When I was little, my grandfather would pick me up after school and take care of me until my parents came home. Every day I looked forward to being with Grandpa.

If it was a fine day, he would take me to the park where he told me the names of the flowers and trees. Sometimes, we would go shopping together. He would push the cart and I would help him get things off the shelves. He always found ways to involve me in what he was doing. I was his “little helper”. Grandpa taught me to care about the world by having me help with the gardening. He watered the trees and bushes, while I watered the flowers. We fed the birds. He showed me that if you were really quiet and stayed still, the birds would come up to you. I still love feeding birds and never understand people who get so wrapped up in owning a home that they don’t stop to care for the surrounding wildlife.

For an after-school snack, my grandfather would give me boiled potatoes and carrots with a little bit of butter on them or he would cut up some fresh fruit for me. My mother was so strict that she held that I must finish my homework as soon as I got home from school. Grandpa thought it was more important to relax, so he would let me watch one show first. He had his way and the way worked. And he said, “Were I you, I wouldn’t tell your mother, or you won’t have time to relax.” Whenever I left a room, Grandpa would remind me to turn off the light to save electricity. My grandpa was a devoted family man. He helped my parents through really tough financial times.

Grandpa passed away when I was 10. I love him and he will live in my heart forever and always.

A．help her grandpa a lot when he was busy

B．get the idea of protecting the wildlife

C．know vegetables were difficult to plant

D．become a gardener when she grew up

I always pictured myself graduating from college, getting a cool job and even having a cute little place of my own. So far, I have a master's degree and the coolest job ever as a physician assistant. But instead of waking up in a pretty apartment, I hear the early morning sound of my parents making coffee downstairs. At 27, I still live with my parents, and I love it.

As a physician assistant, I make a good salary and would be able to live on my own comfortably if I needed to do so. By the time I finished graduate school, I had had a ＄150,000 debt from both undergraduate and graduate education. My father calculated that my loans were increasing by ＄15 a day in interest (利息) alone. At this rate, it would take me 30 years to pay off my student loans. At last, I decided to live with my parents.

Several of my physician assistant friends are in the same boat as I am — we are all highly educated, white collar employees who live at home. Our coworkers in the medical field think it is a great idea because many of them are facing the same piles of debt. They often say if they could do it all again, they would do the same thing.

There's a stigma (耻辱) that comes along with this arrangement. Some people might think that we are too lazy to find a job. I don't think my neighbors understand it, as they continually ask me when I am going to graduate and if I am old enough to look after their children. My mom just tells them that I'm successful, well educated and that I save lives.