Once upon a time, there was a man {#blank#}1{#/blank#} was very wealthy. He wanted to do something for the people in his village. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} that, he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.

    In the center of the main road into the village, he placed {#blank#}3{#/blank#} very large stone. Then he {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(hide) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his horse.

    “Who put this stone in the center of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (say) to himself, “The night {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”

    Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(strong) to move it. How great was his surprise at last!{#blank#}10{#/blank#} the stone, he found a bag of money.

    I felt {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(luck) to have won a place to go on a cultural tour to sites of lost civilizations. We visited Pompeii in Italy and Loulan in China. Pompei {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(found) in the 8^th century BC, then taken{#blank#}3{#/blank#}by the Romans in 89 BC. Later, Pompei was destroyed by a volcano. It erupted and covered Pompei with ash.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (fortunate), many people were buried alive. The city was forgotten for many years until the 18^th century when a stone with writing on it was discovered by a farmer. People started to dig in the area {#blank#}5{#/blank#}treasure and caused much damage. Thus, in 1860, the area was governed by the government so {#blank#}6{#/blank#}could be preserved and studied.

    Differently, Loulan disappeared under the sand. There were just a few {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(ruin) left. There was {#blank#}8{#/blank#}ancient water system {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (run) through the middle of the city. The desert was once a green with huge trees, but they were cut down,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}resulted in the city being buried by sand.

    They were both important commercial cities about 2,000 years ago. It was a pity that they disappeared for ever.

    Last October, while tending her garden in Mora, Sweden, Lena Pahlsson pulled out a handful of small {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(carrot) and was about to throw them away. But something made her look closer, and she noticed a {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(shine) object. Yes, there beneath the leafy top of one tiny carrot was her long-lost wedding ring.

    Pahlsson screamed {#blank#}3{#/blank#} loudly that her daughter came running from the house. "She thought I had hurt {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(I)," says Pahlsson.

    Sixteen years {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (early), Pahlsson had removed the diamond ring {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (cook) a meal. When she wanted to put the ring back on later, it was gone. She suspected that one of her three daughters — then ten, eight, and six—had picked it up, but the girls said they hadn't. Pahlsson and her husband {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (search) the kitchen, checking every corner, but turned up nothing. "I gave up hope of finding my ring again," she says. She never replaced it.

    Pahlsson and her husband now think the ring probably got {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (sweep) into a pile of kitchen rubbish and was spread over the garden, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} it remained until the carrot's leafy top accidentally sprouted (生长) through it. For Pahlsson, its return was {#blank#}10{#/blank#} wonder.