Mr. Black went to the country on business. Bad luck! The rain (A)lasted from Tuesday to Sunday and all the traffic stopped. His bags were heavy and he could not carry them to a town. He had to stay in an inn(小旅馆) alone. There were several houses in the small village but he could not talk with anybody when night fell. He could not see any televisions and there was no cinema, either. (B)He had to go to bed early after supper. But he often woke up early in the morning. He would not get up, but lay in bed, listening to the rain falling.

    (C)一天早晨他正躺在床上听收音机，suddenly he remembered it was his birthday that day. He borrowed a bike from a farmer. It took him three hours to get to a small town. There he found a restaurant. He told the waiter (D)_______ (take) some nice food for him. He called out after he ate a little. “Waiter! Your food tastes terrible! Call your manager(经理) here! ”

“Sorry, sir, ” said the waiter, “our manager has gone out for lunch. ”

    It was only with her death that Nurse Edith Cavell became known, but her story became one of the great epics (ASF) of the First World War. Edith Cavell, born on December 4, 1865 at Northfolk, England, studied nursing, and became First Matron(护士长) at a hospital in Brussels, Belgium. During the war she became an important link in a chain of people helping the wounded and stray Allied soldiers (离散的盟军士兵) back to their own lines. The Germans caught her and she was sentenced to be shot. This brave woman, who had helped over two hundred soldiers to safety, acted with great pride during the short trial(审判). She said at the end her only regret was that she could not have done more than she did.

    Edith Cavell was killed by several German soldiers on October 12, 1915 after an American's request to spare her life had been rejected. There is a statue(雕塑) of her in London, arid Mount Edith Cavell in Canada is named for this heroic nurse.

B

    I have a twin brother, Bob. He is taller than me. His hair is shorter than mine. Many people think we must have many things in common. But in fact this is not true. Bob is more outgoing than me. When my parents' friends come to our house, Bob often sits there and talks to them. But I often sit there and say nothing. Bob likes reading, cooking and drawing. I just like swimming and playing basketball. He has more hobbies than me, but he is not as athletic(擅长运动的) as me. Because Bob does better than me at school, my mom often says to me, “Bob is younger than you, but he can get better grades, you should learn from him.” We both like eating fast food and listening to music.

    In 1909 an English newspaper offered £ 1,000 to the first man to fly across the English Channel in an aeroplane. Today, modern jets cross it in minutes. But at that time it still seemed a good distance. The race to win the money soon became a race between two men. Both were very colourful.

    One was Louis Bleriot. He owned a factory in France that made motor car lamps. He was already well known as a pilot because he had had accidents several times. Some people laughed at him. One man said, "He may not be the first to fly across the Channel but he will certainly be the first to die in an accident!" But Bleriot was really a good and brave pilot. He also had many good ideas about aeroplane design.

    The other man was Hubert Latham. He was half French and half English. He took up flying when his doctors told him he had only a year to live. "Oh, well," he said, "if I'm going to die soon, I think I shall have a dangerous and interesting life now." Latham was the first to try the flight across the Channel. Ten kilometres from the French coast, his plane had some trouble. It fell down into the water and began to sink under the water. A boat reached Latham just in time. He was sitting calmly on the wing and was coolly lighting a cigarette. Bleriot took off six days later. He flew into some very bad weather and very low cloud. He somehow got to the English side and landed in a farmer's field. When he did so, a customs (海关) officer rushed up to his plane. Planes have changed since then, but customs officers have not. "Have you anything to say?" The officer asked.

    John, David and James were three brothers. Every year on their mother's birthday, they sent her expensive presents. They liked to show her how rich they were.

    The oldest brother , John, decided to give his mother a perfect(完 美的) present. He thought it must be more expensive than his brothers'.

    So he put an advertisement(广告) in the newspapers: WANTED THE PERFECT PRESENT FOR A RICH WOMAN. For many days people phoned him from all over the country. Each of them wanted to sell him" the perfect present". But John didn't like any of them.

    Then, less than a week before his mother's birthday, a man came to his office. He was carrying a cage with a large bird in it. "This bird," the man said," can speak ten languages (语言) and sing any popular songs. There's no other bird like it in the world." With these words, he asked the bird to speak to John in French, tell him a joke in Japanese and sing a famous popular song. John was very happy.

    "I'll buy it. How much do you want?" John said." One hundred thousand dollars," the man said. This was a lot of money, but John paid him. Then he sent the bird to his mother with a birthday card.

    The day after his mother's birthday he phoned her." Well, Mother," he asked," what do you think of the bird?" "Oh, very delicious, dear," she answered.