It was a long hard fight, but by now it was  1    and this helped us very much. We ran here and there in the trees, calling and   2   .  The enemies could not see us and did not know how many of us they were  3  . In the end the first officer shouted to them：                                                  

  “Put down your  4  and stop fighting! The captain has fifty island people to help him. We can kill you 5!”

 So the enemies   6   fighting and we took their guns. Three of the enemies7 to come to join us, but the others refused. So we   8  them in my cave. I stayed to  9 the prisoners(犯人), while the captain and his men went back to fight for the ship.

 All night we listened to the   10   of guns and shouting, but in the morning, when the sun    11 , the captain was master of his ship again. I went down the shore(海岸) to meet him.

  “My dear friend” he cried, “There's your  12  ! I'll take you to the ends of the 13    in it!" I put my    14   round him, and we laughed and cried together. How  15   I was to leave the island.

    My father was born in a poor village in the north of Jiangsu, China. When he was a young boy, he went to school in the morning, and then 1 in the fields till sunset. And then he did his homework until midnight. Life was hard, because they had no 2!

    At the age of 14, my father heard of the United States of America. It was the 3 of gold, the land where poor people can become rich.

   “Why don't I go to America?” he thought to himself, full of 4.

    So, my father came to America. “I had thought it was easy to 5 money in America.” he told me. “But when I arrived there, I realized it's not 6. They didn't like to hire(雇佣) me because I spoke little English. Later, I worked in a small restaurant, cleaning up tables, 7 dishes and sweeping the floor. Life was hard for the first few years. I worked from 10 a. m. to 11 p. m. I wanted to go to school to learn English, but it's impossible. I couldn't 8 the schooling(学费).”

    My father 9 working hard，and reached his goal.

  “Alan,” he often told me. “If you want something, you have to work for it and never give up. Things do not come  10 in life.” That's what I learned from my father.

Many musicians meet and form(组成)a band because they like to write and play their own music. They may start as a group of high school students and practice their music in someone's house. Sometimes they may play to passers—by in the street or subway so that they can get some money for themselves or pay for their instruments (乐器).

    However, there was one band that started in a different way. It was called the Monkees and was formed in 1965. It began as a TV show. The TV show had planned to find four rock musicians who could act as well as sing. But they could only find one who was good enough. They had to use actors for the other three members of the band.

    Since some of these actors could not sing well enough，they had to ask for help from other musicians. So at first，the band just pretended (假装)to sing. Anyway，their performances were excellent and they got lots of fans. Each week on TV，the Monkees would pretended to play and sing songs written by other musicians. After a year or so，they became more serious about their work. They started to play and sing their own songs like a real band. Then they produced(制作)their own records and started touring and playing their own music. In the USA they became even more influential and popular than the Beatles and sold even more records.

    However, the band broke up around 1970，but happily they reunited(重聚)in the 1980s. They produced a new record in 1996 to celebrate their time as a band. It was very successful. Today the Monkees are still making music for their millions of fans.

    "Tumbling(翻跟头) time!" I called out. My group of children stood up before the blue mats (垫子). Megan walked 1 into the back of the line (队伍). She didn't talk with anyone. The other children had learned tumbling moves months ago, 2  Megan was still working on them.

    One day before class, Megan's father told me, "I'm thinking about taking Megan out of class." " 3 ?" I asked. He said, "She isn't doing as well as the other children. I don't want her to hold them back (妨碍进展)."

    "I don't think you're right," I said. "Megan 4 this class, maybe more than the other children. I didn't start out as a winner. I started to practice tumbling at age 8, just like Megan. When I look at Megan, I see 5 . she works hard. Sir, your daughter may 6 win a competition, but I think there's something more 7 than becoming a winner. That is her self-respect (自尊). I think if she keeps 8 she can do the tumbling moves well."

    As I said these words, Megan looked at me. 9 eyes were full of tears. Her father also said in tears, "Thank you so much." He turned to Megan and said, "Honey, it's time for your 10 . I'm sure you can do pretty well."

    Later, Megan did really well in tumbling. More importantly, she never stood at the back again.

    We look at the world around us everyday, but somehow we don't manage to see it until what we've become used to suddenly disappeared. That's to say that you may get used to some places and some 1 around you. For example, the neatly-dressed woman I used to see --or look at on my way to work each 2.

    For three years, no matter 3the weather was like, she was always waiting at the bus stop around 8:00 a.m. On 4 days, she wore heavy clothes and a pair of woolen gloves. Summertime turn out clean cotton dresses and a hat pulled low over her sunglasses. 5, she was an ordinary working woman. Of course, I 6all this only after she was seen no more. It was then that I realized how 7I expected to see her each morning. You might say I 8her.

    "Did she have an accident? Something 9?" I thought to myself about her disappearance. Now that she was gone, I felt I had 10her. I began to realize that part of our  11life probably includes such chance meetings with familiar strangers: the milkman you see at dawn, the woman who 12walks her dog along the street ever morning, the twin brothers you see at the library. Such people are 13markers in our lives. They add weight to our 14 of places and belongings.

    Think about it, while walking to work, 15we mark where we are by passing a certain building, why not mark where we are when we pass a familiar, though unnamed , person?