Yesterday evening，when l went to town with my  1  ，we met a strange old man．It was raining ham and we had no  2 ．We were trying to get into a taxi when he came up to us．He was 3  a nice umbrella and he said that he would give it to us for only a pound．He had forgotten his   4 ，he said，needed taxi—fares(出租汽车费)to go back home．My mother didn't believe  5 he had said at first，and asked him a lot of questions．Finally we bought it and he left  6 ．We followed him and found he went into a pub(小酒店)and  7  himself a glass of whiskey(威士忌)with the pound．

8 he drank it，he put 9   his hat and took up one of the many wet umbrellas at the entrance and went off．Soon after that，he sold it again．What a(n) 10  experience I had !

    The wind tried pushing Colin to the ground. It felt as if Colin's news-bag was full of potatoes.

    Maybe it had to do with the news Dad read before Colin left. The morning headlines（标题）were full of the usual sad stories.

    “No good news again!” Dad said.

    Car accidents! House burns! Storm damage（损害）!

    Colin moved quickly from house to house leaving papers in the mailbox. He wished he could bring only good news to his family, also to his friendly neighbours. “How could I make things better for everyone?” he wondered.

    Colin noticed Alice coming. She only had one real eye. The other was made of glass. He liked Alice even if many others laughed at her. He didn't realize how much it helped her, having a friend like Colin.

    Each time Colin left a paper by a customer's door, he thought, “How could I make some good news?”

    Colin gave his usual cheerful “Hi” to everyone on his way. His smile was like the rising sun.

    Someone was crying and he ran to where a little boy had fallen and hurt his leg. Colin calmed him down until the boy's mother arrived.

    “I'm glad you're my paperboy,” she told Colin.

    He continued on his way, but he didn't feel tired. It was fun doing what he usually did—helping others.

    He raced up the street to his last customer. Mrs. Williams saw Colin coming and had peanut butter cookies as a treat for her favourite paperboy. She wondered why such a lively boy always had time to chat with an old lady.

    Colin's own treat for his customers came from his heart. He did have much good news to share, even if he didn't realize it. His smile and polite manners brought cheering-up news to all his customers.

    Bob and his family like eating fish very much. He often buys some fish in the shop and takes them home for dinner. His wife (妻子) often asks her friends to their home to have lunch and eat fish. One day, Bob buys some fish home and goes to his office to work. His wife sees the fish and thinks, “Good! I can ask my friends to come for lunch.”

    When Bob comes home from work in the evening, he can't find his fish. His wife says, “ Oh, It's your cat. Your cat eats it.” And she gives Bob some bread for dinner. The husband is very angry(生气的). He takes the cat and his wife to the shop near (附近) their home to weigh  the cat. Then he asks his wife, “You see, my fish is one kilo, and this cat is one kilo, too. My fish is here. Then where is my cat?”

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。

    A cow, a tree and some flowers… Mia Buckley, 12, drew this doodle（涂鸦）to show Ireland in her eyes. She is the winner of the Irish Doodle 4 Google competition. It is a national competition and students can make a Google homepage logo（ 徽 标 ）every year. At last, she beat other 74 competitors to get her picture's place on the Google Ireland homepage.

    Because she won, Buckley got a scholarship for 5,000 euros (35,885 yuan) and a computer.

    She studies at Summer cove National School, Ireland. And her school also got 10,000 euros.

    This year's competition theme（主题）was "Ireland Is…". Buckley's work is called "Ireland is a land so green". She used pictures of farm life, flowers, sports and music to show Irish life. The pictures had got the highest number of votes （Doodle team then chose the winner投票）in each of the five class groups. And the Google

    Ronan Harries, head of Google in Ireland, likes her work. "Mia's doodle caught our eyes. She really showed Ireland's rural heritage（乡村景观遗产）, as well as our love of music and sports," he told The Irish Examiner, an everyday newspaper in Ireland. "And she did a good job showing the Google logo with bright colors and a clear theme." Ronan Harris also thanked all the students who took part in the competition.

    Mia's doodle will go live in Ireland on the Google homepage on Easter Monday, March 28.

Most of us have experienced unforgettable moments in our lives. The moment that I will never forget happened when I was fifteen.

For the first fifteen years of my life, I was the only child in my family. I didn't have any siblings. Luckily, I had always had my parents, who loved and cared about me a lot. They helped solve any problems I met and they did everything for me. What I had never really thought about was that, someday, one of them would no longer be there for me.

One day, I found out that my mother was pregnant(怀孕的), and it was big news in my family. Everyone was excited and happy, especially me. I imagined that I would have a baby brother, and I thought about playing and having fun with him. One day after school, when I ran to the hospital, my brother had already been born. But my mother was still inside the operating room, while my father waited worriedly outside. After waiting for a long time, the doctor came out and told us that they had stopped the bleeding(流血). He told us not to worry and my mother would be fine.

Many thoughts flashed through my mind. I could only imagine that my life would be full of darkness, sadness and hopelessness. I would never again have the chance to enjoy the love of my mother. During these fifteen years, my mother was always around like my dearest friend, watching over me, no matter what happened. I could not imagine how I was possibly going to live without her.

Today, my brother is almost two years old. On the day of his birthday, I always remember

this unforgettable event in my life. I think I'm a really lucky person, with great parents and a lovely brother.

From a young age, I had known what I wanted to become. 1 an accident made me redefine(重新定义) myself.

To me, skating was the most important. There was 2 else in this world that filled my heart with such happiness. I spent twenty-four hours a week practising my 3 . Having no social life or other interests but skating, my devotion(挚爱) brought me first place medals in nearly every 4 .

Unluckily, in one show, I fell down and hurt myself 5 . After several X-rays and MRI (磁共振成像) scans, the 6 told me that I couldn't return to my sport any more. The pain in my back was serious, and even the 7 daily tasks became difficult.

It seemed as if someone had 8 my passion(激情), and I didn't. know what I wanted to become. After eight months of pain, I knew I had to 9 something. Instead of wasting my days sitting around painfully, I began to put my 10 into local community service projects. By volunteering(自愿做)11 a swimming teacher and summer reading helper for kids, I. got an idea of what I 12 to become. After a few months, I spent time on my interest in the arts. Little by little, I 13 out of the shadow(阴影) and rebuilt my confidence.

Sometimes, some14 rocks block(堵住) our way. We can choose to stay behind or try to climb over. My accident was a rock that couldn't 15 me from reaching success. Today I'm a very confident person.