— I just want to be quiet for a while. I'm sorry, Dad. I failed the test again.

—Yes, of course. Two years ago.

—I was doing my homework ________ my father was reading newspapers.

—I'm going to _______ the English corner. Would you like to _______ me?    —I'm afraid I can't.

—Sorry, I ________ what was happening outside.

—They ______ for 20 years.

—No, nothing.

Mr.Black was once a policeman. He was a kind person. He liked to have a walk inthe park after breakfast.

Itwas very cold1 awinter morning. Mr. Black was walking along the street when he heard a cry forhelp. He turned around but could see nobody. He stopped and looked here andthere. At the moment, a boy2 to him. The boy was in such a hurry3 he couldn't say a word except pointing towardsthe river. Mr Black realized what had happened and ran to the river as soon aspossible.4 of them ran along the river and saw a girl inthe water. She5a piece of wood. It was carrying heraway. It was too6.

Withouta word, Mr Black took off his clothes as7ashe could, and jumped into the river. He8 to the girl and took her back near the bankand lifted the girl up, and then the boy helped9herout of the water. Then they stopped a car and took the girl to the10. At last the girl's life was saved, andshe thanked them very much.

Long long ago, King Swan (天鹅国王) had a beautiful daughter. On her 15th birthday, she wished that when she was old enough, she could choose her own husband. King Swan agreed with her.

When the princess was old enough, King Swan called all the birds to his home. Birds came from everywhere, even from far away. King Swan told his lovely daughter to choose one she liked. She looked over the many birds. Finally, she chose a green long-necked peacock (孔雀). She told her father, "This bird, the peacock, will be my husband."

Hearing that the peacock was the lucky one, all the other birds crowded around to congratulate (祝贺) him. The excited peacock said nothing but held his head high. Later he began to shout and show his beauty in a strange dance. The other birds started to laugh.

King Swan was angry. Standing in the middle of the birds, he said, "Sir Peacock, your voice is sweet, and you're really very pretty. But you are notmodest at all. I will not allow my daughter to marry you!"

The princess also learned she was wrong. Then King Swan married his daughter to a modest bird. The peacock flew away, having lost a beautiful wife.

ColinBoyle was born in 1973 near Dublin, Ireland. While he was ill in hospital atage 10, his uncle gave him an old violin. He loved it right away. After he leftthe hospital, he practiced at his school every day after class.

Oneday in 1987, John Leaf, the manager (经纪人)of several successful musicians, came to Colin's school. He was having ameeting with the headmaster when he heard Colin practicing. After the meeting,he found Colin and invited him to appear in one of the concerts he wasorganizing that year. Colin, however, refused Leaf ‘s invitation because justthen he was preparing for some important school exams. Years later, Colin madeit to college to study engineering. At college he met Kim O'Malley, who wasstudying chemistry (化学). Kim was also good at music.Being students, they didn't have much money and they usually worked in arestaurant on weekends.

Oneevening in April 1992, while Colin and Kim were at work, they heard that therewould be no live (现场演出的) music in therestaurant that night because the singer could not come. Colin and Kimpersuadedthe owner of the restaurant to let them play. Everyone was shocked to hear howgood they were. After that, they worked hard together and improved greatly inmusic.

LastFriday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories, destroyingfourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged (破坏) that their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had brokenwindows or broken roofs. One person was killed, several were badly hurt andtaken to hospital, and a number of other people received smaller hurt.Altogether (总共) over two hundred people were homelessafter the storm.

Afarmer, Mr. Tan, said that the storm began early in the morning and lasted forover an hour.

"Iwas eating with my wife and children," he said, "when we heard a loudnoise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us. We tried our bestto climb out but then I saw that one of my children was missing. I went backinside and found him safe but very frightened."

Mrs.Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she felt thather house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children.

"Therewas no time to take anything," she said, "A few minutes later, theroof came down."

Soldiershelped to take people out of the flooded (水淹的)area and the welfare department (福利机构) brought themfood, clothes andshelter.

Have you heard of the story of The Legend of White Snake(《白蛇传》)? It's a very famous Chinese story, and it's a love story between White Snake and Xu Xian. It has a connection(联系) with the Dragon Boat Festival in China.

Once upon a time, there were two snakes, White Snake and Green Snake. They had magical powers and turned themselves into two beautiful young ladies. At the West Lake of Hangzhou, they met a man called Xu Xian. White Snake quickly fell in love with him. They got married soon and lived happily.

The Dragon Boat Festival came. On that day, people drank realgar wine(雄黄酒).But it was dangerous for White Snake to drink this kind of wine. If she drank the wine, she would turn into a snake again. However, Xu Xian didn't know anything about it, so he asked his wife to drink realgar wine. Soon White Snake felt uncomfortable and went into her room. When Xu Xian entered the room, he couldn't find his wife. He only saw a huge white snake on the bed. He was scared to death. Later, White Snake recovered(恢复). In order to save her husband, she went to steal the magical herb(药草). In the end, the god was so moved by her true love that he saved Xu Xian. What a moving love story!

Hansel and Gretel lived near a forest with their father and stepmother. One year, the weather was dry that no food would grow. The stepmother (plan) to leave the children to die in the forest. When the children knew this, they came up with a good idea to save (them).

When they woke up, the stepmother asked them to go to the forest to get some (wood) with their father. While they were (walk), Hansel dropped white stones along the way in to find the way back. When they came home, the couple were surprised to see them come back (safe).

Again, Hansel and Gretel were asked to go to the forest. But this time Hansel didn't have enough white (stone), so he dropped some pieces of bread and hoped to find them instead. But they both got lost because some birds ate the bread on the g. Finally, a bird's song l them to a wonderful house made of bread, cake and candy. They were hungry, so they ate part of the house!