Having experienced a shocking electrical accident, which caused him to become both blind and deaf, James Franco's world became completely dark and quiet for almost ten years. The loss of sight and hearing threw him into such sorrow that he tried a few times to put an end to his life. His family, especially his wife, did their best to tend and comfort him and finally he regained the will to live.

    One hot summer afternoon, he was taking a walk with a stick near his house when a thunderstorm started all at once. He stood under a large tree to avoid getting wet, but he was struck by lightning. Witnesses (目击者) thought he was dead but he woke up 20 minutes later, lying face down in muddy water. He was trembling badly, but when he opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he saw: a tree and a muddy road. When Mrs. Franco came running up to him, shouting to their neighbors to call for help, he could see her and hear her voice for the first time in nearly ten years.

    The news of James regaining his sight and hearing quickly spread and many doctors came to examine him. Most of them said that he regained his sight and hearing from the shock he got from lightning. However, none of them could give a compelling answer as to why this should happen. The only reasonable explanation given by one doctor was that, since James lost his sight and hearing as a result of a sudden shock, perhaps, the only way for him to regain them was by another sudden shock.

    If feels like every time my mother and I start to have a conversation, it turns into an argument. We talk about something as simple as dinner plans and suddenly, my mother will push the conversation into World War? She'll talk about my lack of a bright future because I don't plan to be a doctor. And much to her disappointment, I don't want to do any job related to science, either. In fact, when I was pushed to say that I planned to major (主修) in English and communications, she nearly had a heart attack.

"Why can't you be like my coworker's son?" she bemoans all the time. Her coworker's son received a four year scholarship and is now earning 70,000 dollars a year as an engineer. I don't know what to answer except that I simply can't be like Mr Perfect as I've called the unnamed coworker's son. I can't be like him. I'm the type of person who loves to help out in the community, write until the sun goes down, and most of all, wants to achieve a career because I love it, not because of fame (名声) or salary.

    I understand why my mother is worried about my future major. I've seen my mother struggle to raise me on her small salary and work long hours. She leaves the house around 6:30 am and usually comes home around 5 pm or even 6 pm. However, I want her to know that by becoming a doctor, it doesn't mean I'll be successful. I'd rather follow my dreams and create my own future.

    It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men would become fierce tigers behind the wheel. It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver's seat is another matter altogether.

    Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most cool-headed drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving．On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting. A friendly nod or a wave of thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and calm so necessary in modern traffic condition. But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough. Many drivers nowadays don't even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it.

    However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical examples are the driver who waves a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may be not able to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to. It always amazes me that the highways are not covered with the dead bodies of these grannies (奶奶).

    An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total blockages that give rise to unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, modern drivers can't even learn to drive. Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.

    Life gets noisier every day and very few people can free from noise of some sort or another.It doesn't matter where you live—in the middle of modern city，or a faraway village—the chances that you will be disturbed by jet aeroplanes，transistor radios，oilpowered engines，etc.，are almost everywhere. We seem to be getting used to noise，too. Some people feel quite lonely without background music while they are working.

    Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be a very frightening experience for human beings. However，some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud，and this can do harm to their eardrums (耳鼓)．The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.

    One recent report about noise and concentration suggested that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration，what really affects their ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise，which doesn't change too much (music，for example) may even help people to concentrate.

    There was great excitement on the planet of Venus (金星) this week. For the first time Venusian scientists managed to land a satellite on the planet Earth, and it has been sending back signals as well as photographs.

    The satellite was directed into an area known as Manhattan (曼哈顿). Because of excellent weather conditions and extremely strong signals, Venusian scientists were able to get valuable information about the feasibility of a manned flying saucer (飞碟) landing on Earth. A press conference was held at the Venus Institute of Technology.

“We have come to the conclusion, based on last week's satellite landing,” Professor Zog said, “that there is no life on Earth."

    “How do you know this?” the science reporter of the Venus Evening News asked.

    "For one thing, Earth's surface in the area of Manhattan consists of solid concrete (混泥土) and nothing can grow there. For another, the atmosphere is filled with carbon monoxide (一氧化碳) and other deadly gases and nobody could possibly breathe this air and survive.”

    “Are there any other sources of danger that you have discovered in your studies?”

    “Take a look at this photo. You see this dark black cloud staying over the surface of Earth? We don't know what it is made of, but it could give us a lot of trouble and we shall have to make further tests before we send a Venus Being there. Over here you will notice what seems to be a river, but the satellite findings indicates it is polluted and the water is unfit to drink.”

    “Sir, what are all those tiny black spots on the photographs?”

    “We're not certain. They seem to be metal objects that moves along certain roads. They give out gases, make noise and keep crashing into each other.”

    “Professor Zog, why are we spending billions and billions of Zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth when there is no life there?”

    “Because if we Venusians can learn to breathe in the Earth atmosphere, then we can live anywhere.”

    On the very first day, God created the cow and said to him, "As a cow, you must go to the field, working under the sun all day long! And I will give you 40 years to live." The cow objected, "What? You want me to live such a tough life for 40 years? Let me have 20 years, and I'll give the rest back to you." So God agreed.

    On the second day, God created the dog and said, "You'll be man's best friend, guarding his house and eating his leftovers. I'll give you a life span of 30 years." The dog shook his head. "Eating leftovers for 30 years? No way! I'll give half back to you!" So God agreed.

    Then, God created the monkey, saying, "Your job is to entertain people. You've got to do monkey tricks and make them laugh. And you'll live 20 years."" Do monkey tricks to make them laugh? 10 years will do." the monkey said. So God agreed.

    Finally, God created the man. "You will be the man. All you need to do is to sleep, eat, and play, simply enjoying your life. And I'll give you 20 years to live." Thinking for a while, the man replied, "I can be the man, but I want to take all the years that the cow, the dog and the monkey didn't want." So God agreed.

    Since then, man eats, sleeps and plays in the first 2 decades, marries and spends the next 2 decades like a cow, working very hard to support his family. Then when he has children, he lives 15 years like a dog, taking care of the house and eating whatever is given to him. And when he is old, he retires and lives 10 years like a monkey, doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.