In 1883, an engineer named John Roebling got an idea to build a bridge between New York and Long Island. However, bridge-building experts around the world thought that it was impossible. It had never been done before.

    After much discussion, he made his son Washington, a great engineer, believe that the bridge could be built.

    The project started well, but a few months later, an accident took the life of John Roebling. Washington was badly hurt and he was not able to walk or talk. However, Washington never lost his heart. He still wanted to complete the bridge. But all he could do was to move one finger. So he decided to make the best use of it. By moving his finger, he slowly developed a way of communicating with his wife.

    He touched his wife's arm with his finger, “telling” her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same way to tell the engineers what to do. The project carried on again.

    For 13 years, Washington tapped out (敲出) his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the Brooklyn Bridge stands as a monument(纪念碑) to one man's unbeatable spirit.

    It is also a monument to engineers and their teamwork, and to their faith in a man who was considered crazy by half the world.

    Christina is an American girl. She is a good student. Every morning she gets up at 6:00. She has her breakfast at home. Then she wears her uniform and goes to school. She studies hard every day. She eats in the dining room when she is in school. After school, she does her homework first, then she cleans the room and helps her mother with the dinner. Before she goes to bed, she usually reads some books. Then at 10:00 p. m. she goes to bed. She thinks she is happy every day. What do you think of her?

    Captain（船长）Nemo invited me and my friends to go hunting with him in the forests of Crespo Island. I asked him why he was so interested in Crespo Island. “I thought you preferred the sea to being on land.”

    “I do,” replied the captain. “But these forests are under the sea.”

After going through a door, we were about ten meters under the water. The light from the sun reached us. Everything looked very colourful. We were going deeper and deeper. At 100 meters deep, we could see quite well, and Captain Nemo stopped and pointed to some dark shapes. This was the forest. The “trees” in the forest were giant seaweed, and all their “branches” were vertical（垂直的）.We could not stop looking at them. Fish swam around the branches like birds in a forest.

    Suddenly, I saw a large sea spider about a meter tall. It was going to attack me. Captain Nemo's man killed it with his gun, but it reminded me that the sea could be as dangerous as it was beautiful. When we reached 150 meters, it was dark. The sun's light could not reach this depth（深度）. We turned our lights. We could see about 20 meters around us. Finally, we found Crespo Island—where a steep rock wall rose in front of us.

    We could go no further, so we walked back toward the Nautilus. Suddenly, Captain Nemo stopped and shot an animal with his gun, it was a beautiful and rare sea otter. At last, we could see the Nautilus. Several large sharks swam over us. Luckily they didn't see us. We re-entered the Nautilus safely. I was tired but amazed by what I had seen.

    After I finished college, I couldn't find a job in Los Angeles. At last I had to move to Las Vegas but left my family behind. I missed them all week, and I went home on most weekends to see them. I often rented a car because I would often have lots of problems on the way to Los Angeles or to Las Vegas if I drove my poor car.

    One time I decided to save money, and I drove my car. It got to California, but on the way back to Vegas it was broken. I didn't know what I should do. Then a middle-aged man drove up. He put in some coolant and repaired my car. He made it start soon.

    I gave him the $12 in my wallet, and he said he would use it for the next car. Then I knew that he was a mechanic who drove up and down the highway each weekend to help the drivers in trouble.

    Now fifteen years has passed, but I still think about what a great man he is.

    Last year I was very lucky to have a week's holiday. So I wanted to spend 1 in the best hotel I could find. That was 2 I chose The Haven in a country park. I thought I would be able to escape problems and pressures of daily life. But, just 24 hours after arriving there, my wife and I 3 problems with the restaurant and security.

    We were ready to return to our room when we saw two policemen 4  closely at the building outside. One of them showed us how 5 in through the windows into our room. It seems that the hotel has no locks on the windows. 6 we were a little worried, our concerns were forgotten 7 when we saw a good-sized bed, a flat-screen TV, a spa bath which more suggested a comfortable stay.

    Things started to go from bad to worse the following morning when I found the restaurant only served low-fat meals: six days of rabbit food and only 8 meat and fruit. What had I let myself in for? Nobody had told us what the food 9 like before we booked. I ordered my breakfast 10 my will anyway, but I had waited forty-five minutes for it to arrive. This was not the service 11 I had expected.

    That afternoon, when we returned from a tour around 12 university nearby, we found that nearly £200 13 from our room. The Haven refused to pay back the money. They claimed that they 14 not be responsible for any loss if our window was not locked.

    My holiday was then a total failure. I thought a "haven" was sure to be a quiet and peaceful place. But in fact, I have experienced 15 stress and worry in that one day than I usually do working in the office for a week.