Ella Fant was a middle-aged lady who lived with her only son John in a small house．She 1 John very much．In her 2 he couldn’t do anything 3 ．Every morning she would give him breakfast 4 bed and bring him the papers to 5 ．It isn’t really true that he was too 6 to work－in fact he had tried a few 7 ．First of all he was a window-cleaner and in his first week he managed to 8 at least six windows．Then he 9 a bus conductor and on his second 10 a passenger stole his bag with all the fare(车费)collected．He 11 lost his job as a postman 12 he sent off all the letters when he should have taken them to people’s houses．It seemed that there was 13 suitable work for him．So he 14 to join the army．Mrs Fant was so 15 about this that she told the news to all her neighbours．“My John is going to be a soldier,” she said．“He is going to be the best soldier there 16 was, I can tell you!”
Then the great day came 17 he was to march past the palace in the parade(接受检阅的队伍)．His proud mother travelled to the city early in the morning to be sure of getting a good 18 in the crowd．
The parade was full of sound and colour．But when John and his 19 came in sight some of the people watching 20 laughing at the one who couldn’t keep pace with the others as they marched along．
But Ella Fant, who was filled with happiness, shouted at the top of her voice, “Look at them! They’re all out of step except my John! Isn’t he the best!”
