A House of Memories

It was a fine afternoon. Eddie was putting his toys into boxes. His family were about to move to a new house, and they needed their home cleaned for the next family. Eddie looked around his big and empty house, feeling a little sad. He liked this house and his friends—he did not really want to move.

Eddie followed his mother to the attic（阁楼）. Eddie’s father was already up there, looking through boxes of old photos. He handed Eddie one. It did not have much color left, but showed a young boy playing baseball in his backyard.

“Who is that?” Eddie asked.

“That is me, Eddie, when I was your age,” his father replied.

“Look! Here’s one of me,” Eddie’s mother said, handing Eddie another photo. In it, a young girl was playing hopscotch （跳房子）.

“You guys were kids?” Eddie asked.

“We weren’t born this old,” Eddie’s mother said, laughing.

Eddie looked at the photos some more. He had never seen his dad or mom playing baseball or hopscotch or other games. They were always working, cooking, cleaning, and driving. It was hard to imagine them as kids playing in their backyards.

Looking out, Eddie could see his backyard. He did have a lot of fun there, but he was not a little kid anymore. At the new house, he would go to a new school. He wanted to try out for the school soccer team and join the drama club. Maybe it was a good time to move after all.

As the family went down from the attic, Eddie picked up their camera, took it to his parents and said, “Mom, Dad, please take a photo of me playing in our backyard!”

Asha, 13, lives in America. She comes from Japan. She can’t go to school these days. Her school is closed because of COVID-19. She loves school, so she expects her school to open soon.

Asha does many things every day. She studies by herself at home. Asha doesn’t have a computer, so she goes to the school to get her schoolwork. Her teacher leaves her work on the reception desk(服务台) and Asha gets it every Monday morning. She does her homework for two or three hours in the early afternoon.

There is a park near Asha’s house and she goes there every day. She meets her friends there. They usually meet at 5:00 p.m. and play for an hour. Asha wants to learn English well. She watches TV and reads storybooks. And sometimes she talks in English with her sister, Idil.

Every day, Asha writes down the good things in her life. She can’t go to school, but she thinks she can still have fun.

Mrs. White has two sons. They are Tom and Eric. Tom is ten years old, and Eric is seven. Tom likes to play tricks on others（戏弄别人）.

In the morning, Mrs. White gives Tom two apples. Tom goes to Eric’s room and says, “Eric, look! I have three apples.”

Eric looks at them and says, “But I just（就）see two apples in your hands.”

“There are three apples. This is No.1 and that is No. 2. One and two is three! You are a foolish（愚蠢的）boy!”

Then Mrs. White comes in and says, “Tom, give me the No. 1 apple and give Eric the No. 2 apple. You can eat the No. 3 apple.”