When my daughter Lily reached the fourth grade, I occasionally allowed her to walk to and from school alone. One warm spring day, a small friend followed her home after school. This friend had short stumpy legs and long floppy ears. She was the cutest puppy I had ever seen. And Lily begged me to keep her.

I didn’t know what to do. I thought about running an ad in the lost-and-found (失物招领处) but I really didn’t want to. It would break Lily’s heart if someone showed up. Besides, her owners should have watched her more closely, I told myself.

By the end of the week she was part of our family. She was very intelligent and good with Lily. This was a good idea, I thought. We had named the puppy Molly. She followed us everywhere we went. When we went outside, she was one step behind us. When we were back from school or work, she greeted us by wagging her tail and barking cheerfully. When we did chores, she was there to lend a hand, or rather, a paw. It seemed as if she had belonged to us long before.

The following week something told me to check the lost-and-found section in the local paper. One particular ad jumped out at me and my heart pounded with fear at what I read. Someone was begging for the return of a lost puppy near the school. They sounded desperate. My hand shook. I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the phone. But my conscience (良心) was bothering me. I knew in my heart I had to call that number and see if our Molly was the puppy they were desperately seeking. But it was the most difficult thing I’d ever done.

Finally, with sweaty palms, I lifted the phone and dialed. A woman answered. As I described the dog to her in detail, her voice shook with excitement and she wanted to come right over. Within minutes I heard a vehicle pull up at the driveway and some footsteps stop at the door. Head cradled in my hands and heart hammering, a thousand thoughts crossed my mind: I could pretend I wasn’t home or tell her, “I’m sorry, you have the wrong address.” But it was too late: the bell rang and Molly was barking.

Opening the door, I saw a woman with a little girl sitting in a small wheelchair. ________

One summer when I was ten years old,my brother and I received a wonderful gift — tennis rackets (球拍) and balls. We had never had the opportunity to play tennis, so this was exciting. However, there was one problem — the small town we lived in did not have a tennis court (网球场).

One Saturday morning my brother said, “Hey, I’ve got an idea.Let’s take our tennis rackets and balls to the school and hit the balls against the school building.”

“Great idea! Let’s go,” I agreed, not realizing what a lesson we would learn.

When we got to the school ground, no one was around, so we began hitting our balls against the side of the building. “I’ll hit it the first time,” my brother suggested,“then you hit it the next time. We’ll hit it back and forth to each other.” So we began taking turns hitting the ball, getting more confident with each hit. Actually, we became pretty good at returning the ball and we were hitting the ball higher and faster each time. Suddenly, the unexpected thing happened — the ball got out of control and went crashing through one of the upstairs windows, leaving lots of broken glass on the ground. We looked around and no one was in sight except there was a guard sitting there over a distance.

Quietly, I asked, “Now what should I do?”

“Well,” my brother answered, “no one saw us, except that old man down there. And he probably can’t see this far.”

“He probably doesn’t know who we are anyway... Let’s go home,” I added.

As we picked up the rest of our balls and went home, we discussed whether to tell Mom and Dad what had happened. Would we be punished for our mistakes? Would every penny we had saved go to pay for the window? Or just keep it a secret? We thought about all these things all the way.

But that decision was made the moment we walked into the house.

On Monday, my brother and I went to school.

7 . There was once a boy called Mario who loved to have lots of friends at school. However, he wasn’t sure whether or not his classmates were his true friends, so he asked his grandpa. The old man answered, “I have just exactly what you need; it’s in the attic (阁楼). Wait here for a minute.”

Grandpa left, soon returning as though carrying something in his hand, but Mario could see nothing there. “Take it. It’s a very special chair. Because it’s invisible (无形的) it’s rather difficult to sit on, but if you take it to school and you manage to sit on it, you’ll be able to tell who your true friends are.”

Mario took the strange invisible chair and went to school. At break time he asked everyone to form a circle, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair. “Nobody move. You’re about to see something amazing,” Mario said.

Then Mario tried sitting on the chair. He missed and fell straight onto his backside. Everyone had a pretty good laugh. Mario wouldn’t be beaten. He kept trying to sit on the magic chair, and kept falling to the ground... until, suddenly, he tried again and didn’t fall. This time he sat, hovering (悬停) in mid-air.

Looking around, Mario saw George, Lucas, and Diana — three of his best friends — holding him up, so he wouldn’t fall. At the same time, many others he had thought of as friends were doing nothing but make fun of him, enjoying each and every fall.

Leaving with his three friends, Mario explained to them how his grandpa had so cleverly thought of such a good idea. Now he knows that those who take joy in our misfortunes (不幸) when we are in difficulty are not our true friends.

8 . It is every kid’s worst dream and six-year-old Jaden Hayes has lived it—twice.First he lost his dad when he was four and then last month his mom died ___ in her sleep.

“I tried and I tried and I tried to get her ___—I couldn’t,” said Jaden.Jaden is understandably ___.But there’s an improvement on his sadness.A few weeks ago he told his aunt,Barbara DiCola.“He was sick and ___ of seeing everyone sad all the time.And he had a ___ to fix it.And that was the ___ of it,” said Barbara.“That’s where the ___ began.”

Jaden asked his aunt Barbara to buy a bunch of little ___ and bring him to downtown Savannah,Georgia near where he ___ so he could give them away.“I’m trying to make people smile,” said Jaden.Jaden aims at people who aren’t already smiling and then ____ their day around.He’s gone out on four ____ occasions (场合) now and he is always successful.Even if sometimes he doesn’t get exactly the ____ he was hoping for.It is just so hard to ____ for some people that a six-year-old boy would give away a toy—____ nothing in return—except a smile.

“I’m counting on the ____ to be 33,000,” said Jaden.When asked if he thinks he can make that goal,he answered,“I believe I can.”

Roger’s grandpa was coming over to stay with them this weekend. Roger and his grandfather always had fun together. Grandpa once drummed in a band. He and Roger could make the whole house shake with their music.

“Some of the Grandpa’s joints(关节) are hurting him today.” Mum said, “Let’s give him time to rest, OK?”

“Sure,” Roger said. They would play drums for just a little while.

Roger practiced all morning. Finally, Dad’s car pulled up in front of the house. The car door opened and Grandpa stepped out.

“Hi, Grandpa!” Roger shouted from his bedroom window. “Listen to this!”

He rocked. He rolled. He drummed like Grandpa had taught him. Leaping up, he raced outside to his grandfather. “What did you think?” Roger asked. “Are you ready to drum together?”

“It was wonderful,” Grandpa said, giving Roger a hug. “But I’m sorry. I can’t play right now.” He went inside.

Dad smiled at Roger. “That’s fantastic ! Grandpa’s little tired. Maybe he’ll want to play later.”

But later, Grandpa just wanted to sit on the couch. He talked with Mom and played with baby Lucy. When Lucy threw her doll on the floor, Grandpa reached for it. He tried to pick it up, but the doll fell out of his hand. He tried again. The same thing happened.

Roger hurried over to help. He gave the doll to Lucy. Then he turned to ask, “Grandpa, are you ready to play the drums yet?”

Grandpa shook his head. “I’m sorry, Roger,” he said, “Not now.”

After lunch, Roger went to his room to get his skateboard. Someone was already inside. Grandpa stood near the drum set. He picked up a drumstick and began to play. Tap! Tap!

The drumstick clattered to the floor. Roger ran over and picked it up. “Here!” He held it out. Grandpa rubbed his hand. His fingers looked red and swollen.

“I can’t play today, Roger.” he said. “Maybe you’ll play later and I’ll listen.”

Roger thought for a long time and got an idea. His friend Jamie got a pedal(脚踏板) that could be linked to the drumsticks.

While Grandpa was talking to Mom, Roger told Dad about his plan.

Roger opened the box and said, “You can play the drums with your foot on the pedal now! ”