The Man of Many Secrets

    Harry Houdini was one of the greatest American entertainers(表演者·演艺人员) in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes－from prison cells(囚室), from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.

    Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had ability to move his toes as well as to move his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.

Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in a New York club. They called themselves the Houdini brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant, but for a long time they were not successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspaperman to watch. It was the publicity(名声) that came from this that started Harry Houdini's success.

    Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs(手铐) and toes trained to escape from ankle chains（脚镣）, but his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck－and a small skeleton key（万能钥匙）, which is a key that fits many locks passed quickly from her mouth to his.

    Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local jail of every town he visited. In the afternoon the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? Worldwide fame, and a name remembered today.

注意：（1）选择一门课程，并给出至少两点理由；（2）文中不得出现真实的姓名、校名等；（3）词数80左右（开头已给出，不计入总词数）。

In order to make our school life colorful, the school has set up different kinds of courses.

I still remember it was a sunny Saturday afternoon in Oklahoma City. My father 1 his two little boys to play miniature golf (迷你高尔夫). He walked up to the person at the ticket counter(售票柜台) and said, "How much is it to get2 ?"

 The young man said, "$3 for 3 and $3 for any kid older than 6. We let them in 4 if they are 6 or younger. 5 are they?" "The younger one is 3 and the older one is 7. " My father answered. The man at the ticket counter said, "Hey, Mister, did you just 6 the lottery(彩票) or something? You could 7 yourself three dollars. You could 8 me that the older one was 6;I wouldn't know the 9 . " My father said, "Yes, that might be true, 10 the kids would know the difference. " He was 11 . I did learn the difference. My father paid the 12 price for my ticket-as well as taught me an important 13 . 

 As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Who you are speaks so loudly I can't 14 what you' re saying. " In times when ethics(道德) are more 15 than ever, make sure you set a good example for everyone around you.