straight answer greatly surprised me. I even felt he was slightly angry. I had given money to many kids before, without taking their chocolates. But this time something seemed different. I realized his angelic baby face was not the only thing special about him.

The boy put ten chocolates on my seat and got off the bus.

Having got the boy’s name, I decided to help him.

Tom appeared in front of the house with a can of paint and a big brush. He was going to paint Aunt Poly's fence as he was asked to. A deep sadness settled upon his heart. The fence was long and tall. He dipped the brush into the can and moved it along the first plank unwillingly. He did it again and again. The painted part was very small but the whole fence was endless. He felt tired and sleepy and stopped painting.

Just then Tom heard a noise. He recognized it easily. It came from one of his schoolmates, Ben, who would make strange noises as he ate. Ben was walking by and eating an apple. At that moment, a wonderful idea came to Tom and he felt energized. He wanted first to attract Ben's interest and then let Ben work for him. If other boys passed by, he would do the same to them.“Maybe they even need to give me something for getting the chance to show their ability,”he thought.

He quickly took his brush and painted quietly. Ben saw Tom, walked up to him and greeted him with a wide smile.

Continuing with his painting, Tom intentionally did not look at Ben. He wished for his plan to work and therefore, he did not turn from his work. Tom moved his brush gently and slowly, all the while ignoring Ben. Ben went closer and taunted Tom with sarcasm,“Tom, it's unfortunate that you have work to do. I'm going swimming. Don’t you wish you could go too?”

Tom turned suddenly. “Oh, Ben. I didn't see you. What do you mean by‘unfortunate’? It may be work but it may not be.”

“Do you mean that you enjoy it?” Ben asked, feeling puzzled.

“Of course! How often do we get the chance to be in charge of painting a whole fence?”said Tom. Moving his brush and stepping away, Tom looked at the end result proudly.

Tom's idea took effect.

At last, Ben persuaded Tom into letting him paint the fence.