4 Look at the Useful language box. Find three other similar phrases in the biography in Exercise 1.

1. A family reunion party with loads of food and entertainment is thrown by my aunt.2. a few games of bowling which keep everyone talking and laughing are played by us. 3. We were joined once by my parents. 4.They will be invited to come to the bowling alley on Thanksgiving Day by me. 5.A family member who does a good deed is distinguished each time by them by a red, gold, white ribbon which is tied on the tree in front of the house. 6. These good deeds are recollected by us on Xmas Eve.7. All the kids are given new pyjamas on this day by us. 8. A family event out of choosing Xmas tree had been made by us. 9. "Secret Santa" is played to another family or to each other by us. 10. Our daughter was taken on her first camping trip by us when she was 6 months old.

Once upon a time there was a textbook. He was not new, but rather shabby. The guys were studious on it, wrapped in a cover, they did not draw on the pages. A textbook in gratitude revealed its secrets, helped schoolchildren learn and get good grades.
But then a bad luck began. He fell into the hands, who did not take care of him, did not care about him. The textbook was often forgotten in the closet, and he lay there for a long time, and he was afraid of the dark. If it was taken to the light, it was not even read, but simply leafed through, looking at the pictures. And the textbook wanted to be useful.
The following year, it became even worse. Now he lay for a long time in the sun, and when he was taken, the hands of the "master" were greasy or dirty. The pupil drew in the textbook little men, airplanes, tanks ...
I wanted the textbook to run back to the library, but he did not have legs. By the end of the year, he had become very ugly, he felt sorry for him.
The kind hands of caring people cured the textbook. He was glued, erased drawings from the fields, returned to the library. After that, the textbook was lucky, because he got to the guys caring. And the textbook lived happily ever after.