Alice Brown lives in New York with her mum and dad and two brothers, Tony and Peter. It is Alice's fourteen birthday next week. The family has got two dogs, a cat and four rabbits. Alice likes cats and rabbits but her brothers like dogs. Alice's dad works in a hotel. He's a hotel manager. Her mum teaches English at a junior high school.

    Alice and her brothers study at the same school, but they are in different grades. She's in Grade Seven. Her brother Tony is in Grade Ten and Peter is in Grade Six. They live in a flat near the school. They walk to school together every day.

    Alice is interested in computers. At home she plays computer games in her free time.

    The famous scientist and thinker, Charles Darwin, was born on February 12, 1809. His family lived not far from the River Severn, England.

    Darwin's father was a well-known doctor and the son of an still greater doctor and scientist. Darwin's father hoped that his son would also become a doctor.

    As a boy, Darwin liked to go for walks in the fields and forests. He watched nature, and compared what he saw with everything he had read in science books. He also liked collecting very much. He collected many things, birds, eggs, stones and leaves. His father did not like that, a Darwin not studying very well at school.

    At the age of sixteen, Darwin was sent to Edinburgh University to study in order that he could become a doctor. But he was interested in the history of nature.

    Then he was sent to study in Cambridge University. There he studied until 1831.

    Some time later he heard that the ship Beagle was going on a trip to South America and needed a centrist. His professor advised him to go. He said the trip would be just for Darwin, So when the ship left England in December 1831. Darwin was on it. He research lasted almost five years. The Beagle studied the waters in the sea near South America. It also visited New Zealand, Australia and islands in the Pacific. Darwin saw many new plants and animals. He collected all kinds of plants.

In 1842 Darwin went to live in Kent, where he continued his studies of changes in nature. Darwin understood that plants and animals are not always the same, and that they really change.

    By 1859 Darwin had finished his famous book "The origin of Spedes "（《物种起源〉）. It made a great hit in the world of science. He was opposed by the church and even by some scientists. But later, more and more scientists agreed with him.

    It was thesummer before my third grade. Our girls' softball team was facing real pitchers(投球手)1thefirst time. Before that, we could just hit the ball on the tee (球座). When the coach started pitching, hitting became2forme. I missed every single pitch. From the side, I heard my teammate Emilylaughing at3. My face got hot and my throat feltlike it had a softball stuck in. At that moment, I was starting to4playingsoftball.

    The nextafternoon, when Mum said it was time to play the game, I told her I was5.She allowed me to lie down for a while. So I went to my room and6myselfin bed. This was difficult for me because I was fine and just7toavoid softball.

    Soon Mumcame in and said, "Time to go!" She didn't even ask if I felt8.I imagined Emily laughing from the sideline, and9Ireally did feel sick to my stomach. I began crying loudly. Still, Mum pulled myteam T-shirt over my head. She said, "You have to10forthe rest of the season, and only after that we can talk about11you'llcontinue next year." She added that practice was what I needed, not12.She promised to practise with me.

    I got twohits that afternoon, and Emily didn't make a13.Every week after that, I practised at home14I got to be one of thebest hitters on the team.

    That15taughtme that being afraid is part of life, and I can do whatever is expected of meif I keep working and practising.

A gift in a wrong place brings unexpected happiness. 

Since 1cameto my new neighborhood，1 have been glad to meet a few neighbors. They seem to be quite1 people. For Christmas, I thought I would do2 nice for each of the neighbors that I know. I sat down and counted. 

There were nine neighbors, and I also knew which houses they lived in.

However, I decided to3 one more person to my list, the lady I met every morning walking to work as I drove down the street. She always smiled at me,4 I had no idea which house she lived in.

My gift idea was to make small5 baskets and leave them on each of my neighbors' front porches (门廊) on the night of Christmas Eve. I kept the last one for the friendly lady, since I was still not sure where she lived — 6 the house where I met her each morning. Finally, I decided to put it there. My neighbors really enjoyed the baskets and a couple even came by to7 me.

This morning 8 my way to work, I put my mail in the mailbox and noticed a Thank You card. I opened it and read the 9 which really made me surprised.

The card said, "Thank you for those lovely apples and strawberries you left on the porch of Tod. He 10 on January 19th, but he never stopped11 how nice it was that someone remembered him in his time of illness. He really enjoyed it." I was very surprised. I didn't know who Tod was or that 12 had been seriously ill. I left that nice lady's basket on Tod's porch by accident. I believe that Tod never expected to have that basket. I feel13 that the nice lady did not get a basket from me this Christmas, but I believe that if she knew what happened, she would 14 me.

I feel lucky to have helped Tod be more cheerful in his last days. This just makes me further believe that sometimes 15 in life are beautiful.

In 2010, Justin Horner was driving down a busy freeway in Portland, when his tire(轮胎) blew out. He pulled over to the side of the road and made a(an) 1 that said he needed help.

Three 2 later, a van finally pulled up. Out came a family of 3 . They worked together to 4 Horner's car. They found a log on the side of the road, and using it to lift the car. When they finished, themom pulled out a big bottle of 5 , and they drank and washed their hands.

"I just thanked them and thanked them and thanked them,"Horner recalled."And I tried to give her money. Ionly had a $20 bill, and I just thought, you know, it's the 6 I had with me. And she just 7 take it."

But Horner was adamant(坚定的), and finally he put the money in 8 hand, and walked away. Then he 9 their small daughter call out, to ask Horner if he was 10 . Indeed he was, and she came over with abag of sandwiches. They exchanged thank you, she got into the van, and the family started to 11 .

"12 they're trying to get into traffic, I opened the bag and my money is 13 the bag,"Horner said."

Horner immediately ran over to the 14 , which was starting to pull into traffic, to get the father's attention.

"He rolls down his window. He sees me coming and he's just 15 his head. And I keep saying like, 'Porfavor, por favor'—I'm holding a bill out,"Horner remembered.

"And he just kind of puts his hand up and he just says,"‘Today you, tomorrow me.'"

In the eighth grade, I had a good friend, Peter. He was an excellent sports star. 1 I never seemed to be any good at sports. But when Peter joined a team, I did, too. Or at least I2 .

 Peter was in the JV field hockey team. He was talented, so he learned the basic skills 3 on the other hand, couldn't seem to hold the stick comfortably. Then Peter spent more and more 4 with the other boys like him and I was beginning to feel lonely.

 Deciding to 5 our friendship; I asked my mom to buy me my own hockey stick so I could practise at home. Peter looked at my 6 , and I could tell that he was thinking it was a waste of money.

I was 7 by his reaction(反应), and felt sad. I thought I simply had to be good at this sport 18 I   was going to keep Peter as a friend. So I practised and practised. I often felt like there was no 9 , but I kept at it. Just during that dark time, Steve became my new partner.

 Then, one day,l10 happened. That day, when Steve sent me his first throw, I caught 11 . Then I caught his next throw, and the next. The stick was actually feeling 12 in my hands.

I still don't know what happened that day, but I will always be 13 tor it. By the end of the season, I was   chosen to 14 for the JV team. I scored 12 goals that year. My success on the field gave me the confidence and the true 15 that I really needed. And Steve turned out to be a great friend.