I got laid off at 53 from a senior management position in a restaurant. And I knew it was going to be hard to find another job in the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(competition) working market. My age put me at{#blank#}2{#/blank#}disadvantage. But I also knew it was time for me {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (realize) my lifelong dream of owning a restaurant.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}was most difficult was that in order to make this happen, I needed to find an {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(exist) café that wasn't doing well. It couldn't be better if its owner was ready to quit his business. With great {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (lucky) I found just what I wanted eight blocks from home. Since I had never financially planned for this day, I had to borrow money from friends as well as {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(relative). I, together with my wife,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) ready to start off. We changed the name to Black Dog Coffee, the menu, the recipes and the look of the caf6, and my wife did a great job of designing. Eighteen years later, we're still here and doing {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(well) than ever. I'm grateful {#blank#}10{#/blank#}the layoff and the opportunity to pursue my dream.

    You've just hiccupped (打嗝) for the tenth time since you finished dinner. Wonder{#blank#}1{#/blank#}these funny noises are coming from? The part {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(blame) is your diaphragm, the muscle at the bottom of your chest. All hiccups start here.

    The diaphragm almost always {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(work) perfectly--it pulls down when you breathe in to help pull air into the lungs {#blank#}4{#/blank#}it moves up when you breathe out to help push air out of the lungs. But sometimes the diaphragm becomes upset, and when {#blank#}5{#/blank#}happens, it pushes up in an irregular way, making your breath come out differently {#blank#}6{#/blank#}how it normally does. When this irregular breath hits your voice box, you're left with a big hiccup. Things {#blank#}7{#/blank#}bother the diaphragm include eating too quickly or too much, stomachaches or feeling nervous.

    If you want to know {#blank#}8{#/blank#}to get rid of hiccups, here are some “cures”.{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (breathe) into a paper bag is one method some people use. Others think taking a mouthful of water is the way to become hiccup-free. Sugar under your tongue might also drive away the hiccups. And maybe the most famous {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(treat), having someone scare you, also helps beat the hiccups.

    Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (let) the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(give) a space in the cold basement. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}midnight the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied: Things aren't always what they seem.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} next night the two angels came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable(好客的)farmer and his wife. After sharing their food, the couple let the angels sleep in their only bed .As {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(usually), the angels found the farmer and his wife in{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (tear). Their only cow died. The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, "Why did you not care about the poor family? The first man had everything, yet you watched over his house. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, but you did not help."

    {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (final)the older angel replied. "When we stayed in the basement, I noticed there was gold kept{#blank#}8{#/blank#} the hole . Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune, I asked God if I could seal(封口) the wall so he wouldn't find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death(死神) came for his wife. I made up {#blank#}9{#/blank#}mind to help them, so I gave him the cow instead of the farmer's wife. Just remember that things aren't always {#blank#}10{#/blank#}they seem."

    The way we tell stories has naturally changed since Aristotle defined the rules of tragedy about 2,500 years ago. According to him, the role of storytelling is to imitate life and make us feel emotions. And that's exactly what storytelling as we know it has done very well since then. But there is an aspect of life {#blank#}1{#/blank#} storytelling could never really reproduce. It is the notion of choices.

    Choices are a very important part of our lives. We as individuals {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (define) by the choices we make. As an interactive writer, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (fascinate) with the idea of recreating this notion of choices in fiction, I have tried to put the audience in the shoes of the main characters. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (explore) a way to achieve this is what I did in the past 20 years of my life.

    So do you have an idea of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} my work is about as an interactive writer? Where a writer needs to deal with time and space, as an interactive writer, I need to deal with time, space and possibilities. I need to think about all the possibilities {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the characters could encounter different people and different things in a given scene and try to imagine everything that {#blank#}7{#/blank#} happen.

    The interactive writer's experience is very unique, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} it is the result of the cooperation between a writer creating this narrative landscape and the player making his own decisions, telling his own story and becoming the cowriter but also the coactor and the codirector of the story. Interactive storytelling is a revolution in the way we tell stories.