Laura is at the airport(机场). She waits for her plane. Her plane is to Berlin, and it is 4 hours away. Laura walks around the shops.

    After an hour she wants to go to the bathroom. But she doesn't find it. “Where is the bathroom?” she says. She starts asking other people. Laura says to a man，“Excuse me, sir, could you please tell me where the bathroom is?” The man says, “You mean the restroom，right?” Laura says, “No, I mean the bathroom.” “Well, the restroom is over there.” He says and walks away.  

    Laura doesn't understand(明白). She asks a woman, “Excuse me, madam, could you please tell me where the bathroom is?” “The restroom is over there,” the lady answers and walks away.

    Laura is confused. “What's wrong? I need to use the bathroom and they tell me to rest!”

    Then Laura gives up(放弃). She feels tired and thinks she needs to rest.  

    She walks to the restroom. Now she is surprised. She realizes(意识到) the restroom is the name for a public(公共的) bathroom!

    When Mr. David retired(退休), he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it. But to his surprise, many visitors came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night, there were visitors outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into the house. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said，“If you want to satisfy your curiosity(好奇心), come in and look around. Price: twenty dollars.”Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. “I came here to retire, not to work as a guide(导游)”, he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

    Andi Davise, 49, regularly crossed the trail through the Phoenix Mountains Preserve with a few other hikers before sunrise. This morning, however, she met nobody and heard only the sounds of animals.

    Some time later, Andi got to the steep slope(陡坡), she climbed up to the top by using her hands. When she finally reached the top, she noticed a dark shape several inches from her left foot. She was frightened and then looked carefully. "It's a dog and it's dead." she said to herself. It took her a few seconds to realize that the dog's eyes were open. A thin, dirty bull dog was looking at her.

    She greeted in a low and soft voice to show she was friendly. The bull dog shook when he heard her voice.

    Andi inched closer and dropped some water into the dog's mouth. He tried to stand up but failed. Something was wrong with his left front leg. Andi pulled out her phone to contact her husband, Jason, but he didn't respond. She knew that if she didn't carry the dog down the mountain, he would die.

She carefully put her arms under the dog's body. He was so weak that he fell into her chest.

    Andi had great trouble going down the steep, rocky mountainside with the 50-pound animal in her arms. Even her arms and back started aching, she didn't give up. The trip up had taken 30 minutes while going back down took twice that.

    Andi's husband received her messages at last. He and their son, Justin, jumped into the car and drove to pick up Andi.

Later that morning, an X-ray showed that the bull dog was badly hurt, he was likely to lose his left leg.

    A few days later, the Davises returned to the animal hospital. "The first thing he did was to give me a kiss, then he went right to my son." Andi said. They named the dog Elijah and brought him home that day.

An adventure of a mouse

    It was time to leave the cave．I'd been with my mum and brothers and sisters for the first five weeks of my life{#blank#}1{#/blank#} So I packed up a bag．I nside were things that I thought I'd need to have along the way．

    This included a toothbrush，a change of clothes，and，of course，my lucky bottle cap．

    My Uncle Louie had found the bottle cap on his travels long ago．He was running from a fierce cat．That's when Uncle Louie discovered it was"lucky"．He used it to slide down a hill．At the bottom of the hill，rushing water began to carry him away．{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Luckily，he was able to guide the boat through the waters．I listened to Uncle Louie tell the story many，many times．One day，to my surprise，he gave me the lucky charm （幸运符）．

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}With that，I said my good﹣byes．Then I left the cave that I had known for so long．Outside the sun was shining．Birds were singing high in the trees．{#blank#}4{#/blank#} All of a sudden my ears caught the sound of something unusual．The sky darkened like night．The wind blew strongly．I quickly searched for cover．There was none．The next thing I knew，white stones began hitting the ground．Then it hit me．My bottle cap!{#blank#}5{#/blank#}I placed it over my head just as one of the ice balls crashed onto the cap．Stunned，but not hurt，I sat still for some time．Then I smiled．The lucky charm had saved the day and my life!

A．I have carried it with me ever since．

B．I wanted to explore the outside world．

C．Thinking quickly，he used the bottle cap as a boat．

D．I reached into my pack and pulled out my lucky charm．

E．With each step I took，the excitement of being on my own grew bigger and bigger．

    "Can I see my son?" the happy new mother asked. She couldn't wait to open the swaddling(襁褓) clothes. But when she saw his tiny face, she was shocked! The boy had been born without ears.

    Although the boy's hearing was perfect, he was often laughed at because of his strange appearance. It was only his appearance a little bit different. One day, he rushed home from school and threw himself into his mother's arms, burst into tears, "A big boy called me a monster!" Sad tears flowed down the boy's face, also into the mother's heart.

    The boy's father asked a famous doctor for help, "Could nothing be done to help my son?" "I believe I could put a pair of ears on him if they could be found," answered the doctor. Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You are going to the hospital, son. Someone will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret." After the successful operation, a new person appeared! The boy's life became beautiful since then. The boy often asked his father, "Who gave me the ears, dad? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her." "It's a secret," answered his father quietly. The years kept their secret, but the day did come. It was the darkest day for the son. He stood with his father over his mother's casket棺材). Slowly and gently, the father raised the mother's long thick hair to show that the mother had no ears! "Mother said she was happy that she never had her hair cut," he said, "And nobody had ever thought Mother less beautiful than before, had they?" After mother had died, the boy finally knew the truth.