My l4-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat which was hanging at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass. While the other coats drooped (低垂), this one looked as if it were 1 . The coat had beautiful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and a(an) 2 price of $28, which was popular just then with 3 , but could cost several hundred dollars new. This coat was even better, bearing (具 有) that 4 of classic elegance. John tried it on and the fit was perfect.

    John5the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big smile “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said, 6folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a 7 came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and reasoned discussion replaced fierce 8 . He became more mannerly and9 , eager to please. He would generously lend his younger sister his tapes and lecture her10 her behavior.

    When I mentioned this incident to his teacher and11what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It12be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good 13 not only because he had earned 14 but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran into a friend. “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly, 15 John's new height, assessing(评估) the cut of his coat and extending his hand, one gentleman to another.

    John and I both know we should never 16a person's clothes for the real person within them. 17there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for 18what is on the inside to what is on the outside.

    For John it is a time when it is as easy to try on different approaches to 19as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape 20 all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.

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Lizzie-s diary from Antarctica (南极洲)

Day 3: Tuesday   December 2

    We planned to go to Rothera that morning. We'd be staying there for the next two weeks. Because Antarctica is the windiest place on earth, sometimes you can't fly at all.

    We had a nervous wait over breakfast to find out if we'd be leaving that day. People have to stay in Stanley for weeks while the pilots wait for good weather.

    It turned clear at 9:30 and we took off at 10:30 on a little red plane called a Dash-7. But even when we were in the air, there was still a chance we wouldn't be able to fly the whole day.

Day 4: Wednesday   December 3

    After waking up in the Antarctic for the first time today I can understand why everybody who comes here falls in love with the place. It is really beautiful.

    We're staying at Rothera Survey base with mountains of ice all around. It s about minus 2⁰C today, which for me is very cold, but the regulars(常客) here are often seen walking around in T-shirts !

Day 5: Thursday  December 4

    I woke up to another beautiful sunny day here in the Antarctic. I'm told it's a bit colder today, about minus 5℃ , but it's not very windy so it feels warmer. Those of us who are new to the bas have to do a spccial training course before we're allowed to go off base to other stations or to go snowboarding over the nearby hill.

Day 7: Saturday  December 6

    Not a cloud in the sky and it's warm enough to sit outside (in a jacket).

    The most amazing thing about this place is how the scenery (风景) changes every day. At first I thought I was going mad. I'd step outside in the morning and think, "I'm sure that big mountain of ice wasn't there yesterday." It's because the sea ice is always moving—slowly thankfully !