It's over three years since I began to learn English. I am glad that I am getting on well with it.  I find English very interesting, but quite difficult. When I first started, I thought I had only to remember the new words and learn some grammar. I know little about English idioms(习语). I thought each English word had a word with the same meaning in Chinese. When I learned to say "I see a book on the desk", I thought the English word "see" was just like the Chinese word "kan". So one day when my teacher asked me, "What are you doing?" I answered, "I'm seeing a book." "That's wrong," the teacher said. "You don't see a book. You read a book. You can't use an English word like a Chinese one. Be sure not to make the same mistake again." 
After that I began to pay more attention to the differences between Chinese and English. For example, in English we say a "high mountain", but a "tall man". In Chinese we use the same word "gao" for both. Again in English we say "take part in the sports meeting", "attend a meeting" and "join the army", while in Chinese we can use "can jia" for all the three. It's interesting, isn't it? So to study English doesn't only mean hard work, it can be great fun, too! We not only have to pay attention to pronunciation, grammar, spelling and handwriting, we also have to understand English idioms. We can learn English well only in that way!
But all this is only a beginning and I still have a long way to go. I'll try my best and work even harder than before. I must speak and listen to English more both in and out of class. I must read and write more, too. I must learn English well so that I can work well when I grow up. 
【小题1】When I first started learning English, I thought __________.

Last week, the manager of an old jeweler's shop received a letter marked "personal". As he was very busy, the letter lay on his desk till teatime. When he opened it, a $100 note fell. out onto his desk. With the note was a short letter. This is what it said:
Dear sir,
I got engaged (订婚的) forty years ago. Unfortunately at that time there was a lot of unemployment and I lost my job. I was out of work for about six months before I got another one. Of course I was very short of money.
I came to your shop to buy a wedding ring one day. The assistant brought some rings for me to have a look, later she was called away, and then I put one of the rings into my pocket. When she came back, I said I did not know the size of my girlfriend's finger.

So I left the shop without paying for the ring. My wife died a month ago, and the fact that I never paid for her ring has been on my conscience
(让我良心不安) all these years. I always feel guilty about that. At that time the ring cost $ 20, and I think that is about five times- $100 at today's price. Now I am sending you that amount.
Yours truly,
A customer
After reading the letter, the manager said, "Well, well, well, life is full of surprise!"
【小题1】The ring that the customer put into his pocket was_______ at that time.