Cameron Bloom, his wife Sam and their three daughters were a happy family. They were enjoying their holiday in Thailand when a terrible accident happened. Sam was badly hurt and the doctor told her she would never walk again. Sam's world fell apart(崩溃) and she felt depressed.
Sam's family did everything to cheer her up, but it was clear that they were losing her. Until one day, an injured young magpie(喜鹊) dropped into their lives. They named her Penguin Bloom and the bird became a lovely member of the family.
Penguin and Sam soon became close friends and one was always looking after the other. When Penguin was weak and sick, Sam would lovingly nurse her back to health. And when Sam found it hard to moving, Penguin would sing loudly to cheer her on.
As the little magpie got better and grew into a strong and beautiful bird, Sam found joy and strength of her own. A year after her accident, she took up Kayak(皮艇) racing. Another year on, she had become one of the Australia's leading Para-athletes(残疾运动员).
Sam got through it, thanks to her family, exercise and yes, the friendship of a little bird. Penguin was saved by the Blooms at first, and in return she saved them in ways they could not have imagined.
a. Injured Penguin came into Sam's life b. Sam got through the hardest time
c. Sam became a successful Para-athlete d. A terrible accident happened to Sam
Karen has two children, a boy named Dave and a girl Nancy. They are both lovely. And the boy loves his little sister very much for he thinks he must protect her. Yet, the little girl got a serious illness one day and needed some blood. But the hospital couldn't find the same type of blood for the girl. Karen knew her both children have the same type of blood. So she asked her son, "Would you like to give your blood to your sister?"
Dave agreed at once. After transferring his blood, the boy asked his mother, "Mom, how long can I live from now on?" Karen understood her son had thought he would die soon after he lost some of his blood. So she said to him, "Don't worry, my son. You won't die if you lose a little blood."
"Really? How long can I live?" the boy asked his mother again. "I think you can live to be 100 years old," smiled his mother. The boy lifted his arms and said happily, "Well, please give half of my blood to my little sister! Then both of us can live 50 years!"
Many years ago, in 1971, the US table tennis team was at the World Championship(锦标赛)in Japan. The team from the People's Republic of China was also there. This championship took place during the days of the Cold War and so the American and the Chinese players didn't even talk to each other.
Glen Cowan, from the US team, didn't like the situation. One day, he saw a Chinese player and invited him to play. They played together for 15 minutes, and Cowan missed the US bus back to the hotel.
Then, something surprising happened. One of the Chinese players waved to Cowan from the Chinese bus. He thought for a moment and then he got on the bus. But they didn't talk with each other. Suddenly Zhuang Zedong, three times world champion, came up to Cowan. "What are you doing?" said the other Chinese players. "Don't talk to him! Don't make trouble!" Zedong gave Cowan a silk scarf. "I give you this to show the friendship of the Chinese people to the American people." He said through a translator. Cowan wanted to give something back, but he didn't have anything with him.
Then the bus arrived at the hotel. There were lots of reporters. It was big news to see an American and a Chinese player together.
Later, Cowan bought a T-shirt with a peace flag on it, and he gave it to Zedong. The two men became friends. In the same year, the US team got an invitation to visit China, and in February 1972, US President Richard Nixon went to China on a historic visit. Many people say that the two men and their friendship made a better relationship between their countries possible.
a. Zedong gave a silk scarf to Cowan.
b. Cowan gave a T-shirt to Zedong.
c. Cowan missed the bus to the hotel.
d. Reporter were waiting at the hotel.
e. Cowan played ping－pong with a Chinese player.
There are many animals in an animal city, such as peacocks, elephants, ducks, cats, etc. One of the peacocks is very beautiful. He is very proud and he shows himself in front of other animals all day and he always says how beautiful he is. When other animals have difficulties, he is never willing to help them and sometimes laughs at them. So the animals hate him and never play with him.
One morning, the peacock went out to play. He walked around and got lost. When he was nervous, he saw an old elephant swimming in the lake, and he walked up to the elephant with his head raised and his beautiful tail spread, and then he asked, "Hey! How can I get to the nearby park?" The elephant ignored him. The peacock thought he could not hear, and asked again, "Hey! How can I go to the nearby park?" The elephant still didn't look at him, and then the peacock shouted, "Hey! How can I go to the nearby park?Hey! Didn't you hear me?I'm asking you! Are you a deaf?" Then the elephant turned around and looked at him, but he did not say any words and turned to swim.
Then a cat came from a distance. The cat walked next to the elephant and asked, "Excuse me, could you please tell me the way to the nearby park?" The elephant answered with a smile, "Well, just go this way to the end and turn left. " At that time, the peacock realized that the elephant ignored him on purpose, so he asked loudly, "Why would you tell the kitten, but you wouldn't tell me?" The elephant turned around and said, "When you say, 'Hey!' Who do you ask?Didn't you see it just now?The kitten was so polite to me. What about you?What you only know is to show off yourself. You can't blame others who ignored you. "
After listening to the elephant, the face of the peacock turned red. He lowered his head, and said, "Thank you for your teaching, I will correct it. " Since then, ____▲____.
Many people dream of going on a great travel adventure. Most of us keep dreaming; others make it happen.
Gregg Bleakney's dream was to travel the Americas from top to bottom. He got the idea after he finished a 1,600 kilometer bike ride. Gregg's friend, Brooks Allen, was also a cyclist. The two friends talked and decided their goal: they would travel from Alaska(阿拉斯加)to Argentina(阿根廷)—by bike.
To pay for the journey, Gregg and Brooks worked and saved money for years. In 2005, after four years of planning, they set off. Once they were on the road, they often camped outdoors or stayed in cheap places. In many places along their way, local people opened their homes to the two friends and gave them food. During their trip, Gregg and Brooks cycled through deserts, rainforests, and mountains. They visited modern cities and researched ancient ruins(遗迹)such as Tikal in Guatemala(危地马拉). In many places, they met other cyclists from all over the world.
In May 2007—two years, 12 countries, and over 30, 500 km later—Gregg finally reached Ushuaia, Argentina, at the top of South America. (Near Guatemala, Brooks had to return to the US and Gregg continued without him.)
Gregg and Brooks kept a record of their adventures in an online blog. The trip taught both men a lot about traveling. Here is some of Gregg's advice：
★Travel light. The fewer things you have, the less you'll worry about.
★Be flexible. Don't plan everything. Then you'll be more relaxed and happy, even when there are challenges along the way.
★Be polite. As one traveler told Gregg, "Always remember that nobody wants to fight, cheat, or rob a nice guy."
There was a boy and his family was very rich. One day his father took him on a trip to a place. He wanted to show his son how poor people were there. They spent several days on a farm. There were many poor families living on the farm.
On their way home, the father asked the son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad," the son answered. "Did you notice how poor people were there?" asked his father. "Oh, yes," said the son. "So, tell me," said his father. The son said, "Well, we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool in our garden, while they have a river that has no end. We have expensive lanterns (灯), but they have stars above their heads at night. We have only a small piece of land to live on, while they have the endless fields. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have high walls around our houses to protect us, but they don't need walls, because their friends will protect them. "
The father had nothing to say. Then the boy added, "Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are."
Last year, Bob visited Vancouver, Canada alone. He went there to give a talk on the environment. When it was over, he traveled to the Rocky Mountains and stayed in the Maple Leaf Hotel. He then took a short walk to look at the local (当地的) plants in the forest. After a few hours, he knew he took the wrong way, but was sure he could get back to the hotel.
However, after walking for several hours the next day, Bob knew he was in trouble. "I had my mobile phone, but the battery (电池) was almost dead. I could probably make just one call. But I didn't know the number of my hotel and I didn't want to worry my family unless I really had to," said Bob. He went on walking for three more days. He knew which plants he could eat and he had little trouble finding them.
On the fourth day, he knew it was hopeless and decided to call his family. "He was quite calm when he spoke to me on the phone," said Shirley, Bob's wife (妻子). "He seemed to be in control of the situation. " Shirley called the Maple Leaf Hotel at once. "That week lots of visitors went to the city to watch basketball games, and we thought Mr. Rigsby went there too," said the hotel owner. As soon as Shirley phoned, the hotel sent out some people to look for Bob. They found him about one hour later, and luckily he was quite unhurt.
"I will never go to the forest without a guide. I never want an experience like that again," said Bob.
Last weekend at the airport, I had some extra time before going through security to catch my flight. While wondering what to do, I decided it was the perfect time and place to look for an act of kindness to do.
Outside security there was a girl having flowers for sale. I told her that Td like to buy flowers for someone else, and she could decide who to give them to. She looked a little confused, so I suggested perhaps she should give them to someone who looked a little sad. That was because he or she might need some cheering up.
At first, the girl answered, "That's crazy." But then I explained a little more about the idea of doing something kind' for a stranger, and she understood.
"I'll never know how it 'turns out头" I said. "But you will have the opportunity to make someone have a good day." At the time, she started to seem excited about it.
She .went to take the flowers out of the water they were sitting in, and I explained," It's fine to leave them there until the person you want to cheer up comes."
At that point, I think she was between surprised and happy, because it might be her first time to meet a customer like me. I paid for the flowers, said goodbye, and joined in the security line. What a nice day I had!
In a city in France, a history teacher named Mitchell found a note in an old book. It said there was a large amount of treasure buried on an island near the city.
Mitchell invited his school's gym teacher Scott to go with him to the island. They brought water, food, and set out for the island. At first, they thought they would find the treasure and be back in a day or two. However, they got lost at sea and had no idea how to get back home.
They finished all of their food by the seventh day. There was just half a bottle of water left. Scott kept it from Mitchell and wouldn't let him drink it.
"Please, give me some water." Mitchell begged. He grabbed at the bottle and started fighting with Scott. In the end. Scott beat Mitchell to death.
Two days later, Scott was rescued (获救). He went onboard the rescue ship and took off his hat. His head was all wet with sweat.
Officer Derek watched Scott board the boat. He waited for Scott to tell his story. Scott later said that he killed Mitchell accidentally. He said he was trying to stop Mitchell from drinking seawater. By that time, they hadn't had any fresh water to drink for seven days.
"Are you sure that you hadn't had any water for seven days?" Derek said.
"Yes, it was all my fault. I was just trying to stop him from drinking the seawater," Scott answered
"I see. That's quite interesting, Scott. I think you're lying. You killed him on purpose so you wouldn't have to share any fresh water with him."
How did Derek know that Scott was lying?
①Scott was rescued ②got lost at sea
③set out for the island ④fought for water ⑤learnt about the treasure
It was just the three of us-my parents and me. My dad was a truck driver and was gone most of the time, so my mom was almost like a single mother.
We moved to a small house with a yard in Brighton on my third birthday. My first memory was our neighbor Arlene handing me strawberries from her garden. She and her husband, Bill, lived next door.
There weren't any kids of my age in the neighborhood, so I mostly played in the yard with my dogs. Arlene spent lots of time working in the garden, and I was always talking to her from our yard. She never got tired of listening to me talk. I think Arlene saw herself in me-we were both lonely kids-and that may be why she always took the time to listen to me. Bill too.
One day, my parents asked Bill and Arlene whether they'd watch me while they were out. This worked well for everyone, so it became a monthly event. They had a spare room in their house, which became "my" room.
Arlene and I would do crafts together. We made clothes for dolls. Bill taught me how to ride a bike and later how to drive a car. He was always fixing something in his garage. I would hang around to chat with him, and he would always stop and listen to me, just like Arlene did.
When I was about five, I had an idea. One day, I knocked on Bill and Arlene's door and said, "Will you be my grandparents?" They started crying and excitedly accepted. They had never thought of having the chance to be parents or even grandparents one day. Soon after, they printed out an adoption certificate and it hung on their living room wall from then on.
From the day I adopted them, I called Bill and Arlene Grandpa and Grandma. Over the years, Bill and Arlene supported me in all my dreams. They encouraged me to apply for college, even though I didn't have the money to go.
Arlene passed away in 2013. At the end of the funeral, I gave the eulogy, "The greatest joy of my ife, my grandmother, Arlene leaves behind her husband, Bill and her granddaughter, Katie. "
After the funeral, Bill gave me the ring he'd gifted to Arlene on their 25th wedding anniversary. It's a gold ring that I wear on my ring finger to help me remember the kind of love I wish to put into this world.
