Last Thursday,Barbara Foster visited her favorite restaurant with her son to have a lunch and celebrate her 100th birthday.

When Foster 21 ,she was shocked to find the restaurant 22 balloons,flowers and even a 23 cake on her regular table. Her friends and the restaurant’s workers 24 around her as she sat down.

Foster and her son have been going to the restaurant together 25 about five or six years. Lately，Foster’s arthritis（关节炎）has 26 it more difficult for her to get around,27 they haven’t been there as often. But she makes the trip 28 she can.

“She gets around very well. She’s got a great mind,” the restaurant’s waitress Jenny Miller,who 29 the surprise party,said. Over the years, Miller has become a great friend of the Fosters after their 30 visits and even calls Barbara“Mom”.

Jimmy Powell,the general manager, said that he 31 to make Foster’s 100-year birthday extra special.Besides the cake, balloons, flowers and cards, the restaurant 32 Foster one special gift:a lifetime 33 of free meals there.

“I just can’t get over this,” Foster said as she smiled and 34 everyone aroundher.“This is so 35 .”

Cesar was horn in Arizona in 1927. His grandparents had come to the United States from Mexico years before.Cesar and his family lived on their farm. In the 1930s, there was very little rain in Arizona. The land dried up and farmers couldn’t grow crops. Cesar’s family had to move. They went west to California.

California had a lot of farmland. Cesar’s family got jobs as migrantfarm workers. That meant they moved from farm to farm to pick crops. It was hard work, and the pay was very low. Cesar worked in the fields to help his family. He also went to school. He liked to learn, but he didn’t like going to school. Some children made fun of him because he did not speak English well.

When Cesar was 17,he joined the navy.He was at sea for two years. After he returned home,he married his true love,Helen. They later had eight children. Cesar returned to working in the fields. But he was angry about how hard life was for the farm workers.The landowners（土地拥有者）made all the money. They didn’t treat the workers well. Cesar had always been quiet and shy. But now he decided it was time to speak up. He was going to work for farm workers’ rights. He began by talking to farm workers.He helped them vote（投票）.If they voted，they could help choose America’s leaders. Cesar also got thousands of farm workers to join workers’ organizations or groups.

David was earning money for college by working at a store in the late afternoon and early evening. On Wednesday night his boss asked him to work long past midnight, because another employee（雇员） got sick. Since David needed money for his car payment,he agreed.He did not tell his boss that he had an important test early thenext morning.

On Thursday morning David slept through the alarm（闹钟）.But,luckily,he was woken up by the telephone half an hour later. He arrived at the exam as the test papers were being handed out. However,he had missed the professor’s instruction on how to do the test. David could not immediately begin to work on the test because he had to calm himself first. He was surprised by some of the material on the test. As he began to read and answer questions, he worried that he would not do well.

In fact,at the very beginning David made a poor decision. He didn’t tell his boss that he needed a good sleep on the night before his big test. Being prepared rather than feeling tired and sleepy can make the difference in answering correctly one item（题目）or more. That correct item,for example, could make the difference in a failing score of 58 or a passing score of 60. So, don’t take chances when the risks（风险）are high.Getting well prepared can make a difference. Set yourself up for success， and get enough sleep the night before a test.

It was Sally’s first time alone on a bus to school. She was excited and a bit nervous. The bus stop was near her house, but today, it seemed to be miles away. Sally finally got on the bus and took a seat by a window in the back row.

The bus started at a normal speed. But Sally felt that something seemed to be wrong because there was a terrible smell coming out of the back of the bus. She saw some people next to her looked as if they were getting sick. Suddenly, she realized that it probably was a gas leak（泄漏）. She had to do something. She shouted to the bus driver, but he didn’t hear her. Then she tried to open the windows, but they were locked due to the air-conditioning（空调）.

Just then,she looked down,and saw her rock-hard shoes.She immediately took off one of them and,with much strength, broke open the window nearest to her,letting out the gas, and bringing the attention of the driver to the trouble. She was afraid that the driver would have her arrested（逮捕）for breaking the window when a policeman came. But to her surprise and delight, the policeman expressed his thanks for her help.

When she arrived at the school, she told the story to her teacher and classmates.They were very proud of her.

Monique might be the world’s most widely travelled hen（母鸡）.She has sailed around the world with Guirec Soudée,a French sailor,for five years.

Soudée’s trip began from his hometown in France. Before crossing the Atlantic Ocean,Soudée stopped in the Canary Islands. There he met Monique; it was given to him by some friend. His plan was to have the hen for company and fresh eggs.

People warned him that a hen wouldn’t lay eggs at sea because it would be too anxious. However, Monique laid an egg on her first day on the boat and then laid 25 eggs in 28 days. “Monique and I became very close. I talked to her every day, and I knew she understood me,” Soudée says.“I taught her how to swim, and we shared everything together.”

Soudée and Monique finished their 51,000-mile journey around the world in December 2018. On the trip there were some frightening moments. Their boat overturned in 13-metre waves near Antarctica; on Greenland they were stranded（滞留）in the ice for 130 days, 70 of which were in darkness. Soudée couldn’t fish because of the ice, and Monique’s eggs saved him.

Soudée has written a book called The Hen Who Sailed around the World:A True Story. “We’ve got lots of plans,”Soudée says. “I want to get a bigger boat and hopefully Monique will have some chicks （小鸡）and then we can take them too.”