The girls spent the rest of the day preparing a play. The sisters often performed plays for their friends. A dozen girls arrived about six o’clock and took their places in the big bedroom. The play was a great success. Everybody enjoyed it very much. The girls were still laughing and clapping when Hannah came in and said, “Supper is ready.”

A surprise was waiting for them on the dining room table- dishes of ice cream, pink and white, fresh fruit, cakes and real French chocolates. And in the middle of all this delicious food there were four vases of beautiful flowers. The girls couldn’t believe their eyes.

“Did the fairies bring the supper?” asked Amy.

“No, Santa Claus brought it,” said Beth.

“Mother did it,” Meg said.

“No! Aunt March sent it!” cried Jo.

“You are all wrong,” said Mrs. March. “Old Mr. Laurence sent it.”

“The Laurence boy’s grandfather!” exclaimed Meg. “Why did he do that? We don’t know him!”

“Hannah told one of his servants the story of the Hummels. Mr. Laurence was sorry to hear about your poor Christmas breakfast, so he decided to give you a surprise.”

“My mother says he’s very proud,” said one of the girls at the table. “She says that he doesn’t like mixing with his neighbors. His grandson has to stay in the house and study all day. We invited him to a party once, but he didn’t come. He’s very shy.”

“I am going to talk to him one day,” said Jo. “He needs to have some fun. I am going to invite him to our next play!”

From Little Women

My mom’s life was a busy one. Raising four kids on her own was a full time job in itself, but she also worked outside the home. Surprisingly, she always seemed to find a little bit of extra time for us.

She would take us over to my aunt’s in the evening when she worked as a waitress in a small restaurant. I thought she would pass us over to our aunt and hurry off as soon as we made it through the front gate, but that didn’t happen. Instead, we would sit on the porch(门廊), my mom in her waitress uniform, and we would rock in my aunt’s big wooden swing(秋千) and talk about what happened that day.

“I learned how to add numbers up to the hundreds,” my sister Sandy would say.

“That’s wonderful,” my mom would reply, holding her tight.

“I learned how to write my name!” Larry, my younger brother, would shout.

My mom would get a piece of paper and a pencil out of her purse and hand it to my brother. “Show me how you do it,” she’d ask softly.

“Do you have enough time to hear what I did today?” I’d ask her.

Mom would smile at me and nod. “I’m never too busy for something important like that!”

She gave us the gift of time again and again throughout the years. Later on in her life, when she came to live with us after her retirement(退休), my mom gave the gift of time to my children too. They would run around excitedly, asking their grandma if she would play with them, or read them a story, or go for a walk with them. By then my mom had health problems, but she would always nod and sit down and read to them or tell them stories about when she was a little girl. Those moments were a wonderful gift that my children still talk about and treasure.

In the last few years of her life, I would take her to lunch or sit with her on the porch, and we would talk about the past, the dream of the future, and just enjoy being with each other. My mom would listen as I shared all of my hopes, my fears, and my dreams for my family. I would look at her and ask her if she minded me taking up so much of her free time.

“Nonsense” she’d tell me. Then she’d give me a wink and say, “I’m never too busy to spend time with you. It’s one of the greatest joys of my life.”

I will always remember those wonderful words and the loving heart behind them. It is a gift my mom gave to me for which I will forever be grateful. In this busy world of ours, and in a life filled with challenges, she always had time to share her joy with me.

We can see flying cars in TV shows and movies. Many companies (公司) are trying to build them, and now the flying car has come into our life. The flying car is called AirCar. And it just finished a 35-minute test flight (试飞) between two airports in Slovakia.

The AirCar was made by Stefan Klein. When Klein was a little boy, he watched a French movie. In the movie, there was a flying car and he was interested in it. And he dreamed of building a flying car one day. At last he made it. Klein flew the car himself on the test flight.

The AirCar is expensive and it costs around £1.7 million (百万). It can change from a car into a plane in just 2 minutes and 15 seconds. The Aircar has spent 40 hours in the air. During these tests the AirCar’s top speed (速度) was 190 km per hour. It can fly 1000 km at a height of 2500 meters. It can carry two people up to 200 kg.

Dr Branko Sarh, from Boeing company, praised Klein for building the AirCar. “It is fantastic. It’ll be useful in the future because it can solve the traffic problems in the world.”

Some people hope that flying cars will be a big part of everyday life one day.