An old friend from the US whom I was looking forward to staying with telephoned from the airport to tell me that he had arrived. I was still at the 1  at that time, but I had got everything ready for his arrival. After letting him know where my house was, I told him that I had left the  2under the doormat(门垫),  3  I was likely to be home rather late. I told him to go into the 4 and help himself to food and drink. Two hours later my friend 5 me from the house. At the moment, he said, he was listening to some of my records after having just had a truly wonderful 6 . He had found a cooker and  7  two eggs and he helped himself to some cold chicken from the ice box. He said he was drinking a glass of orange juice and he hoped I would 8him. When I asked him if he had reached the house without difficulty, he answered, "I was not able to find the key,  9 luckily, the living-room windows Just by the apple tree were left open and you know what I could do." I listened to all this in 10 . In front of my living-room there was no apple tree at all.

    Mr. Smith had a small supermarket in a small town. All the people who lived nearby 1to go to his supermarket and buy things there. But several years ago, a big chained store 2 in that area and it sold all kinds of things from the toothbrush to TV and, above all, the price was pretty 3. So a lot of small shops 4 except Mr. Smith's. The manager of the chained store wanted to explore 5 was hidden behind Mr. Smith's success, so he decided to drop into Mr. Smith's supermarket and he saw a lady buying things there. He stopped her 6 and asked “Madam, why don't you go to the big chained store?”

    With a smile, the lady told him it was because of a pair of shoes. She told him a story. Three years ago, 7 her divorce (离婚), she worked hard to raise her family and one day when she bought things in a supermarket, Tom, one of her little children, 8 the supermarket and asked her to buy him a new pair of shoes. He cried, “Today I had a basketball match, but all the people 9 me because of the shoes.” She wanted to buy him a pair of shoes but the money in her pocket was 10 enough for a milk. “I am sorry but I 11 when we have money,” the mother said. Seeing that there was no hope, Tom ran away. The woman stood there weeping (哭泣). Later she realized that 12 was patting on her back. 13, she found it was Mr. Smith. He took a pair of shoes that the son wanted to buy.

    “Take them,” he said.

    “But I don't have enough money,” the woman shook her head.

    “Take them, your son can't wait. You can pay me later,” Mr. Smith told her.

    Now the manager of the chained store knew the14 for Mr. Smith's success. He decided that he would follow in Mr. Smith's footsteps, putting his heart into whatever he did with the hope of attracting more customers. And he did so after the years that followed, which also 15.

    An old man walked slowly into a restaurant with his cane (拐杖). His old jacket and worn-out shoes made him very different from others. 1 talked to him except a young waitress. Mary watched him move towards a seat by the window. She ran over to him and helped him 2. Then she put his cane against the table 3 he could reach it. Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded a thank-you.

    After the old man finished a good meal, Mary brought him the 4. After he put the money in his pocket, she handed him his cane and the old man walked to the front door5 with the help of the girl. Holding the door open for him, Mary said, "Come back and see us, sir!" The old man 6her with a smile and agreed.

    When Mary went to clean his table, she was7 . Under the plate, she found a business card, a 100—dollar bill and a 8which read, "Dear Mary, I respect you very much, and you respect yourself, too. It is shown by the way you treat others. You have 9the secret of happiness."

    In fact, the old man was the owner of the restaurant. That was the 10time that Mary or any of his workers had seen him.

    Henry loved books, but not like you and I love books. Henry loved to1books. It all began quite by mistake one afternoon when he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't sure at first, and tried eating only one2Just to test.

    Next, he tried a whole sentence and then a whole page. Yes, Henry liked them very much. By Wednesday, he had eaten a whole book. He was3them very fast.

    And by the end of the month he could eat a whole book in one go.

But here is the best bit: The4he ate, the smarter he got.

    He ate a book5goldfish and then he knew what to feed. Before long he could do his father's crossword in the newspaper…, and was even smarter than his teacher in school.

    Henry loved being smart. He 6 that if he kept going, he might even become the smartest person on earth. So he kept eating books about anything. Henry wanted to know7all.

    8the thing started going not so well. In fact, they started going very, very wrong Henry was eating too many books, and too9at that. He was beginning to feel a little ill.

    Everything Henry was10was getting mixed up. I he didn't have11to digest(消化)it. It became quite difficult for him to speak.

    Suddenly Henry didn't feel very smart at all.

    More than one person told him he should12eating books. So Henry gave up eating books and sat13for a long time. What was he to do?

    Then, after a while, and almost by accident. Henry14it up a half-eaten book from the floor. But instead of putting it in his15Henry opened it up …

    …and began to read. And it was so good.

    Four women lived in the same building and all of them were going to a party. They were1 about what dresses they would wear. They finally decided to choose(挑选) a dress that matches the hair color of their 2.

    The first woman said, "I will go in red 3 my husband colored his hair red."

    4 this, the second woman said, "Well, I will 5 black because my husband's hair color is black."?

    The third woman also had a(n) 6 "Yes, then I would love to go in a 7 dress because my husband has yellow and blonde(金色的) hair!"

    They all turned to the 8 woman, but she stayed quiet. So they asked her 9 she would wear. "I am thinking very hard, but I can't 10 a right dress. It seems that I can't wear any dress because my husband is bald(秃顶的)!" said the woman.