Laura and Susie were born on the same day in the same hospital and at the same time. They{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (be) very close friends since they were very little. One bright sunny day, as I{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (walk) home from the shops, I decided to take a short cut {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the park. All of a sudden I heard a loud scream. It sounded like a child. With fright I dropped my shopping bag and ran in the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (direct) of the noise.

    As I was getting {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(close) to the noise I saw two little girls, one of {#blank#}6{#/blank#} was screaming in pain. The other child was frozen to the spot with a look of terror on her face. As I ran towards them, I quickly realized that I knew the children. One was my daughter Laura and the {#blank#}7{#/blank#}was her best friend Susie.

    I was totally shocked to see the girls there, as they knew they were not allowed to go to the park alone. Obviously the girls {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(hear) strange noises and then decided to run as fast as they could to get away. While {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(run), Susie fell over and could not get up.

    Susie's mother and I had another talk with the girls about not wandering off without an adult then. Both of them learnt a {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(value) lesson.

    In the United States, there were 222 people {#blank#}1{#/blank#}（report）to be billionaires（亿万富翁）in 2003. The {#blank#}2{#/blank#}（rich）of these is Bill Gates, worth at least $ 41 billion, who made his money{#blank#}3{#/blank#}starting the company Microsoft. Mr. Gates was only 21 years old{#blank#}4{#/blank#}he first helped{#blank#}5{#/blank#}（set up）the company in 1976. He was a billionaire by then. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, there are still some other people who have made lots of money at even {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（young）ages. Other young people who have {#blank#}8{#/blank#}（strike）it rich include Jackie Cogan and Shirley Temple. Both of these child actors made over a million dollars {#blank#}9{#/blank#}（act）in movies before they were 14. But   the youngest billionaire is Albert von Thurn und Taxis of Germany, who, in 2001, inherited（继承）a billion dollars when he {#blank#}10{#/blank#}（turn）18!

    A group of classmates got together to visit their old teacher. These classmates all had good jobs and made lots of money. They talked {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (happy). The teacher asked them the difficulty they had{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (achieve) their dreams. Then their talk soon turned to complaining about the stress in work and life. The teacher went to {#blank#}3{#/blank#} kitchen and came back with a large pot of coffee and many cups-china ones, plastic ones and glass ones. Some are plain looking, some are expensive and some are lovely. The teacher told them to help {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(they)to the coffee.

    When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the teacher said, “Can you notice that all of you took nice-looking expensive cups, leaving {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the plain and cheap ones? You want only the best for yourselves,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}is the source of your problems.”

    “What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} you went for the best cups and then began looking at each other's cups.”

    “Now think about this: life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) the cups. They are just {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (tool) to hold, and do not change the life. Sometimes, by caring only about the cups, we fail {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(enjoy) the coffee. So don't let the cups drive you, and enjoy the coffee instead.”

    Do you like trying different things? Are you afraid {#blank#}1{#/blank#} things that you think you're bad at?

    Last year I started to learn Tai Chi (太极)in order to improve my health and reduce my stress. It was something new for me, and I found it to be quite difficult, very {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(difference) from anything I'd ever learned before. Small {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(move) are important in Tai Chi. I was used to being fast and active , {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to learn Tai Chi I had to learn patience. Now I've found that I'm a much more patient person than before, and Tai Chi isn't nearly as difficult as it {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(be) before.

    We tend {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(like) things we are good at that's normal. For example, I'm naturally very good at badminton and tennis, but I'm very bad at anything {#blank#}7{#/blank#} involves keeping balance, such as skating, skiing and gymnastics. Tai Chi has {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(great) improved my balance which has been a very good thing for me.

    My point is that you can keep {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(do) the things you know you're good at and live in your comfort zone, or you can try something new. If you don't try new things, you'll never know what it would be like to try something new to challenge {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(you). It will definitely pay off in the end.

    Smokejumpers are a special type of firefighter. They jump from planes into areas that are difficult to reach by car or on foot. When they arrive there, they first examine the land and decide {#blank#}1{#/blank#}to fight the fire. Their main goal is to stop a fire from {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (spread). They will use basic equipment to clear land of plants and other dry materials. The work is dangerous, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} they love being able to jump out of planes, fight fires, and live in the forest. As 38-year-old Alexi Tishin, who {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (work) as a smokejumper for 15 years, says, “This is the best job for tough guys.”