Several years ago, I was living in New York and working for an airline (航空公司), so I never got back home for Christmas. My Christmas was happy too with some other workmates around. But in my heart, I was sad because I couldn’t stay with my family. Sometimes my workmates would say our Christmas was filled with tears. But this Christmas was different. I was lucky. I had the whole day off, which meant I could stay with my family on Christmas Eve.

When Christmas morning came, I woke up with a small hand touching my face. “Dad, Merry Christmas!” was all my younger son had time to say. He seemed to be racing against time. I knew he was hunting for gifts with his brother eagerly. I got downstairs just to see the two little boys’ faces as they looked at the pocket rockets Santa Claus had left to them. I realized that the real Christmas was for the children who had deep belief in the amazing power of Santa Claus. At first, their fingers went almost shyly over their toys. When their inspection (检查) had been completed, the two boys ensured that the gifts were really delivered by Santa Claus and they dragged everything into the center of the living room.

Joy filled the room. As their mother began giving out gifts, I smiled to myself, wondering how my unexpected gifts this year would be received. With so many Christmas spent outside, I had prepared so many gifts for my children. Together with my wife, I hid them in several secret places.But the children were excellent detectives (侦探) and they found all of them. They were happily opening packages thanking Santa Claus for his kindness and ability to know their desires. But I had not received a single gift. I knew they had forgotten my existence with my absence from their Christmas these years.

Slowly, my disappointment was growing.

Suddenly, my wife walked up to me.

I couldn’t stop thinking about watermelons. I’ve saved my money to buy my own. One giant, juicy, wonderful watermelon all for me. I was going to eat it all up, except for the seed. Dad joked that if I ate the seeds, a watermelon would grow inside my stomach. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Then my stomach would be happy all the time!

At the store I looked for the biggest, the juiciest, the most wonderful watermelon. And there it was, right behind some cantaloupes (甜瓜). They were small and light, not like my giant, juicy, wonderful watermelon.

I picked up my watermelon and put it on the floor. I rolled it down the aisle. I rolled my treasure to the checkout line. The grocery clerk lifted my watermelon for the cashier to weigh. Fifteen pounds! After I paid, the clerk set it back on the floor for me. I rolled it out the door, then along the sidewalk, three blocks to my house. Sweat dripped from my forehead onto the watermelon.

“Lucy! What are you doing with that watermelon?” Mom asked.

“I saved up my money and bought it at the grocery store. I’m going to eat it all by myself.” Mom frowned. “You’ll get sick,” she warned.

“Please?” I begged. “I’ve been saving for it.”

Mom thought about it, then smiled as if she knew something. “OK, but only if you eat it outside,” she said.

I rolled my giant, juicy, wonderful watermelon out the back door to our picnic table. Mom brought out a knife and some paper plates. My sister followed her. “Ooh, watermelon,” she said. “I want some.”

“Sorry,” I told her, “I’m going to eat it all by myself.” My sister whined to Mom.

But Mom said, “Your sister bought it herself. She decided what to do with it.” My brother came out next. He wanted to take a bite as well.

I said loudly, “No way. I’m going to eat it all by myself.”

My brother howled, but Mom again said, “It’s your sister’s watermelon. She decides.”

Mom cut the watermelon into four pieces, then cut each of those in half. Eight pieces in total. I reached for my first piece and took a bite. Red juice ran down my chin.

My father came out. “Oh, watermelon!” he said, seeing it.

“Don’t even ask,” said my brother. “She won’t share,” my sister added.

Paragraph 1: The four of them stood together around the picnic table, watching me.

Paragraph 2: Mom smiled as if she had known all that I would share.

Amanda felt as gray as the sky outside when she looked across the table at her little sister. Li sat on her seat, drinking from her cup.

“Mom, why does Li hate me?”

“Honey, she doesn't hate you. Li is still getting used to you,” Mom said. “It's only been two weeks.”

“But look,” Amanda took a cookie off her dish and held it out to Li.

“Want to eat it?”

As soon as Li saw Amanda reaching over, her eyes widened. Li quickly got down from her seat and raced to her room.

“See?” Amanda said to Mom. “I thought being a big sister would be fun.”

Over a year ago, Amanda’s parents said that they were adopting(收养)a daughter from China, and Amanda had danced with excitement. She'd dreamed of taking her sister to the park, reading books to her, and teaching her to ride a bicycle. That hadn’t happened.

“She runs away whenever I get close,” Amanda said.

Mom took Amanda’s hand. “Think of how frightening it is for her. She’s in a new country with a new family.”

“I just wish I knew how to help her,” Amanda said, thinking of Li's frightened eyes.

Amanda went into the family room and sat down on the sofa. How could she help Li? She’d sung songs to her, drawn pictures for her, and made funny faces. None of that had worked.

Amanda turned on the TV. She stopped to watch a film about a dog and a cat. The film was in another language. The show looked funny, but she didn't understand any of it. It made Amanda remember when they were in China. She had gotten frustrated(沮丧的)when people talked in Chinese.

That' s it. Amanda turned off the TV and sped to her room. She found the CDs Aunt Linda gave her last year to help her learn some Chinese.

Amanda tiptoed(踮着脚走)to Li's room. Looking in, Amanda saw Li curled up(卷缩)in a ball on her bed. She could hear Li sobbing(哭泣). Amanda knocked on the open door.

Li moved to the back of her bed.

“Ni hao,"Amanda said,hoping she had pronounced it right.

When she didn't hear any sobs, Amanda looked over at the bed and saw Li smiling.