“Happy Birthday!” David awoke to the voice of his mother. “It’s time to get up and drive out to 35  grandfather’s farm.”  

“Why do we have to go there? And how long is the drive?” he asked with a sad look in his eyes.

“About two hours…and don’t worry, we’ ll bring your birthday   36  with us.” His mother walked away and left him to get ready. 

In less than an hour, David and his parents were on their way.   37  of what the colorful birthday packages had inside filled his head. He was   38  that one had the baseball glove he wanted, while others would have amazing things that he had dreamed about. Thinking of his grandfather, David   39  what his birthday present from him might be. 

“Since my grandfather has a large farm, he must have a lot of money, and the bigger his present for me will be,” David said to himself.

Finally they   40 . Hugging his grandfather, David excitedly shouted, “I’ve missed you! You know, today’s my birthday. Did you get me a present?”

“I have missed you, too. And I have a very   41  present for you.”

Placing a small box in David’s hand, he quietly said, “This is a very important gift. I hope you will treasure it as   42  as I have.”  

David looked at the small box, thinking money or jewels might be inside…. When he opened the box, David was   43  to see only a stone. It was a very beautiful stone, but was it valuable?

Grandfather spoke more slowly than before, “David, when your grandma and I were first married, we had very little money. She wanted to give me something special for my birthday, so she found this beautiful rock and polished(打磨)it day and night   44  it shined. It was the greatest gift I ever   45  because it came from your grandma’s heart. Now, I want you to have it because it comes from my heart.” 

David held the stone in his hand and   46  the love of his grandfather. “This is a wonderful gift…thank you, Grandfather.” He knew he had received the best gift ever. 

It was Mary’s birthday．Her uncle wrote a letter and told her he would like to send her some chickens．She was very happy because she liked eggs and chicken．”I can keep the chickens for their eggs or eat them，”she thought．

When the chickens arrived the next day, they were all in a box．Mary took the box off the truck and began to carry it into her garden，but the box of chickens was so heavy that she dropped（落下）it．The chickens all ran out．They ran here and there．Mary spent hours in trying to find them．

A few hours later her uncle came．He asked．”Did the chickens arrive safely?” ”Yes，but I dropped the box．The chickens ran everywhere．It took me the whole morning to look for them，”Mary said．

“Did you find them all?” asked her uncle．”I hope so，”Mary answered，”But l only caught（抓住）eleven of them” “That’s very interesting．I only sent you six．”her uncle laughed．

1.Mary got a letter from her _____．

2.When she got the letter, Mary was ______．

3.Why did Mary drop the box?

4.I took Mary _____ to find the chickens．

5.Did Mary know how many chickens her uncle sent her?

My earliest memory of dad is grabbing（抓住）his hand while we walked together. As I grew older, I remember my father and I listening to basketball games on the radio. I always fell asleep   35  the game was over. When I woke up in the morning, the score sheet with the   36  score on it would be lying next to me. I’ll always remember that.

On cold mornings my father would bring his bread truck by the house. I used to ride on the floor of that bread truck as he delivered（分送）the bread to the stores. The   37  and the warmth from the bread made my mouth water and kept me warm. I’ll always remember that.

My father would be present at all my games. One night before an important game my father told me   38  that he wouldn’t be able to watch the game because he had to deliver the bread and it was a three-hour   39 . The next day as the game drew near I thought about my dad. I happened to look across the field and   40  saw his bread truck pulling into the stadium. He managed to   41  the game. I’ll always remember that.

Years later I had become a   42 . I’ll never forget the voice on the phone early one morning telling me dad had just been killed in a traffic accident. I could hear my heart   43  in my ears. I   44  the phone and went back to my bedroom. After that nothing really   45  to me. I still taught in school but I couldn’t centre attention on my teaching. One day I was on the playground when a little boy walked up to me and grabbed my hand. His hand held mine the same way I used to hold my father’s by the last two fingers. At that moment I found my   46  in life again. You see even though my father was gone, he left something with me. He left me his smile, compassion and touch. My purpose was to use those gifts as he did. From that day on I started. I’ll always remember that!

Daniel was always making excuses for forgetting to do things. His usual excuse was: “ I was too busy.” or “I didn’t have time.”

Daniel’s parents were worried about him. “ He shouldn’t go through life making excuses all the time.” his father said. “ No one will trust him to do anything. He won’t be able to keep a job. No sensible(明智的)girl will marry him.”

“I don’t know what we can do.” his mother said.

“I have an idea.” his father said. “If this doesn’t work, nothing will.”

The next day was Daniel’s birthday. He was really looking forward to getting exciting presents. He woke up, expecting his parents to wish him a happy birthday. But all day what they said was “Good morning, Daniel. Hurry, or you will be late for school.” There were no presents, not even a card. He was really disappointed.

“Never mind.” he thought. (3) “There’ll be a surprise for me after school.” But there wasn’t. Sadly he said to his parents at dinner, “Today’s my birthday.”

“Oh,” his father said. “So it is. I forgot.”

“So did I.” his mother said.

“How could you forget?” Daniel asked. “There must be a reason.”

“Well, yes.” his father said. “We have a really good excuse for forgetting your birthday, Daniel. We didn’t remember your birthday because we were too busy.”

Poor Daniel! He never had a silly excuse for not doing something again.

1.判断Daniel got his birthday present at last(?? )。

2.He thought there would be ________for him afte school.

3.What did Daniel feel when he didn’t receive any presents?

_______________________________________________________.

4.What do you learn from the story?_____________________________________.

5.翻译划横线句子?

_________________________________________________________________.