It was Sunday morning. My parents went to attend the marriage celebration of one of my relatives in the next village. I did not go with1because I wanted to prepare for my tests at home. But I was expected to attend the feast（宴会）at 1：00p. m.

    At about 11：00 in the morning my2came. My parents were absent so I had to treat him myself. I went to the kitchen and3the biscuits. But I couldn't find them. I also tried to4a cup of tea for him. But there was no milk. I went to my neighbor's house and borrowed some milk. But5I added salt instead of sugar. When I offered the cup of tea to my uncle, he gladly accepted it. Then I6my mistake when he asked for sugar for the tea. I couldn't find the sugar. So7I rushed to my neighbor's house for it.

    After the8, my uncle left. It was time for me to go and attend the feast. However, when I went to get my bike, I found that it had a flat tire (瘪了的轮胎) . I thought of borrowing the neighbor's bike, but I felt9to request him for the third time.10I decided to go there on foot. However, by the time I got there, the feast was already over. I told my parents everything and they pitied me for my bad day.

    As I checked my son's papers from school one night last week, I found one paper with a failing grade. I almost jumped out of my chair. I started to call his name when I suddenly realized he was in bed asleep. It didn't matter because this was only his second year of school. But I was angry. I put the paper aside and turned to the next one. "My Dad" was written on the top of the page. It was a poem about me. His poem included the time I had to leave work to take him to the doctor because he had broken his finger. I had forgotten about that. He talked about a few other things he liked that I did. That paper with the failing grade was suddenly not as important as it had been just a few minutes earlier. I didn't know if he put the poem next to the failing grade in order to make me feel better, but it worked. Instead of punishing him, I talked to him about the poem as well as the failed exam. I began to get that I could give him praise along with criticism (批评) . I got the idea from the poem I read.

    It was another day to jump rope in gym class. Lynn and Mike turned the long rope into big, slow circles. The whole class hurried to get in line to wait for their turn to jump. Millie stood at the back of the line and frowned.

    Nick went first. He watched the rope and ran in at just the right time. Everyone counted. He made it all the way to 30 jumps. One after another, the kids watched the rope, ran in and jumped. Then it was Millie's turn. She watched the rope go around and around, but she didn't move. She felt like everyone was looking at her.

    Millie's friends cheered, "Go, Millie, go!"

    Millie's face turned red. At last, she gave it a try, but she failed.

    The truth was that Millie had been jumping rope at home every day. With a short rope, she could jump 100 times without missing. She just didn't know how to run in and start jumping with a long rope. Since she was the only kid on her street, there was no one to help turn the long rope.

    Just then, Ms. Miles, the gym teacher, brought out a bunch of short jump ropes.

     "Let's see how long each one of you can jump without missing," she said as she gave each student a short rope. "Ready, set. Go!"

    Millie smiled for the first time ever in gym class. As she jumped, she sang rhymes quickly to herself.

    After a while, Millie realized that everyone was cheering, "Go. Millie, go!"

    She was the only one still jumping rope! The surprise almost made her miss a step, but she kept going. When she was too tired to go on, she stopped. The whole class cheered. Everyone was looking at her and smiling. Millie smiled back!

A: Hi, Mike! I didn't see you at Tina's party last night.

B:

A: What happened?

B: When I went out of my house and closed the door, I found I had left the present for Tina in my room.

A:

B: The money in my pocket was not enough to buy another one.

A:

B: I had to wait till my parents came back. When they got home, it was already 7: 00 p. m. So I had to give up attending the party.

A:

—Driving in heavy traffic just now made me nervous.

—No. Luckily, Mr. Green passed by and____________.

—Sorry, I don't know. You can ask the staff person over there.