It was a lovely spring afternoon. My classmates and I were playing happily on the playground when I let out, “Ow! Ow! Something in my shoe is biting me.”

    Everyone was shocked by the cry. They took me into a classroom and were about to take off my 1. “Which foot is it?” one asked. “Let us have a look.”

    Suddenly, I remembered the holes in 2 socks. My family was very poor during those years. I wore welfare socks, which cost only a little, but those 3 welfare socks didn't last long. They soon had 4 at the bottom.

    I refused to take off my shoes. I 5 stand others seeing the holes in my sock. I tried to hold back my tears. Yet, each time the thing 6 my shoe bit me, tears raced down my face.

    My teacher, Miss Diane, hurried into the 7. “What's wrong?” she asked.

    “Something is biting her right foot, 8 she doesn't let us take off her shoe.” one of my classmates answered.

    Miss Diane lived next door to me. She 9 everything about my family. She put both hands on my shaking shoulders and 10 into my painful and hopeless eyes.

    “Oh, yes, it must be a sock-eating ant,” she said, as if she had 11 seen the thing inside the shoe. “I had a bite from one of those ants. By the time I got my shoe off, it had 12 almost the whole bottom off my sock.” My classmates nodded while they were listening to the teacher 13, although they all looked a little puzzled.

    Miss Diane took off my right shoe and sock and shook them over the dustbin. Two red ants14it.

    “Just what I thought. The ants have eaten part of her sock.” When she stroked an alcohol cotton ball on the bites, she added,” You are such a 15 girl to take so many bites.”

    The alcohol felt cool on the bites and a little girl's pride was saved by the “sock-eating ant” story.

    A young man was interested in jade (玉) stones. So he went to Mr Smith, a gemologist (玉石家), to learn from him. Mr Smith refused because he feared that the young man would not have the1to learn. The young man asked for a chance again and again. 2Mr Smith agreed and told him, "Be there tomorrow."

    The next morning the young man came. Mr Smith put a jade stone in the young man's hand and told him to 3 it. He then went about his work. The young man sat quietly and waited.

    The following morning, Mr Smith again 4 a jade stone in the young man's hand and told him to hold it. On the third, fourth and 5 day, Mr Smith did the same thing and repeated his 6. On the sixty day, the young man held the jade stone, 7 he could no longer stand the silence. "When am I going to learn something?" asked the young man.

    "You will learn," said Mr Smith and went about his work.

    Several more days went by and the young man felt very 8. One morning he was asked to do it once more. As soon as he held it, the young man shouted 9 looking at his hand, "This is not the same jade stone!"

    "You have begun to 10," said Mr Smith.

    A boy was sitting on the steps of a door one day. He had a stick in one hand,1in the other hand a large piece of bread and butter, which somebody had kindly given him. While he was eating it and singing a song happily, he saw a poor little dog quietly2not far from him. He called out to it, “Come here, poor dog!”

    Hearing this, the dog woke up, rose with its ears3and wagged its tail. Seeing the boy eating, it came near him. The boy held out to it a piece of his bread and butter. As the dog stretched out its head to take the4, the boy quickly drew back his hand and hit it5on the nose. The poor dog ran away,6loudly, while the cruel boy sat, laughing at the trick he had done.

    A gentleman, who was looking from a window on the other side of street, saw what the7boy had done. Opening the street door, he called him to8over, at the same time9up one dollar between the finger and thumb.

    “Would you like this?” said the gentleman.

    “Yes, if you10, sir,” said the boy, smiling, and he quickly ran over to seize the11.

    Just as the boy stretched out his hand, the gentleman hit12on the knee with an umbrella. “Why did you do that?” shouted the boy angrily. He made a very13face and cried, “I didn't hurt you, nor ask you for money.”

    “14did you hurt that poor dog just now?” said the gentleman. “It didn't hurt you, nor ask you for bread and butter. As you served it I have served you. Now, remember it can feel as well as you, and learn to behave15towards animals in future.”

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} ⑴The first thing to remember is that when a friend invites you over, you need to arrive on time. If your friend tells you to come "around 3:00", that means you can turn up a little bit after 3:00. But usually it is a good idea to arrive at the right time.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} ⑵Often it is also nice to bring something to your friend's house. This could be a box of chocolate for you two to share, or maybe a movie that you can watch together. You can also bring some flowers. A little gift is a nice way to show your friend that you are excited to be at his house.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} ⑶When you visit your friend's house, you may also meet his parents. You should tell them who you are and they may tell you their names, and then they may tell you to call them by their first names. Another way to show respect is to call them Madam or Sir.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} ⑷As we all know, students should learn how to get on well with others. But in what ways? First of all, we should respect others. Everyone has their own way to do things, so we should understand each other. Besides, it is important for us to communicate with each other. What's more, we should be kind to others and offer necessary help to those who are in trouble.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} ⑸Everybody has his parents. But not everybody gets on well with his parents. Well, first, we should respect our parents because they bring us up and care for us all the time. Second, we are supposed to do some housework at home. We should help clean the room, cook meals and so on. Third, we should care for them, have a talk with them about their work.

难度系数：★★★

For better research and protection, elephants in the reserve (保护区) should wear GPS collars (项圈). Last June, it was Rommel's turn to wear a collar. He was a huge and bad-tempered elephant, weighing about six tons. One morning, searching around the reserve, we found Rommel playing by the river. A tranquillizer (镇静剂) was carefully shot into his bottom so that we could safely place a collar on him. Normally it takes seven minutes for the drug to act, but for Rommel's size it could take longer. 

He was crossing the river when the drug did work. Slowly, he fell down into the water. This could lead to a disaster- Rommel's death, because his trunk would be submerged (淹没) in the river.     ★     . Only by doing this could we ensure his survival. The problem was that the river was deep and filled with crocodiles (鳄鱼). 

In a flash, I decided to act. I jumped in and lifted his heavy trunk above the water. The water level reached my neck. 

I stayed there for at least 10 minutes as the team tried to fit him with the collar. It was rather hard to keep my cool as my arms became exhausted. Small fish swam past my legs. Each time, fear hit: was it a crocodile? There was also another risk that other elephants might come and cause trouble. 

As soon as his ears started to flap—a sign of consciousness (意识) returning—I dropped his trunk and moved to safety. Then he completely awoke and crossed the river. What a wonderful moment, for both him and me! 

When I was in the seventh grade，I always liked to eat or listen to music in class while I was doing homework. This bad habit 1 my poor grades directly. My mother was worried about my study. So she found my head teacher Susan and asked her to be2 with me. 

I thought my head teacher would3 me. At that time，I was very worried until one day my head teacher asked me to go to the playground to meet her. I4 rushed to the playground though I was afraid. 

5 I ran to my head teacher，she gave me a stick. She asked me to draw a circle on the ground with my left 6 and a triangle with the other one at the same time. Then I began to draw circles and triangles with both hands. I7 many times but I failed. 

Half an hour later，my head teacher smiled and said to me， "In fact，almost 8 can draw a circle and a triangle at the same time. After all，our energy is not enough to finish many 9 at the same time. We must pay attention to one thing to succeed. " From then on，I began 10 my heart to my study. Since then，I have made rapid progress.