The cheerful girl, Jenny, with golden hair was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw a necklace of shining white pearls in a pink metal box. Quickly the mother checked the back of the little metal box and then looked back into the begging blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face. “A dollar and ninety­five cents. That’s almost $2. If you really want it, I’ll think of some extra housework for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy it for yourself. Besides, you might get another dollar bill from Grandma on your birthday a week away.”

After dinner back home, she did more housework and even she asked the neighbor for housework for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at least she had enough money to buy the cheap necklace from the dime store (廉价商店).

Jenny loved her pearl necklace. She wore it everywhere. The only time she took it off was when swimming.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you love me?”

“Oh, daddy. You know that I love you.”

“Then give me your necklace.”

“Oh, daddy, not my pearl necklace. But you can have my Barbie doll — the one you gave me. She’s my favorite.”

“That’s okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night.” And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

Daddy repeated the same request about a week after the story time. However, Jenny refused and wouldn’t give up her necklace to her daddy.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed, waiting for her father.

With tears in his own eyes, Jenny’s kind daddy reached out one hand to take the cheap necklace.

It was somewhere between spring and summer, and my mom and I were driving through the countryside. Back then, I was 13 years old, and always felt unhappy with Mom. But I didn’t know that this trip was going to be a special one.

A pot of flowers sat in the back seat, whose heavenly fragrance(香味)filled the car. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, my mom stopped the car. “What are you doing?” I shouted, fearing that the car had broken down and we’d be trapped there, so far from home. But that wasn’t the case. My mom jumped out of the car, grabbing(抓)the flowers from the back seat. “It’ll just be a minute,” she called back through the open windows.

I impatiently looked at the side of the road before finding a little sign showing that it was a nursing home. I looked back to the building, a little annoyed, as my mom reappeared ——empty- handed.

Before she started the car, curiosity drove me to ask, “Do you know someone there?” She shook her head. “Then what did you do with the flowers?” She smiled slightly, “I gave them to the receptionist (前台接待员).” “What?” She laughed at my confusion. “I told the receptionist to give the flowers to whoever needed them, especially those who haven’t gotten any in a while.”

I kept silent for a moment. Not long after we continued our driving, I spoke again, “Did you leave your name?” To this, she answered instantly, “No. Leaving flowers there for someone who will appreciate them makes me feel good, which is enough of a thank for me.”

Suddenly, still thinking about Mom’s deeds, I heard something burst loudly. It was our car that broke down! Nothing could be worse, because neither my mom nor I understood how to repair it, and we didn’t know where the garage was. It also seemed impossible to wait for any passer-by, since we had seen so few people along the way.

We were worrying about what could be done.

As we drove along, a flower shop came into sight on the road.

Robert and Henry were two friends in the same class. They always played together and went home together. One day Robert and Henry were going home from school. When they turned around a corner, Robert cried out, “A fight! Let’s go and see!”

“No,” said Henry. “Let us go quietly home and not meddle in (插手) this quarrel. We have nothing to do with (与……没有关系) it and may get into trouble.

“You are a coward (胆小鬼), and afraid to go,” said Robert, and off he ran. Henry went straight home, and in the afternoon went to school as usual.

Late, Robert told all the boys that Henry was a coward, and they laughed at him. From then on, they looked down upon (瞧不起) Henry and didn’t want to play with him together.

Henry was sad but he wasn’t angry with Robert. He just ignored (不理睬) the other boys’ laughter and continued to go to school and study as well. However, Robert didn’t invite Henry to go home with him any more. He had some other boys and they also said Henry was a coward. Every day after school, they didn’t go home directly but went to the river or somewhere to play games and had a lot of fun.

A few days later, Robert was bathing with his new friends in a river, and got out of his depth (深度). He struggled, and screamed (尖叫) for help, but all in vain (徒劳). The other boys got out of the water as fast as they could, and they did not even try to help him.

Robert was fast sinking (下沉).

Thus, Robert’s life was saved (救).

A few years ago, the company I worked for sent my wife and me to live in New York for a year. I’ve always loved running, so I was really happy when I found out I lived next to Central Park. This meant that every morning I could go for a run before I went to work.

Because a lot of people had told me to be careful of robbers in the park, so usually I didn’t take anything with me. How could they rob me if I didn’t have anything? But one morning, my wife gave me a S 10 bill and asked me to buy some bread on the way.

It was a beautiful morning and the park was quiet with very few people walking or jogging (慢跑) around. While I was running through the park, another jogger knocked into me. He apologized and continued running. For a while, I didn’t think too much of it. However, when I noticed the wide path where I was running, I thought was kind of strange. The warning of robbers in the park occurred to me. ”It could have been a robber!” I suddenly became alarmed, so I checked my pocket and found that the money was missing. Without thinking twice, I ran after that jogger. I finally caught up and held him by the arm. I shouted, “Give me the $10 bill! Now!” I am not usually a hot-headed (性急的) person, but I got really angry this time. I couldn’t believe the robbery was actually happening to me. Filled with anger, I shook my fist at him. This seemed to frighten him. He quickly put his hand in his pocket and gave me the money. Then he ran away as fast as he could.

I bought the bread and went home. As soon as I got home, I couldn’t wait to tell my wife my story. “You won’t believe what happened to me,” I started with pride. She immediately stopped me, “I know, you left the money for the bread on the kitchen table.”

Looking at the money on the table, I stood there, shocked.

Growing up, I wanted to be just like my mom. She was kind and caring, and always made people comfortable in her presence. For years she was a volunteer in our community. I love going to the local nursing home to help with her when I was a child. However, once I became a teenager, I was too caught up in my adolescent world to worry about helping others.

One particular summer day when I was 12, Mom came into my room and told me to get up and meet her at the car. But I had planned to spend the day at the lake with friends. Why did she have to ruin everything? At last, I made my way outside with my mother. Angry and annoyed, I climbed into the car and shoot the door loudly. I sat in silence, too upset to talk. “Tasha, do you know where we are going?” Mom asked calmly. I remained silent. “Sweetheart, we’re going to the children’s shelter. I have been there before and I think it would benefit you,” she explained.

I feel a pain slowly form in my stomach. How was I supposed to help there?

When we reached the shelter, I was rather surprised. As we approached the front door, wind bells played a calming tune while trees and flowers welcomed us. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so.

Mom rang the doorbell. We were led to the front room, where all of the children were playing. Toys were spread out across the floor. I noticed a baby whose body was seriously wounded. Most of the children had noticeable physical scars such as cuts, burns and scratches. What a terrible life they must had had before they moved here! My heart sank. As I was looking around, I felt a gentle pull on my shirt.

It was time to go home. “Remember to work on your class speeches for homework,” Miss Walker said as everyone started talking and packing their school bags. Jenny felt sick. She hated having to read aloud in class. She was sure everyone would get really bored with listening to her. Once, when Jenny was reading out her holiday diary, Lee was even looking at his watch, a silver and blue one which seemed just magical.

Jenny watched Lee walk ahead of her as they left school. He seemed so clever, and he had a certain sort of shining confidence. He was just one of those people who were good at everything. Jenny sighed. As she turned the corner, she saw Lee’s watch lying right in the middle of the path.

Jenny picked it up and wanted to return it to Lee, but she couldn’t catch up with him. When she arrived home, Jenny put it on, thinking about the magic. She was surprised that it fitted so well. She walked to the mirror and started practicing her speech. Words just flooded out of her. “I’m going to talk about swimming. I have been lucky. I’ve won lots of competitions. But when I’m in a race, I’m not really thinking about winning. I’m just loving the feeling of being in the water…” Jenny laughed with excitement. She walked across the room. She suddenly seemed to have a certain sort of confidence. Turning back to the minor, Jenny saw a flash of light from the watch in the glass. The flashes of silver seemed almost magical. So maybe Lee’s watch really did have something magical.

The next day, as the lesson began, Miss Walker ask cd who was going to be brave and go first. Nobody moved, Jenny slowly raised her arm. Before Miss Walker could say something, there was a shout “She’s stolen in y watch!” Lee said angrily. “It went missing at school yesterday.”

Everybody was fixing their eyes on Jenny, waiting for an explanation,

Miss Walker smiled and asked the class lo listen lo Jenny’s speech first.