1 . It was 1504, and Columbus was making another trip to the New World. Columbus and his men needed fresh water and food after three months at sea. They saw an island and went on shore. On the island there were unfriendly Indians who refused to give food to them.

Columbus' men were afraid of the Indians, but he had a clever plan.He used body language to tell the Indians about his mysterious (神秘的) power to turn off the light in the sky. He knew about a lunar eclipse (月食) the next night because the information was in his almanac (天文历书).

Columbus told the Indians, “Tomorrow night I'll turn off the light in the sky.”But they didn't believe him. When the eclipse began the next night, the Indians became very frightened. They begged Columbus to turn on the light again, and they quickly gave him all the food and water he wanted. Immediately Columbus and his men hurried back to the ship and sailed away in the moonless night.

After school, I was about to enter into my apartment then I saw a little dirty dog lying beside the dustbin. He looked extremely weak. Immediate the homeless dog filled me with sympathy. So I decided to take him home. I gave him some food and bath. After the bath he looked energy and refreshed. What a lovely dog!

When my parents got home, I asked that I could keep the dog. To my surprised and joy, they agreed. Up to now, he has become a member of our family and everyone had enjoyed his company. Looked at the cute and happy dog today, I realize that I was right to help him. We offered him a shelter and he has brought ourselves great happiness and laughter.

4 . The sun was setting and the farm would be closing soon. I dressed our three daughters quickly as my husband started the van. Cutting down our own Christmas-tree had been a family tradition. As our family grew, so did our excitement for going out to find the perfect tree.

As we walked through the rows of trees, my youngest daughter Kimberly shouted excitedly, “There it is, the perfect tree!” The other two agreed. My husband and I looked at each other, puzzled. Its branches were misshapen and the trunk was visible through the spots where there were no pine needles.

We tried to persuade our daughters into changing their minds, but in vain. We had to tie the tree to the roof of our van and headed home. As we reached our house, Heather jumped out first. Suddenly she shouted, “The tree isn’t there!” We thought she was kidding. However, it wasn’t there.

The girls were so disappointed. “We’ll get another tree tomorrow”, I said, secretly hoping the new tree would be prettier. But the girls gave us the look that no parent could resist. We had no choice but to go back and find that tree.

After driving for about five minutes, we saw our tree on the side of the road. As we got closer, it was apparent that it had been run over by a truck. As we lifted the tree, we saw that a big part of the tree was ripped off, but we took our little broken tree home anyway.

That night, as we decorated our tree, something magical happened. We didn’t realize it at that time that we were making a very special family memory. By the time we were done, I had to admit, it didn’t look sad at all. This is the best tree we have ever had. “It’s perfect!” my second daughter Samantha said excitedly. My husband and I couldn’t have agreed more!

Now we always recall that little broken tree! Year by year, we tell the story of that very special Christmas almost twenty-five years ago.

5 . On September 2nd, BUAA (北京航空航天大学) welcomed its first 2021 student. His name is Xing Yifan, coming together with his parents ahead of time.

"Yifan is 18 years old, but he weighs only 18 kilograms. When 6 months old, he suffered from LAMA2 (渐冻症), a type of disease that no more than a hundred people have got in the country. However, with his strong will, he made one amazing achievement after another in learning. In this year's college entrance exam, he entered BUAA with a score of 645.

Because of the illness, Yifan can only sit alone for a while, unable to stand and walk like other children. In class, he could only put his head on the table and his eyes can only scan half the pages of the book. He couldn't turn over the book with one hand. And he could only sit and listen to a class for up to 30 minutes, with the remaining 15 minutes to lie down to listen to his teacher.

But these did not scare Yifan, with only a little muscle strength left in his hands, he finished one test paper after another, more than 20 a day, often till one or two o'clock in the morning. Finally, he successfully completed the 2021 college entrance examination.

To live is much more difficult than others. Why does he have to learn? The family said because of the serious disease, he was deprived (剥夺) of the right to walk, run, jump, but he can no longer be deprived of the right to education. Xing Yifan decided to let himself be Hawking of China, and change his life with knowledge.

He came to BUAA and stayed in the love dormitory on the first floor. Xing Yifan said he was feeling particularly warm with all the help. He was expecting new college life and hoped to know more students, and take part in lots of activities. Life kisses him with pain, but he sings.

6 . On our way home from school my kid and I shared each other our high and low part of the day. My 12-year-old, Karington, told me her _________ for a classmate with special need. This _________ action brought my tears flowing.

Her story started with, “Mommy, I made a teacher _________ today.” I didn’t know why my first thought was a _________ one. I definitely shouldn’t have _________ her. The rest of her story went like this...

“There’s a boy in my class with hyperactivity (多动症). Everyone _________ him because he does strange things. Today he fell to the _________ I looked around and all these kids were laughing, so I walked up to him and _________ with him. The class stopped laughing. A _________ was walking by the open door and saw my __________. She walked into the room towards me, bursting into __________. She held me up and gave me the tightest __________ ever and kept saying what a __________ girl I was.”

My voice was __________ by a lump (梗) in my throat. Tears flooded my eyes; I __________ them so I could see the road. I couldn’t __________. How could I find the right words to __________ just how proud I was? She looked at me, saw the tears flowing and knew. I didn’t need __________.

There is not a thing my child could do that would make me much __________! Nothing is better than standing up for what is __________ and showing compassion towards others.

9 . My 14-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat at the same time at a second-hand clothing store. It had a black velvet (丝绒) collar, delightful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and a(an) _________ price of merely $28. We looked at each other, saying nothing, but John’s eyes _________. Dark, woolen topcoats were popular just then with teenagers, but could cost several hundred dollars now. John put the coat on and _________ it. He turned from side to side, _________ himself in the mirror with a serious, studied _________ that soon changed into a smile. It’s a perfect _________.

John wore the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big smile. “How did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They love it.” He said, carefully _________ it on the chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, the _________came over John. Quiet, reasoned discussion _________ argument. He became more thoughtful and eager to ____________. “Good dinner, Mum,” he would say every evening. One day when I ____________ that he start on homework before dinner, John said, “You are right, and I guess I will.”

When I asked one of his teachers ____________ caused the changes, she said with laughter, “It must be his coat!”

John and I both know we should never ____________ a person’s clothes for the real person within them. But it is meaningful to ____________ a standard of excellence for the world to see, to practice a standard of excellence in thought, speech and behavior, and to ____________ what is on the inside with what is on the outside.

10 . At thirteen, I was diagnosed (诊断) with kind of attention disorder. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.

In my first literature class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, “Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it.”

She glanced down at me through her glasses, “You are not different from your classmates, young man.” I tried, but I didn’t finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.

In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braile. He lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much education. But Louis didn’t give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots (点), which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.

Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class, being made to learn like the “sighted” students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was not different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problem, why should I ever give up?

I didn’t expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day — with an “A” on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words, “See what you can do when you keep trying?”