Li Ming is staying with the Wang's family for the weekend. Today it is warm and fine. The family are having dinner in the garden. They often have dinner in the garden on a warm and fine spring day. Now Mr. and Mrs. Wang are sitting at the table with Li Ming under a tree.

    "It's great to have dinner out here on such a lovely day," Mrs. Wang says. "What's the weather like in your hometown, Li Ming?" Mr. Wang asks. "It's not very warm in spring. But I like the spring there best." "Help yourself to some cakes, Li Ming,"Mrs. Wang says. "Thanks," says Li Ming. "The cakes are very nice. I enjoy the dinner very much."

    As he walked out of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, he looked like a normal repairman. But what he carried was very unusual. Under his jacket, Vincenzo Perugia was carrying Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings in the world. And he was stealing it!

It sounds difficult to believe, but it's a true story. On August 20, 1911, Perugia went into the museum and hid. He waited 15 hours until the next morning. On the day of the crime, the museum was closed for repairs. Perugia walked out into the museum wearing the same kind of clothes as the other repairmen. No one paid attention to him as he walked out the door.

    Police looked all over the world—Russia, Japan, and Brazil. They even interviewed Perugia, but they let him go! Police continued to look for the painting. Two years passed before Perugia brought Mona Lisa to a man in Florence, Italy, who dealt in art. Florence is the city where Leonardo da Vinci painted Mona Lisa. Unfortunately for Perugia, the art dealer called the police, who arrested(逮捕) him.

    Perugia said he wanted to return Mona Lisa to its "real" home. The police believed he wanted to sell copies of the painting and keep the original for himself. To this day, nobody really knows why he did it.

    On Christmas Eve a few days ago, an English couple, the Hardens, got a very special call. It was only a 20-second call but it was very 1. The Hardens' 15-year-old daughter has gone 2 six months before. On Christmas Eve she rang them. ＂I'm phoning to wish you a happy Christmas,＂ she said, ＂I love you.＂ Ronals and Edwine Harden were so 3 that they started a special telephone service （服务）called ＂Alive and Well＂. The service helps 4 to get in touch with children who have run away from home.

    Young people can phone ＂Alive and Well＂ and leave a message for their parents. The telephones are answered by answering machines. So 5 can speak to the child or make him return home. Parents of runaway children who are 6 eighteen can ask the police to bring their children home. So children do not want to tell their parents where they are. Through ＂Alive and Well＂ they can telephone their parents and they do not 7 about this or give out their addresses.

    The Hardens and their helpers 8 the telephone messages and connect（联系）the addresses given. About 30,000 British teenagers have left home and many of them are probably in 9. For only two pence（便士）they can go into a telephone coin box and call their parents. They can dial 5675339 and 10 a parent worrying: Is he dead or alive?

Many people do not like to stay at home on holiday. They want to go on a trip to some exciting places. They want to see something different and do something exciting. So people from the country come to the city and people from the city go to the country for their holidays. During the holidays, trains, buses and planes are all very busy. It is very hard to buy train tickets. Many people take cars for a trip. Last week my family went to the country by car for our holidays. There was too much traffic on the road, so we had to drive very slowly. It took us about an hour to get out of the town. Then we came to a hill. It was green and beautiful. We thought this was a good place for a picnic, so we stopped and took the food, fruit and drinks out of the car. We sat down and began to eat. Suddenly a strong wind blew and soon it started to rain. We had to run back to our car and had our picnic in the car. Then we drove back home. What a bad trip!

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.