It was one month before Christmas, when nine-year-old Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bike. _________ bike was just too old, _________ it needed repairing as well.

When Christmas was coming, her dream for a _________ seemed to disappear, for she didn’t mention it again. We were busy _________ some beautiful story books, a doll house, a holiday dress and toys. Then to our surprise, _________ December 24, she said she really wanted a bike more than _________ else.

Now we didn’t know _________ to do. It was just too late. We were busy with Christmas _________ and packing children’s presents, parents’ presents, a brother’s present and friends’ presents till midnight. So there was no time to buy the “right bike” for our little girl. Thinking that we were _______ who would make their child unhappy, we felt ashamed and __________ .

Suddenly my husband had an idea. “What if I make a little bike out of clay(泥土) and write a note that she could trade in(交换) the model bike for a real one?” So he __________ the next five hours carefully working with clay to make a __________ bike.

On Christmas morning, we were so excited when Rose opened the little box with the beautiful red and white ________ bike and the note. She __________ the note loudly. She looked at us and said: “So, does this mean I can trade in this bike for a real one?” Smiling, I said: “Yes.” Rose had tears in her eyes when she replied: “I would never trade in this beautiful bike that Daddy made for me. I prefer to __________ it rather than get a real bike.” At that moment, we would have moved the God to buy her every bike on the earth.

What Will Our Life Be Like in 2040?

Welcome to your future life!

You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is young-looking, In 2040, medical science is better than ever. Many people your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging nanotechnology(纳米技术) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!

You say to your shirt: “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2040, “smart clothes” contain particles(分子) much smaller than the cells(细胞) in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color or shape.

You walk into the kitchen. You grab the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the small computer chip(芯片) on the milk’s label(商标). And it knows the milk is old. In 2040, every food item in the grocery store has a small chip.

It’s time to go to work. In 2040, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve(袖子). Nano-sized “smart technology” is all around you. “Your whole body and surroundings will become part of the same network,” says scientist Ampy Buchholz.

So will all these predictions come true? For new technology to succeed, says futurist Andrew Zolli, “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example—what will be the next?

   I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to sit above the top of it. Mother sat writing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the action of writing must be a most wonderful thing in the world.

Years later, during her final illness, mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,” she said again, “is for Elizabeth.”

I never saw her angry, and never saw her cry. I knew she loved me; she just did it. But as a voting girl, I wanted to have heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter. They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was too emotional(易感动的)”. But she lived “on the surface(表面)”.

As years passed, I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family, I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive(原谅) me.

My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace—it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to mother, I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

But the present of her desk told me, as she’d never been able to, that she was pleased that writing my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside—a photo of my father a one-page letter, folded and refolded many times. It was my letter.

“In any way you chose, mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.”

   Peter was a carpenter(木匠) of our village. Once I asked him to make a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I arrived home that evening, Peter was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill for his work.

My wife said to me quietly: “That’s his ninth cup of tea today.” But she said loudly: “It’s a beautiful table, dear, isn’t it?”

“I won’t decide about that until I see that bill.” I said.

Peter laughed and gave me his bill for the work. It said：

When I was looking at the bill, Peter said: “It’s been a fine day, hasn’t it? Quite sunny.”

“Yes,” I said, “I’m glad it is only the 10th of June.”

“Me too.” said Peter, “You wait—it’ll be a bit hotter by the end of the month.”

“Yes. Hotter—and more expensive. Dining tables will be 20 more expensive on June 30th, won’t they, Peter?”

Peter looked hard at me for half a minute. There was a little smile in his two blue eyes. I gave his bill back to him.

“If it isn’t too much trouble, Peter,” I said, “Please add it up again. You can forget the date.”

I paid him 48.50 and he was happy to get it.

The Boy and the Drum

There was once a poor woman with only one son. One day, she asked her son if there was anything he wanted.
42．.The mother left for the market, feeling very sad, because she did not have enough money to buy a drum.

On the way home, she found a piece of wood and gave it to her son to play with. Later that day, the boy went outside to play. Along the road, he saw an old woman crying. The old woman was trying to start a fire to cook some food, but she didn’t have any wood.
43．. The old woman gave him a piece of bread she had made.

Then, further down the road, the boy met a pot maker’s wife and her crying child. The boy asked her what was wrong.
44．. The boy gave the woman the piece of bread, and she gave him a pot. The boy walked on.

Before long, he saw a husband and wife arguing. He asked them why they were arguing. They said, “We have broken our pot and have nothing to clean our clothes in.” The boy gave his pot to them, and they gave the boy a new coat.

Next, the boy saw a man who had no shirt. The man said he had been robbed on his way home. The robbers had taken his money, and his shirt.
45．. The man was so happy, he gave the boy his horse.

Finally, on his ways home, the boy met a huge group of people going to a wedding. There were musicians, the bridegroom, and his family. Everyone looked sad. The bridegroom’s father said,“We are waiting for a horse. If it doesn’t come soon, we will be late for the wedding.” The boy gave them his new horse. The group asked the boy what they could give him, and he replied, “A drum.” So, the musicians gave him their drum. The boy ran home to tell his mother how he had at last gotten the drum he had wanted.

Tom felt really pleased. When he arrived
46． his seat in the classroom that morning, he f
47． an invitation on his desk. It was from several of his classmates asking him to join them in a camping trip. This was the first time he was asked to join in an out-of-school activity. Why were they asking him now? Nobody seemed to like him. In fact, he had been so lonely that he had drowned(掩盖) his feeling with food. As a result, he had put on a lot of
48．/weIt/, and this gave the kids something more to make
49． of him.

When Tom read the invitation, Nancy went out quickly to tell the others that the trick (恶作剧) had worked. Everyone was happy that Tom thought that was true. But there was no camping trip. The whole thing was
50． (make) up.

First of all, Nancy thought it was fun. But later, when Tom told her that he was going to buy a
51．(sleep) bag with his savings(积蓄), Nancy had a s
52． idea. She
53．/nju: /that Tom’s family had 74.I
54． money, and she hated to see him spend his savings on something he would never use. Nancy also hated to tell Tom the
55．(true). Her close friends would be angry with her.

What could she do now?

   班级将举办英语演讲比赛，请根据思维导图，以“How to Be Happy”为题目，写一篇90词左右的演讲稿。开头和结尾已经给出（不计入总词数）。

Good morning, everybody! The topic I want to talk about today is “How to Be Happy”. The following are my suggestions.