Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
It was a cold yet sunny Saturday morning in February. Dad’s New Year’s resolution had been to get fit. Mum pushed him out of bed and told him to go jogging by the river. Later, after a nice lie-in, she went downstairs in her dressing gown and found the kids watching TV. She turned it off and said she was going to do something really special for Dad’s birthday. If they overheard anything, just promised to keep it secret.
Jenny looked at Mum with a puzzled expression on her forehead and promised they wouldn’t say anything whatever happened. But Jenny reminded Dad’s birthday was in June and it might be a little too early to get all steamed up about it.
Silent for a moment, Mum said she was not getting everything ready but just wanted to spare enough time for preparation as this year it’s a bigger deal than usual. Dad was going to be 50.
“50! Gosh, that’s half a century,” spluttered Gerry. “I knew he was old, but I didn’t realize he was ancient!”
Indeed, that was why Mum started planning a special party for him. Mum talked with grandma about the plan because her house was the only one in the family that is spacious enough for all friends and relatives. Grandma quite agreed and also started preparing.
“But you know how Dad feels guilty to bother others. You’ve got to admit,” reminded Jenny. Thinking over the special occasion, Mum was continuing with her secret when one evening, Dad was sitting at the dinner table and he suddenly slapped his forehead, “I just realized that I am going to be 50 in June. Let’s just quietly forget about it. I want to mourn (哀悼) the passing of my youth in private.”
“Oh, come on Dad, don’t be such a spoil-sport!” begged the kids, hoping to give mum a hand.
Realizing no more chance to hide the secret, Mum carefully worded her thought and shared her plan of having a little party at grandma’s house. Dad was stunned (震惊的) to no reply.
Frustrated, Mum made a call to grandma.
They got everything ready as planned when June finally came.
A.so as to | B.such as to |
C.so that | D.such that |
Mr. Dawson was an old grouch (脾气坏的人), and everyone in town knew it. Kids knew not to go into his yard to pick a delicious apple, even off the ground, because old Dawson, they said, would come after you with his ball bullet gun.
One Friday, 12-year-old Janet was going to stay all night with her friend Amy. They had to walk by Dawson’s house on the way to Amy’s house, but as they got close Janet saw him sitting on his front porch and suggested they cross over to the other side of the street. Like most of the children, she was scared of the old man because of the stories she’d heard about him.
Amy said not to worry, Mr. Dawson wouldn’t hurt any-one. Still, Janet was growing more nervous with each step closer to the old man’s house. When they got close enough, Dawson looked up with his usual frown, but when he saw it was Amy, a broad smile changed his entire face as he said, “Hello Miss Amy. I see you’ve got a little friend with you today.”
Amy smiled back and told him Janet was staying overnight and they were going to listen to music and play games. Dawson told them that sounded fun, and offered them each a fresh picked apple off his tree. They gladly accepted. Dawson had the best apples in town.
When they got out of Dawson’s earshot, Janet asked Amy, “Everyone says he’s the meanest man in town. How come was he so nice to us?”
Amy explained that when she first started walking past his house he wasn’t very friendly and she was afraid of him, but she pretended he was wearing an invisible smile and so she always smiled back at him. It took a while, but one day he half-smiled back at her.
After some more time, he started smiling real smiles and then started talking to her.
“An invisible smile?” questioned Janet. “Yes,” answered Amy.
A.Excited. | B.Delighted. | C.Disappointed. |
A.Amber. | B.Mary. | C.Linda. |
A.They were not fair. |
B.They made a hard decision. |
C.They didn’t listen carefully. |
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
A.A fitness coach. | B.A chess player. | C.A marathon runner. |
A.He was motivated by Bolt. | B.He broke a world record. | C.He won fifth place. |
A.Getting over an injury. | B.Doing strength training. | C.Representing Botswana. |
A.His plan to go for the gold. |
B.His experience on the track. |
C.His love for his home country. |
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