I can still remember the first day when I met my best friend. She had just moved into the neighborhood and her grandmother brought her down to meet me. I hid behind my mother and she hid behind her grandmother, scared to look at each other.
Soon, we lost the shyness and started playing with each other, bike riding to each other’s house and having sleepovers. In 7^th grade she was going through family problems. However, every summer we would always sit at each other’s house and watch movies on TV and talk about all the boys we liked.
It was last year when I noticed the problem. She suffered from clinical depression（抑郁症）, and had to go to a hospital during the day. I was very sorry for her at first. But with the late night calls, and meeting each other halfway up the street at midnight, we still stayed in touch. I wanted to be there for her since her new best friend left her, and I knew I still cared about her like a sister.
Yesterday she came to me and said this. “I never knew what a best friend was until you were the only person that would stop me from cutting myself; the only person that ever made me feel better about myself and my problems. You didn’t know this but I was trying to kill myself that very night you called me and I was crying. I owe you so much, and you didn’t even know you were helping me. ”
We both cried. And I guess a kind of lesson from my life so far is to never give up your friends. Even if they aren’t as cool as others, or people think they are crazy, they need someone there. If you leave them, you will only be very sorry. So if friends need you, and you care for them, you should be always there for them.
【小题1】Why did the two girls hide behind their family members when they first met?

“I don’t believe in Santa Claus!” Trogmire announced.
Tremor looked shocked. “Why not?” he asked.
“Because he never leaves me any gifts at all,” Trogmire growled.
Tremor thought about the evidence for a few seconds. “Maybe,” he suggested, “it’s because when Santa checked his list, your name wasn’t in the ‘nice’ column.”
“So, he could at least bring me a lump of coal!” Trogmire replied. “And,” he went on, “Troubled doesn’t believe in Santa, either.”
“Right,” Tremor said, “because he saw his parents putting the ‘From Santa’ presents under the tree. But I know the truth about that. My mother found out from Troubled’s mother. When Troubled’s parents got an e-mail from Santa, saying that he would never bring Troubled another gift, they didn’t want to tell him the truth. So now they buy presents and pretend they’re from Santa.”
“What did Troubled do to get Santa so mad?” Trogmire questioned.
“I think it had something to do with the time he put glue paper all over the living room floor on Christmas Eve, and left a sign that said, ‘Trapped like a rat!’ hanging over the fireplace.” said Tremor.
“I guess Santa doesn’t have a sense of humour,” sighed Trogmire. “Well, at least I’m not the only one who Santa scratched off his name list.”
【小题1】Why doesn’t Santa leave presents for Trogmire or Troubled?

When I was nine , my father was ill．I can remember my mother’s words ___16___ it were yesterday: “Kerrel, Your father has AIDS．Be very ____17___ when you are around him.”
AIDS wasn’t something we talked about in my country when I was growing up．From then on, I knew that this would be a family ___18___．My parents were not together anymore, and Dad lived ___19___．For a while, he____20__ take care of himself．But when I was 12, his condition__21____．My father’s other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.
We couldn’t___22____ all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for ___23____ supplies and often couldn’t even buy food for dinner．I would sit in class feeling completely ___24____, the teacher’s words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.
I did not share my ___25___ with anyone．I had seen how people ___26___ to AIDS．Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease．And even adults could be ___27__．When my father was __28____to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of __29____ his condition a secret．I was completely __30____when he reached his ___31___ days．__32___  and hopeless, I __33___ a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support．That day, she kept me on the phone for hours．I was so __34____to find someone who cared．She saved my life．
I was 15 when my father died．He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to___35____, even me．He didn’t want to call  attention to AIDS．I do.

It’s easy to see how to help others, but what about those whose needs aren’t so obvious? This story may have happened a while back, but it was a lesson which has stayed with me and helped me ever since.
It was Thanksgiving and I was volunteering with my parents at a shelter for the poor. We stood behind the counter dishing out hot food to whoever came in. Most of our dinners looked like they had been having hard times, their clothes old, worn and dry. In short, they looked poor!
Then, a man came in, who looked anything but poor. He was well dressed, wearing an expensive suit. I wondered what he was doing there and my jaw dropped in amazement when he joined the line for food. The closer he came to my service station, the more I muttered(咕哝着). What was this man doing? I wanted to know. Surely he wasn’t going to take food.
Then my mother quietly took me to one side. She said, “You have assumed that the needs of the people who come here must be purely physical: hunger, no enough shelter and needs are excitable? What if he needs comfort, friends, or just to be among other human beings?” Her words hit me like a ton of bricks! I felt like I should apologize to the man, but I didn’t.
About a week later the shelter received a large donation from an anonymous(匿名的) source. I can’t help but wonder if it came from that man.
Now, whether I meet others, I remember my mother’s words and try to send kindness and blessings to them, regardless of how they look.
Needs aren’t always visible. But kindness always makes a difference.
【小题1】The task of the author at the shelter was to_______.

I recall my mother’s voice which called me to order, and often ended with some strong proverb to express the gravity of the wrong done. It was common practice for my mother to send me off soul-searching with a proverb.
Of the many interactions I had with my mother those many years ago, one stands out with clarity. I remember the occasion when Mother sent me to the main road, about twenty yards away from the farmhouse, to invite a passing group of seasonal work-seekers home for a meal. She instructed me to take a container along and collect dry cow dung (牛粪) for making a fire. I was then to prepare the meal for the group of work-seekers.       
The thought of making an open fire outside at midday, cooking in a large three-legged pot in that high heat, was enough to upset even an angel. I did not manage to hide my feelings from my mother, and after serving the group, she called me to the balcony, where she usually sat to attend to her sewing (缝纫).
Looking straight into my eyes, she said, “Tsholofelo, why were you so unhappy when I requested you to prepare a meal for those poor people?” Despite my attempt to deny her allegation (断言), and using the heat of the fire and the sun as an excuse for my alleged behavior, Mother, giving me a firm look, said, “A foot has no nose.” It means, “You can’t detect what trouble may lie ahead of you.” Had I denied the group of people a meal, it may have happened that, in my travels some time in the future, I found myself at the mercy of those very individuals. As if that was not enough to shame me, Mother continued, “A person is a person because of another person.”   
【小题1】We learn from the passage that Tsholofelo’s mother often _____.