Earl was looking at the wall outside the pub（酒馆）. The pub's name, The Old Swan, was on the wall. Next to the name was a wooden ship's wheel and in the middle of the wheel was the name of a ship, HMS Swan. The wheel was old, Earl could tell.

   The next morning, Earl asked to see Tony Thatcher. The Old Swan was Tony's pub. He took Earl to his office while Candy had a coffee outside by the river. Earl said he could give Tony a lot of money for the ship's wheel. He told Tony that Benjamin Cooper, his grandfather, went to America on the ship HMS Swan. But Tony said no at first. After all, the wheel was very old and it was part of the pub's past.

    "You can think of the past, Mr. Thatcher - can I call you Tony? - or you can think of today. And with the money, Tony, you can buy a good car. Maybe a new Jaguar? And, as I've told you, the wheel is part of my family's past too. So you could say it's going back home, in a way. So, what do you say?"

   A month later, Earl and Candy were smiling as they looked at the wall of their house in Houston, Texas. Earl thought to himself that, at last, he had a piece of his family's past. He was happy.

    In Portsmouth, Tony Thatcher was happy, too. He was putting his new Jaguar into his large garage（车库）. He was careful not to drive into any of the six ship's wheels in the garage. A friend of his made the wheels for him. They were just like the one that Earl bought. And there was another wheel on the outside wall of The Old Swan now. Old or new - Tony thought there was no way that a tourist could ever know which was which. Never in a hundred years.

    It's 8: 00 in the morning. Mr. White goes into the classroom and finds Tom isn't in. Then he begins his lesson. He asks the students to read their English books.

    "May I come in, sir?" a boy asks at the door.

    "Come in, please," says Mr. White. "You're twenty minutes (分钟) late, Tom."

    The boy is often late and every time he makes an excuse. "I am sorry, sir," says Tom. "I'm late because the traffic is bad, and I have to wait for (等待) the lights to turn green."

    "But why don't you catch an earlier (更早的) bus?" asks Mr. White.

    "I just take the earlier bus. But the later (晚点的) bus often overtakes (超过) the earlier one!" answers Tom.

Last winter holiday, my friend and I visited a village with only 10 houses．1 the village was small, it was very beautiful．

The village became popular because of a good 2 of Uncle Chen's．Uncle Chen loved his village deeply and he wanted to make it more beautiful．He 3 painting very much．So he began to 4 pictures on the walls of his own house and other villagers' houses．In the village, there were many paintings of 5 such as cats and dogs．Also there were many paintings of people．And the most popular ones 6 tourists were some pictures of famous people．One of 7 was a picture of Yuan Longping．I 8 liked this picture．So I asked my friend to 9 a photo of the picture and me．From these beautiful paintings and the villagers' smiling faces, I could see the villagers living a 10 life．

I had a good time in the village and wished to visit it again．

A father noticed his son crying silently. He asked him, "What's wrong, son? "

The boy answered, "My classmates 1 at me, calling me son of a poor gardener. "

The father said, "Come with me, son, and let's plant some2 , it might cheer you up. "They walked to the garden, then the father took out some flower seeds(种子)and said, "Let's carry out an experiment. We will 3 two flowers separately. I will care for one and you'll care for the other. I will water mine with clean water, but you will water yours with 4 water. We shall see the results in the weeks to come. "

The son was happy as he joined his father in planting the flowers. It took them some days to care for5 and watch them grow. Later, the father brought his son to the garden and said to him, "Look at the two flowers and tell me 6 you see. "The boy replied, "My flower looks7 than yours, how is that even possible when your water is cleaner? "

The father smiled and said, "That's 8 dirty water doesn't laugh at a plant from growing. It serves as organic fertilizer(有机肥)to help it grow. You see, son, there are some people who will put you down in life, stop your dreams and throw bad9 on you. Always remember that there is nothing wrong with you, and don't let the bad words make you cry10 , let it encourage you into being a better person. "

在初中三年里，同学们都发生了很大的变化。假如你叫李华，你校的英语报正在举行以"How I've Changed!"为主题的征稿活动。请你用英语写一篇短文投稿，内容包括:

1.你在初中三年里发生的变化(包括外貌、学习、兴趣等方面);

2.这些变化给你带来的影响;

3.你的感受。作文要求:

1.不能照抄原文，不得在作文中出现真实校名、地点和学生的真实姓名;

2.语句连贯，词数80词左右。作文的开头已经给出，不计入总词数。

How I've Changed!

Hi, I am Li Hua from Class One Grade Three. In the last three years, I have changed a lot in many ways.……

A young man went for a job interview in a big company. The boss found that the young man's college grades were excellent. Then he asked the young man who paid for his education. The young man told the boss that his parents did and they worked as laundry (洗衣店) workers. 

The boss noticed that the young man's hands were smooth and perfect. He asked, "Have you ever helped your parents wash clothes?" "No. My parents always make me study. Besides, they wash clothes faster than I do."

The boss asked the young man to go back home and wash his parents' hands. When he got home, he told his parents that he wanted to wash their hands. His parents felt surprised but happy. Then the young man began to wash their hands slowly. 

He was in tears. He found his parents' hands were so rough (粗糙的) and pale because of washing a lot of clothes in the cold water. There were also many injuries (伤口) in their hands. After washing their parents' hands, the young man quietly washed the rest of the clothes. 

The next morning, the young man went to the company again. The boss noticed the young man's pale hands. He said to the young man, "Welcome to join us!"