B

    Thomas Edison lit up the world with his invention of the electric light. Without him, the world might still be in the dark at night. However, the electric light was not his only invention. Nearly every two weeks, he created something new.

    Thomas Edison was born in 1847. He attended school for only three months. His mother taught him at home, but he was mostly self-educated. He started trying out his new ideas at a very young age.

    When he was 12 years old, he got his first job. He became a newsboy on a train. He did experiments on the train in his spare time. Unluckily, his first work experience didn't end well. He was fired when he accidentally set fire to the floor of the train. Then Edison worked as a telegraph operator (电报员) for five years, but he continued to spend much of his time creating things until the vote recorder (投票计数器), his first invention, came in 1868.

    Thomas Edison was nearly deaf in one ear, but he never minded. Because of this, he could have more time for work. He always worked 16 out of every 24 hours. Sometimes his wife had to remind him to eat and sleep. Thomas Edison died at the age of 84. He left many inventions that greatly improved the quality of life all over the world.

    A couple of young men were fishing at a lake. Suddenly the policeman jumped out of the forest.

    At once, one of the men threw his rod (鱼竿) down and started running through the forest, and the policeman ran after him.

    After about half a mile, the man stopped and stooped (弯腰) over his hands on his legs to catch his breath. The policeman finally caught up to him, "Let me see your fishing license (证件), Boy!" the policeman said.

    The man pulled out his wallet and gave the policeman a fishing license.

    "Well, guy." said the policeman, "You must be about stupid as a box of rocks! You don't have to run from me if you have a fishing license."

    "Yes, Sir", replied the young man, "But my friend back there, well, doesn't have one."

Taking Root.

How many kinds of plants are there in the world? Lucy Braun wondered that as a child. She showed great interest in plants at a young age. She often had energetic walks with her family through the nearby woods. Some plants and wildflowers seemed to shout at her with their wildcolours. Others hid behind rocks.

Lucy looked at the shapes of leaves as she walked in the woods. She kept a record of what she saw. She also learnt to draw what she saw. Then she could compare all kinds of plants. Later, Lucy grew more and more interested in botany, the study of plants.

Branching Out

At university, Lucy took classes in geology, or the study of rocks and minerals. Her work with geologists changed how she looked at the natural world. She continued her studies in botany as well. Lucy also took classes in ecology (生态学). Lucy believed that plant life in some are as was able to move to other places over time.

In Full Bloom

In 1917, Lucy began to teach botany at a university. She lived in a house near the woods. Lucy collected plants from all around the country. She took many photos of them, too. Colour photography was still new then. Because of that, people enjoyed her lessons and photos a lot.

The    ▲     of Labour (劳动)

Later in her life, Lucy wrote many field guides. In 1950, she published her most important guide. It describes the plants in the forests across the country. Ecologists still use it to study changes in the forests over time.

Today, Lucy has a few plants named after her. One of them is Lucy Braun's snakeroot, which is now in danger. Lucy's work in the protection of nature may help prevent its disappearance.

Lucy Braun lived to be 81. In her years as a botanist, Lucy collected nearly 12,000 plants!

We were going to play against a team from a country school. 

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} the match almost began, they came. They looked {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(bad) than we thought. They were wearing dirty T-shirts and blue jeans and looked {#blank#}3{#/blank#} farm boys. We thought they never saw {#blank#}4{#/blank#} basketball before. We even felt that we {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(need) any practice to play against such a team. It was already so late {#blank#}6{#/blank#} no time could be given to them for a warm-up. The match began. One of our {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(boy) got the ball. And he tried {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(give) it to our forward. But from out of nowhere a boy in a dirty T-shirt caught the ball and he{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(quick) and beautifully shot and got two points. To our surprise, they got another two points in a minute. Soon it was all over. The country team {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(win) the match. Of course we knew that there was still another team better than any good team. 

But the most important lesson we learned this time was: One can't tell a man or a team by the appearance. 

One of the world's most dangerous sports is mountain climbing, and one of the most popular places for this is the Himalayas. The Himalayas are in the southwestern part of China. Of all the mountains. Qomolangma rises the highest and it's the most famous. It is 8,848.86 meters high. and so is very dangerous to climb. Thick clouds cover the top and snow can fall very hard. Even more serious difficulties include freezing weather conditions and heavy storms. It is also very hard to take in air as you get near the top. 

The first people to reach the top were Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on May 29.1953. The first Chinese team did so in 1960, while the first woman to succeed was Junko Tabei from Japan in 1975. 

Why do so many climbers risk their lives? One of the main reasons is that people want to challenge themselves in the face of difficulties. The spirit of these climbers shows us that we should never give up trying to achieve our dreams. It also shows that humans can sometimes be stronger than the forces of nature. 

1. Where did you go?

2. Who did you go with?

3. How did you go there?

4. What did you do/ eat/ see?

5. How did you feel?

注意：（1）文中不得出现人名和校名等真实信息；（2）写作词数为80词左右，开头已给出，不计入总词数。

As a saying goes, "Read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles. So

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