My father was a highly educated, intelligent gentleman. He could debate or discuss for hours on almost any topic and hold your 1 in the process. I thought there was nothing he wasn't 2 to do.

    A few days before my younger brother's 7th birthday, Dad planned to assemble（装配）a new  3 as a special birthday surprise. After nearly an hour of  4 the instructions, Dad was still unable to 5 the new bike together. Later he 6 the paper of instructions, 7 up his tool box, and decided to take the bike back to the local toy store and pay extra 8 to have it correctly assembled there. 9 an idea came to him, as he called out to Lovett, the quiet little man who cut our grassland.

    “Lovett, have you ever assembled a boy's bicycle?”

    As Lovett walked towards the bike, Dad handed him the 10 . Lovett handed it back to him, saying, “No, thanks. I can't read. When you can't read, you have to 11 .” Less than 15 minutes later, the new bicycle was 12  assembled, with no 13  parts remaining. Dad shook Lovett's hand, patted him on the back, thanked him, and hid the bike.

    On the night after my brother received his shiny new gift, Dad announced at the family dinner table what had happened several days earlier. He took great 14  in telling it over and over again — he used it as an example of thinking.

    He did not refer to illiteracy（文盲）, but strongly taught us to use our  15  . The joke was on my father,  16  he was able to turn it into a learning tool, and I liked him even more after that incident. I also gained a new  17  for Lovett. To me he had  18  been the old yard man who didn't 19  much, but after that day, he seemed to smile 20  , even walk taller. It's amazing what a real nod of approval can do to lift people up.

    After lunch, without permission from parents, the two boys set off to explore the part of the beach which lay beyond the headland(陆岬). They had persuaded their young sister to 1 saying that the long walk would be too 2 for her. Once they had got in the headland, the beach reached away endlessly before them. It was like 3 a new world. There were damp, dark caves to 4 there were many 5 among the rocks, full of sea lives. Here and there along the beach were those 6objects, washed up and 7by the tide.(潮汐)

    The afternoon passed 8The sun was already 9 when the boys reluctantly (恋恋不舍)10to make their 11 homewards. But long before they reached the headland, they could see that tide had come in so sudden that they were now 12from either end of the beach. Their only chance of 13was to find a way up the cliff(悬崖) nearby.

    They soon find a narrow path 14the cliff top. But half way up their path was15by a large rock which they could not climb 16. The two boys had to17at the top of their voices,18 that someone might19over the top of the rock. Finally came their father and two policemen.20 of them climbed down a rope which was lowered over the rock. The boys were then pulled to safety, and thus saved from spending a terrible night on the cliff.

    As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her tiny face.

    1 and wet, my husband gave up his attempt to nag down a taxi. I knew the 2.Just after her first birthday, we were told our daughter Katie has a 3brain illness. Since that moment, Doung and I felt like runners in a marathon race where the finish line kept4 . We knew Katie was runn.ng out of 5. It had taken months before we finally had a name for the 6 ， but we were told only a few specialists in the world knew how to7 it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to 8 our girl, we were in a strange9 in the cold rain.

    Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman pulled over and said, “Pardon me? May I offer you a(n)10?”

    Before we could say anything, she continued, “It's really no11for me. Just get in.”

    It was then that I noticed her thick Irish accent, which 12me up like hot soup. We simply said, “Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital, please,” as we got in her car for the ride.

    “Are you going13the baby?” she asked us.

    I nodded my head, holding back my 14.

    At the hospital, we 15her a dozen times for the ride. As the woman hugged me, I16her face was wet with tears. She promised to17for us before she left.

    After three more visits to New York and two more 18surgeries (手术)，Katie is cured. But the 19 of the Irish Angel still rang as a constant reminder of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our20 days.

    Did The Earth Move For You?

    Eleven-year-old Angela suffered from a disease involving her nervous system. She was unable to1and her movement was restricted in other ways as well. The doctors did not hold out much2of her ever recovering from this illness. They 3she'd spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. They said that4, if any, were able to come back to normal after catching this disease. But the little girl was brave and confident. There, lying in her hospital bed, she would5to anyone who'd listen that she was definitely going to be walking again someday.

    She was then sent to a specialized rehabilitation hospital in the San Francisco Bay area. Whatever therapies(治疗方法) could be6to her case were used. Things didn't work as the therapists expected. Still they were charmed by her7spirit. They taught her about8— about seeing herself walking. If it would do nothing else, it would9give her hope and something 10to do in the long waking hours in her bed. Angela would work as hard as possible in physical therapy, in whirlpools and in exercise sessions. And she worked just as hard lying there11doing her imaging, visualizing herself moving, moving, moving!

    One day, as she was twisting with all her12to imagine her legs moving again, it seemed as though a13thing happened: The bed moved! It began to move around the room! She14out, “Look what I'm doing! Look! Look! I 15it! I moved!”

    Of course, at this very moment everyone else in the hospital was screaming, too, and running for 16. People were screaming, equipment was17and glass was breaking. You see, it was the recent San Francisco earthquake. But don't tell that to Angela. She's18that she did it. And now only a few years later, she's back in school.

    19her own two legs. No crutches(拐杖), no wheelchair. You see, anyone who can shake the earth between San Francisco and Oakland can conquer a little disease. You never know what's around the corner until you take a20step.

    This year I decided to do something to regain my good name as a kindly uncle. My 1 , Tony, had never forgiven me for the dictionary I had bought him as a birthday present last year. His 2 had no reason to be thankful to me either, because the year before, I had 3 their dear son with a pot of paste(浆糊) and some funny pictures. Instead of 4 them into a book, Tony had naturally covered every wall in the house with them. This year, 5, I decided to let him 6 for himself.

We went into a big shop, but Tony was very particular about 7 . Although I tried to show him toy after toy, he was not to be 8 . Then I saw he suddenly became 9 , he had discovered something he really liked: a large tin drum. I was quite happy too— 10 I thought what Tony's mother would say when she saw it. Nobody would get any 11 for weeks! I led Tony away 12 , saying that the drum was too expensive.

    Tony asked for permission to go off 13 and I made the most of my chance to sit down and 14 my aching feet. Fifteen minutes passed but there was still no sign of Tony. I began to get 15 and got up to look for him. I asked a young lady if she had seen a little boy in a grey suit. She looked 16 her helplessly and pointed out that there were so many 17 in grey suits. I was just going to call the police for help, when I saw a strange 18 dressed in strange orange clothes. He was wearing a false beard and had a caveman's axe(斧子) in one hand, and a space gun in the other. It was, of course, Tony, who informed me 19 that he was the first 20 to fly into space.

Lily loved school. However, there was one class Lily worried about more than any other—art. She didn't know why she just wasn't any good at drawing, painting, or cutting.

Ms. Clay, the art teacher, stood at the front of the room. "Class, next Friday our school is going to have an art competition," she announced. Ms. Clay was a great teacher, and Lily liked her a lot. But this announcement made Lily nervous. "Everyone in the school will create a piece of artwork to show in the library. You can use the different types of artwork we have been studying." Ms. Clay was quite excited when she spoke while Lily found herself sinking lower in her chair.

Lily had the whole weekend to work on her project, but she could not think of anything to do. On Monday, Lily felt frightened, so after school Lily asked Ms. Clay if she could write an art paper instead of doing an art project.

"I understand this project scared you, Lily," Ms. Clay said. "Just remember, you can create any kind of art you want." Ms. Clay smiled at her. "Art is a person's way of expressing his or her feelings—it isn't always painting, drawing, or cutting. I know you will think of something very creative, and I can't wait to see it."

When Lily arrived home, she took out a piece of paper and a pencil. She remembered Ms. Clay's words. "Art is a person's way of expressing his or her feelings." Lily wrote the word "terrified" on her paper. She crumpled (揉皱) the paper and threw it to the side of her desk.

Then Lily stared at the crumpled ball. Suddenly an idea struck her.

Paragraph 1：

Why not create something out of crumpled paper?

Paragraph 2：

On Friday, Lily carefully carried her project into the library.