I used to frequently visit an old age home【小题1】(manage) by the little sisters of the poor in our city Hyderabad. A. P., India. There I met a gentleman by the name of Kurien in his late【小题2】(eighty). He served the Indian army and retired. He has one son who is well educated and also married.

Mr. Kurien felt down with the life in his house【小题3】decided to move into this old age home here in Hyderabad. We both began to share a lot of thoughts whenever we met and slowly it was a【小题4】(day) affair that I used to spend some time with him discussing what he was doing in the army, camp fun etc. ,【小题5】he used to share with lots of joy.

I used to carry with me some snacks which we both used to sit under a tree and eat. I saw him really very happy in my【小题6】(present). One day he told me with tears in his eyes “I really found a very good friend in you. I feel like【小题7】(live) some more years to spend happy time with you.

As we departed, I told him, “Do not worry. We will have enough time together in the future. ” I had an official meeting and could not go to the old age home the next day. The day after when I reached the home, his room【小题8】(lock). I enquired and found that he was no more. He died【小题9】very night we both met last.

I really miss him. I have not given him anything worthwhile except【小题10】I used to listen to his words and share his thoughts.

Even though we need personal 【小题1】 (improve) during the long path of life, we can not withdraw from the society. Therefore, friendship is very important to us, because sometimes it can make us 【小题2】 (smoothly) out the rocky roads.

Friendship is 【小题3】 (benefit) to us in many ways. A good friend is a good medicine 【小题4】 treats you with comfort and protection. A wise friend is a mirror which reflects the 【小题5】 (difference) sides of you and helps you make the judgment 【小题6】 (correct). A true friend is absolutely the shining star in the dark,【小题7】 (lead) you to walk straight towards the setting 【小题8】 (goal). With friendship, we will be happier, wiser and 【小题9】 satisfied.

The enjoyment of friendship is much more than that everything brings to us. However, we must be careful when choosing friends and developing friendship, 【小题10】 we will make mistakes. Only with the protection, understanding and help from our trustworthy friends can we walk through the path of life better.

After Twenty Years

The policeman on the beat walked along the street as he always did. It was barely ten o’clock at night. When he had walked about halfway around a certain block, the policeman suddenly slowed down. In the doorway of a store 【小题1】 (stand) a man, with an unlit cigar in his mouth. The man explained that he was just waiting for a friend, which was an 【小题2】 (appoint) made twenty years ago, but he couldn't find a restaurant called “Big Joe” Brady’s restaurant.

The policeman told the man the restaurant was here until five years ago. It 【小题3】 (tear) down then.

The man in the doorway struck a match 【小题4】 lit his cigar, recalling how he and his best friend Jimmy Wells made the appointment twenty years ago. He believed Jimmy would stick 【小题5】 his promise 【小题6】 they lost contact.

The policeman left, hoping his friend would turn up.

About twenty minutes later, a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar 【小题7】 (turn) up to his ears, hurried toward him. He was Jimmy Wells! The two men walked up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West was beginning to outline the history of his career. At the corner stood a drugstore, brilliant with electric lights. 【小题8】 he suspected, the tall man, whose nose was different from Jimmy Wells’, was not real Jimmy Wells. The man became 【小题9】 (patient) and angry.

The tall man handed the man a brief note 【小题10】 (say) Jimmy Wells was at the appointed place on time but found out his friend Bob was the criminal wanted in Chicago. Anyhow he couldn’t arrest his friend himself, so he got a plain-clothes man to do the job.