Mr. White's family decided to repair their house. Mr. White bought the house two and a half years ago. Since his kids were growing up, he and his wife wanted to make some changes to the house.

    They decided to knock down their living room wall to open up the space. When the wooden walls were moved, they were shocked to find a lizard (蜥蜴) stuck in the small space between the walls. The lizard's foot was stuck by a nail (钉子) which was knocked into the wall from the other side several months ago. However, they wondered how the lizard had survived so long without moving from that place.

    The family decided to wait for a while and see how the lizard survived several months without moving. While they were doing other things, they kept an eye on the lizard. The son, Ray, suddenly shouted, “Dad, look here!”

    Another lizard appeared, carrying food to the stuck lizard's mouth. That was a real surprise! Everyone was touched that the lizard fed the other one for all this time.

    Both lizards had never-ending hope for each other and carried their hearts with love and care. Why can't we humans always carry that kind of love in our hearts? Life is full of all kinds of difficulties. What we can do is to give our hand to the one in need and share our love. Sharing is caring.

    Tomas Edison was born in 1847. Edison was in school for only three months, but he asked a lot of strange questions. His teacher did not understand him and said that he was not bright and was not worth teaching. His mother took him out of school and taught him herself. The boy was soon reading books for grow-ups. He showed special interest in science.

    Once his mother was ill. The doctor said she needed an operation at once. But it was night and the oil lamp in the room gave poor light. Edison thought hard and had an idea. He put all the oil lamps he could find on a long table. Then he placed a big mirror behind them. The room became quite bright. So the doctor could operate and his mother was saved.

    At the age of twelve, Edison began selling candy, sandwiches and newspapers on a train. In his spare time, he printed a newspaper on the train and sold copies to the railway workers.

    One day in August, 1862, Edison saw a boy playing on the tracks at a station. A train was coming near quickly, and the boy was too frightened to move. Edison rushed out and carried the boy to safety. The boy's father was the station master. He was so thankful that he taught Edison telegraphy(电报学). Edison soon became very good at it and later he left home to work in different cities. This gave him a start in his life. He was then just a boy of sixteen.

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of his cow. One day it was ill, the farmer was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" the vet asked the farmer when he arrived. "My cow is ill," said the farmer, "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and doesn't eat. She's making a strange noise." The vet looked at the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some strong medicine." He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better." "How should I give them to her? The farmer asked. The vet gave him a tube(管子) and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked worried. "How's your cow?" asked the vet. "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said." the farmer answered, "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put the two pills in it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first." the farmer said.

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835, in the state of Missouri. When he was four, his family moved to the town of Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a port on the Missippi River, and Clemens loved to watch the big steamboats going up and down the river. He said that all the boys in his school had one ambition in life: to work on a steamboat!

    His father died when he was just 12 years old, and Clemens then went to work for a printer to help support his family. He travelled around, and worked in many different cities. But when he was 22, he achieved his ambition—he got a job working on a steamboat. He sailed up and down the wide Missippi River until the American Civil War began.

    He then moved around America, and tried several jobs. He was a soldier, and a silver miner. Then he started working as a writer for a newspaper. It was at that time that he decided to use a pen name for his stories, and he chose the name "Mark Twain".

    The name is interesting. It comes from his days on the steamboats. He used to throw a piece of rope into the river. There was a heavy weight on the end of the rope, and the rope had some marks on it. He used the rope to find how deep the river was. Then he shouted out, "Mark One" or "Mark Twain", meaning "Mark Two". Each mark was about two metres, so when he shouted "Mark Twain", it meant that the river was deep enough for the big boat.

    In 1865 Clemens wrote a story about a jumping frog. The story and the writer became famous. In 1867 he toured Europe. He married when he returned, and lived for most of the rest of his in Harfort, Connecticut. He wrote many books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which he wrote in 1876. He also gave many lectures, and became a very famous and popular man.

    Once two of his friends decided to write to him, but they had lost his address. So on the envelope they just wrote "Mark Twain, God knows where". Several weeks later, they received a replay from the writer. It just said, "He does!"

    Samuel Clemens died in 1910. He is considered to be one of America's most important writers.

A man noticed a woman in the grocery store with a three-year-old girt in her shopping cart. 

As they passed the cookie section, the little girl asked for some cookies but her mother r{#blank#}1{#/blank#} her. The little girl cried out at once. However, the mother said q{#blank#}2{#/blank#} , "Now Monica. we just have several passages to go through. Don't be upset. It won't be l{#blank#}3{#/blank#}." 

   Soon they came to the candy section, and the little girl began to shout for candy. When she was told she couldn't have any, she cried l{#blank#}4{#/blank#} again. The mother said. "There, there, Monica, don't cry--only two more passages to go and then we'll c{#blank#}5{#/blank#} out." 

   When they went to the cashier desk, the little girl once again began to ask for gum and burst into a terrible a{#blank#}6{#/blank#} when she found out that there had been no gum to buy. The mother said patiently, "Monica we'll be through this counter in 5 minutes and then you can go home and have a bath before having a s{#blank#}7{#/blank#} sleep." 

   The man f{#blank#}8{#/blank#} them out and stopped the woman to praise her. "I couldn't help n{#blank#}9{#/blank#} how kind you were with little Monica. You're such a good mother!" he said with an a{#blank#}10{#/blank#} voice. 

   "However," the mother replied, "I'm Monica--my little girl's name is Tammy."