People normally think of dogs as man's best friend, but to Brian Wilson, his two pet parrots are his best friends.

    It all began in 1995, when Brian was still a firefighter. A car accident caused serious damage to his brain. After several months of treatment, Brian's doctors said that he would never talk again and that he would have to spend the rest of his life in a nursing home.

    However, according to Brian, his two pet parrots didn't give up easily. They kept talking to him day and night, until one day, he said one word, then another, and all of a sudden was talking like a normal person again!

    Brian was so thankful that he decided to set up a home for birds which are not wanted by their owners. Now, his house is home to about 80 birds, including a great variety of birds like several macaws, cockatoos and African gray parrots. The birds fly around from room to room, some cackling (咯咯叫), others talking like humans. Though they all have big cages, Brian lets them fly freely inside the house.

    Over the years, Brian has developed a special relationship with birds. The birds that bite other humans, seem to like him and can get along with him well. He is now called a bird whisperer (鸟语者). Brian pays for most of the costs of looking after the birds with his own money, but has recently established a foundation (基金会) to accept donations. He and his birds also earn money by performing at birthday parties, weddings and other social events.

    For people who want to adopt (领养) Brian's birds, they have to volunteer at the foundation for three months before they can take the pet home.

    An English traveller found himself in Norway with only enough money to buy the ticket for his journey back home. As he knew that it would take him only two days to get to England, he decided that he could easily spend the time without food. So he bought a ticket and got on the ship. The man closed his ears to the sound of the lunch bell. When dinner time came, he didn't go to the dining room, saying that he was not feeling very well.

    The next morning, he still didn't have breakfast and at lunch time he again stayed in his room. But at dinner time he was so hungry that he went to the dining room and ate everything the waiter put in front of him. He got ready for the quarrel(争吵).

     “Bring me the bill,” he said. “The bill, sir?” said the waiter in surprise. “There isn't any bill. On our ship meals are included(包括)in the money for the ticket,'' said the waiter.

It is easy for many people to catch a cold in the springtime or fall. It makes us wonder if scientists can send a man to the moon, why can't they find a cure for the common cold? The answer is easy. There are actually different cold viruses out there. You never know which one you will get, so there isn't a cure for each one.

When a virus attacks your body, your body works hard to get rid of it Blood rushes to your nose and causes a block in it. You feel terrible because you can't breathe well, but your body is actually eating the virus. Your temperature goes up and you get a fever, but the heat of your body is killing the virus. You also have a runny nose to stop the virus from getting into your cells. You may feel very uncomfortable, but actually your wonderful body is doing everything it can to kill the cold.

Different people do different things to deal with colds. In the United States and some other countries, for example, people might have chicken soup to help them get over the cold. Some people take hot baths. Other people take medicine to stop different symptoms(症状)of colds.

There is one interesting thing to note一some scientists say taking medicine when you have a cold is actually bad for you. The virus stays in you longer because your body doesn't have a way to fight it and kill it Bodies can do an amazing job on their own. There is a joke, however, on taking medicine when you have a cold. It goes like this:

It takes about one week to get over a cold if you don't take medicine, but it takes only seven days to get over a cold if you take medicine.

阅读下列短文, 从下面每个小题的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

One day, Ben was playing basketball in the living room, breaking a vase. To cover his terrible action, the frightened boy glued the pieces together and put the vase back to its place.

That evening her mother noticed the cracks (裂纹). But to her surprise, the repair work was actually very good. At dinner time, she asked her boy if he broke the vase. Fearing punishment, the boy said that a neighbor's cat jumped in from the window and knocked the vase off. His mother was quite clear that her son was lying. However, she said nothing.

Before going to bed, the boy was asked to go to the study. In the study, his mother didn't look angry. On seeing her son carefully come in, she gave him one chocolate, saying "This chocolate is a reward (奖励) for your imagination: a window-opening cat!" At that moment, the boy felt the chocolate was a hot potato. “Did mom find holes in my excuse?” he thought. “You know, all the windows were closed.” Mother continued calmly and took out two chocolates into his hand, “An award for the perfect repair.”

Now with the chocolates in hand, the boy wished the ground to open up and bury him! He told the truth. “So I have to punish you for your lie.” The mother said with a serious voice and took back his chocolates. The boy bent down his head in shame. “But your honesty should have the award—a box of chocolates.” The mother suddenly bent to kiss his cheek, speaking gently to the crying boy, “My son, honesty values more than anything.”

A man was sitting in the doctor's office. He was telling the doctor about his {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. "I like football, Doctor. "He said, "Please help {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. My life has {#blank#}3{#/blank#}been a good one since I became {#blank#}4{#/blank#} in football and it is getting worse and {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. I can't even get away from it in my sleep. When I close my {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, I'm out there in the football field and running {#blank#}7{#/blank#}a flying ball. When I wake up, I'm more {#blank#}8{#/blank#} than I was before I went to bed. What am I going to do?" The doctor sat back and said, "{#blank#}9{#/blank#} of all, you have to do your best not to dream about football. Before you fall asleep, try to think about something else. Try to think that you are at a party and someone is going to give you several million dollars. "" Are you crazy（疯了）?"the man shouted {#blank#}10{#/blank#}，"I'll miss the ball !"

Once upon a time，in a forest far away，there lived a group of animals. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}them were a fox，a  rabbit and a panda. They were good friends and spent most of their time together. 

One day，they{#blank#}2{#/blank#}to build a house for themselves. The fox advised them to build it in the hole of a tree so that they could{#blank#}3{#/blank#}warm and clean on rainy days. The rabbit advised them to build it near the middle of the forest. It would be{#blank#}4{#/blank#}for them to hide from danger. The panda advised them to build it near the river. Then，they could drink water{#blank#}5{#/blank#}they want. 

The animals were talking for hours. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}to agree on the best location for their house. As they{#blank#}7{#/blank#}，a wise old bird flew down to them and asked them what the position was. 

The animals explained their{#blank#}8{#/blank#}to the bird and the bird listened carefully. After thinking for a few moments，the bird said. "My dear friends，you all have your own points，but you are forgetting one important thing. You are a team，and as a team，you must work together to solve this problem. "

The bird advised them to build their house in a place that was in a hole in a tree，that was in the middle of the forest and{#blank#}9{#/blank#}to the river. 

The animals listened to the bird's advice and worked together to build their house in a place that{#blank#}10{#/blank#}all their needs. From that day on，they worked as a team and never argued again.