Now, almost every family has the television. Television makes people know a lot of things which they don't know before.

    Mike likes watching TV very much. From TV programs, he knows ships. Then Mike loves ships. When he was older, he said, "I'm going to be a soldier (士兵)." But his eyes were not very1, and he didn't get in.

    Then he said, "I'm going to2a small boat and I'm going around the world." But boats were very expensive, and Mike didn't have enough3.

    Last summer Mike found a swimming4near his house. The lessons didn't cost very5, and Mike began going to the school at weekends and having6. Now he is a good swimmer.

    Last week a little boy said to him, "You're a very good swimmer. How do7learn to swim so well?"

    "I'm not good at all," Mike said and he smiled. "8I'm in the water, I say to myself, 'There are9fishes behind me!' Then I'm very afraid, and I10quickly. "

    This story happened in a small mountain village. One day there was an earthquake. Nothing was destroyed and 1 was hurt. But a huge rock fell from a nearby mountain and stopped in the middle of the road.

    When the earthquake 2, many people came to the road and saw the huge rock. Some of the strongest men tried to lift the rock 3 the road. But they couldn't move it.' They tried to push it but failed. They tried to 4 it with ropes but nothing worked.

    "Well," they all agreed, "there's nothing we can do about it. We'll have to change the 5." At this time a boy of 12 years old said, "I think I can help you to move the rock."

    "You?" they shouted." What are you talking about?" The men all 6at the boy.

    The next morning some people came to the road. One of them shouted," The rock is 7!" More people ran out to see it. It was right. The rock wasn't in the road any more. It wasn't 8 near the road.

    "This is 9 ， " they said." Where did it go?"

    The boy stood on the road, 10, "I told you I could move it. "

    The boy walked over to where the 11 had been and uncovered some earth. "I buried it," he said.

    The people looked 12"You see," he said, "I dug a deep hole next to the rock and I dug a small incline(斜坡) up to the rock and the rock 13 down into the hole by itself. I covered it with earth. "

    The crowds shouted," What a 14 boy!" And some of them said, "Why haven't we thought of this good 15 ?"

Jenny is my cousin. She looks very {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(可爱的). She has two big eyes and two small {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(耳朵). She usually wears a light green {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(毛线衣). She can do many things well.

She can sing well and her voice {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(听起来) nice. Also, she is good at cooking. She can make many kinds of food, such as {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(小甜饼;曲奇饼) and bread. They always {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(有……的气味) great. What's more, the bread tastes very {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(软的;柔软的). I often can't wait to have a {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(尝试) as soon as she makes some. I like to put strawberry {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(果酱) on it to eat. In fact, I have a sweet tooth, so they are my {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(最喜欢的人或事).

All in all, I am glad to have such a wonderful cousin.

Paris is the capital of France. Its subway is very special（特别的）. You can enjoy its culture（文化）when you are in this city.

Look, you can see many people listening to music with their headsets（耳机）on the subway. When they are on the subway or at the station, there is always a book in the hand, too.

The subway station in Paris is not big. However, each of them has its special things. Some stations look like ships. Some have clothes, hats and shoes. And every station has a big ad picture. But many of them are for selling clothes and cosmetics（化妆品）.

You can meet some beggars（乞丐）on the subway. But the beggar s on the Paris subway are also very special. They enjoy playing the violin or guitar. After playing, it is natural（自然的）for them to go around the train and ask you for some money. They think they should get the money because of their show.

If you want to learn more about Paris, go to the subway and enjoy its culture by yourself.

Curt von Badinski is an engineer of a company in San Francisco. He is a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(西方人), and his home is in Los Angeles,which is 770 miles away from his workplace, so he has to take a plane to work and back. And he tries his {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(最好) to avoid being late.

Every workday morning, Badinski gets up at 5 am for the 15-minute drive to the airport.After parking his car, he goes to take the plane {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(径直地;直接地). After all, the plane won't wait for him to {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(赶上)up. After a 90-minute flight, he {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(降落到地面) at Oakland Airport and drives to his company. The {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(全部的;整个的)trip takes him about 3 hours.

Badinski can fly freely at any time to and from San Francisco, thanks to his payment on the airline, 2,300 dollars monthly.

Flying to work every day is not {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(容易的) for Badinski because he can only sleep five hours every night. But he believes {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (没有什么) could be more important for him than his family. He had thought about several ways to solve the problem, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(包括;包含) moving his family to San Francisco, but none of them worked.

"The six-hour round trip shows that I have the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(能力) to have all the things I want," he explains. "I am always excited to start a new day. And I hope in the future my life and my work can be balanced."

It was Saturday morning when I was six years old. Christmas was still three weeks away, but everyone in town was 1 . Santa Claus, the Father Christmas, was coming in our small Irish town.

The main street was full of children. They cheered 2 as the band passed by. Santa followed on a white 3 . He waved to the crowd while shouting, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" But just as he passed me, his beard （胡须）fell off.  That was when I knew Santa wasn't real and started to4 . Tears were welling up in my eyes.

The man on the horse was my dad.5 ,1 wasn't surprised. Dad was always the most popular person in our town. He sang in church, acted in the theatre and even 6 on TV

Thirty years later, my dad visited me in New York City. It was his 7 time in the United States, and he felt like a very excited child.Atdinner, he told me a story.

Back in the 1950s, my dad left school at the age of 16 to work in a small 8. One summer, his Uncle Ben came home from the US. He told Dad to go to America with him. But my grandma wasn't 9 with the idea. My dad was the only breadwinner in the family. In the end, he stayed and never left.

At that moment, I understood that Dad was once young. Father Christmas also had dreams. But he10 those dreams for______his family. What would he have become if he had gone to New York? Could he have become a famous singer, actor or dancer?

Sadly, dad just worked in that small factory for 40 years.