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    A long time ago, there was an emperor. He had a beautiful garden. In the garden, there was a little nightingale(夜莺) singing very beautifully.

    One day, the emperor heard about this little bird's beautiful voice. He asked his guards to bring her to him. As soon as the emperor heard the nightingale's voice, he said, "Put her in a golden cage, so she can stay and sing for me whenever I want to hear her sing."

    The little bird was so unhappy about being kept in the cage that she stopped singing one day. The emperor was very angry. He ordered the scientists in his palace to make a robot bird for him. The bird could sing very beautifully, too. The emperor was pleased.

    Soon the robot bird became old. It no longer sang beautiful songs. Just at that time, the emperor became very weak. One morning, while lying in bed, the emperor wanted it to sing once again. But the robot bird couldn't sing any more.Suddenly the nightingale landed on the window. She began to sing her most beautiful song. The emperor was very happy! He became better and better each day.

    After the emperor was well, he changed a lot and became kind to his people. From then on, all his people cherished(爱戴) him for his love and kindness.

    I'm a Chinese student studying in Canada. I have been a boarder(寄宿生) with the Carsons for more than a year and a half.

    The Carsons live in their own house, which has four bedrooms including the one in the basement(底层) which I live in. Judy does all the work in the house and Andrew is responsible for the work in the garden. When they go out in the evening, they often ask me to look after their children.

    Judy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Morris, lived in another city. Judy was their only child and naturally they doted on(溺爱) Judy's children. They often sent the children presents.

    Last April Mr. Morris died. Now that Mrs. Morris was quite alone, I expected that Judy would want her to come and live with them. One day, Margaret told me grandma was coming to live with them and her daddy and mummy would want my room back. The news didn't surprise me and the next day I went to Judy and asked her about it. I said I couldn't think of living in their basement room any longer if it was needed for Mrs. Morris. Judy seemed surprised at first. Then she told me there was no deed for me to move, for they hadn't yet come to any decision about her mother coming to live with them. "Naturally I'm worried about my mother. She has been in poor health." She smiled sadly and added. "To be honest, Andrew and my mother have never got on well. We'll wait a bit and see what happens. Perhaps Moter will be all right living herself, of perhaps they will both change their minds."

    That was six months ago. During this time I've heard that Mrs. Morris has had two illnesses and that her health has got worse. A nursing home was mentioned once but Mrs. Morris refused to go there. So up to now she's still living alone and I'm still living in the basement room.

No one knows exactly when jazz was invented, or by whom. But it is {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (据说) that it began in the early 1900s. 

Jazz was a new kind of music for America and the world, and New Orleans was its birthplace. Who were the jazz pioneers? Most were blacks. This music was not {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (写) down, and at first only blacks played it. It was hard for white musicians to learn the new style. But soon they, too, were {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (弹奏) jazz. 

The popularity of this music {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (传播). From New Orleans, it traveled up the Mississippi to Chicago, then to Kansas City and New York. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (在……以前) the time of the rise of America, there were many jazz musicians, both black and white. Many of them were famous. One man was {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (好) than the rest. His name was Louis Armstrong. 

Louis Armstrong was a born musician. He was not only talented but also hard- working. He also had a good sense of {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (幽默) and a big, good- nature d smile. These personal qualities were {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (有价值的) in his rise to fame. After he became famous, he traveled around the world. It seemed that everyone wanted to hear Louis play. 

But life was not always easy, especially at the beginning. Louis Armstrong was born in 1900 in New Orleans. His father {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (从不) went to school and his mother could hardly read. When Louis was still a kid, his parents separated, and Louis lived with his mother. How hard their life was can be imagined. And yet Louis smiled through everything. He later wrote, " My whole life has been happiness. Life was there for me and I accepted it. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (无论什么) happened has been beautiful to me. I love everybody. "

Tom is Sally's brother. His hobby is playing the violin and his dream is to be a p{#blank#}1{#/blank#} musician one day. Unluckily, Tom hurt his arm badly in a traffic accident last weekend. The doctor said perhaps he couldn't play the violin any more after he c{#blank#}2{#/blank#} his arm. When Sally knew the bad news, she told Tom to be positive and p{#blank#}3{#/blank#} to help him out. She also bought an expensive violin for Tom as a gift. Every day Sally teaches Tom to play the violin in a special way. I{#blank#}4{#/blank#} of giving up, Tom tries his best to practise though it's not easy to do so. He has to practise for 2-3 hours every day. Now, Tom can play the violin better and better. He even w{#blank#}5{#/blank#} two prizes in a competition last week!