Music is an important part in our life. We may feel boring without music. Today when you go to stores, stations, restaurants and other places, do you notice music playing at any of these places? The answer must be “Yes”. And you might even hear music in an office or on a farm.

    I like many kinds of music. Classical music is great. Rock music is fast. Light music is relaxing. But I like folk music best. It sounds very beautiful. It can bring me into the dream land. It can make me relax and forget all the problems. It makes me learn better and helps me to be more active. It is true that I learn better when I am relaxed.

Music can also influence(影响) people's behavior(行为). Classical music makes people feel rich(富裕). When a restaurant plays classical music, people spend more money on food and drinks. When the restaurant plays modern music, people spend less money. Without music, people spend even less. Restaurants can make more money in this way.

    When I was in the seventh grade, I had problems behaving. My heart was in the right place, but I couldn't always follow the rules. I played many tricks on my schoolmates. Once, I even pulled a girl's hair on the school bus to get her attention. As a result, I was repeatedly sent to the office of the headmaster. Although 1 hated going there, I did nor hate the headmaster, Mr. Smith.

    Mr. Smith was a kind, elderly man. When he punished me for putting some ants into a classmate's pencil box, it didn't hurt at all, but it did hurt my feelings. I thought so much of him and moments like that seemed to prove I was hopelessly bad.

    When I was called to Mr. Smith's office for the sixth time, I had no idea what I had done. I felt disappointed as I walked down there. I went into his office, sat down, and looked at the floor. Then he said the last thing I expected to hear. "Kevin, I've heard you've been behaving really well lately. I want you to know how proud I am of you, and I just called you down to my office to give you a peppermint."

    "Really?" I was surprised.

    "Yes. Now you can take that peppermint and go back to class."

    I carried the peppermint with me as if it was a gold coin. When I got into my classroom, I bragged(吹嘘) to my classmates about nay turn around, excitedly. I wasn't so bad after all.

    Mr. Smith was really kind. He made me realize that I was just a kid who had problems with behavior. He bought some peppermints and took the time to notice me when I got something anything-right. Mr. Smith gave me some hope by giving me some love. I will just remember him for the rest of my life.

    Once an old man who had four lazy sons fell sick and was counting his last days in bed. He was very worried about his sons' future because they always believed in luck {#blank#}1{#/blank#}of hard work.

    The old man decided to play a trick{#blank#}2{#/blank#} he died to make his sons realize the importance of work. He told them that he would leave them a treasure box {#blank#}3{#/blank#} gold coins and wanted them to share the treasure.

    The young men asked where his father had placed the treasure. The old man replied," I can't exactly remember{#blank#}4{#/blank#}place. However, the treasure is buried in our land."

    After a few days, the old man died. The sons decided to{#blank#}5{#/blank#}the land to find the treasure box. They worked very hard, but they couldn't find the box. They dug even{#blank#}6{#/blank#}, but they still got nothing.

    Later, one of their neighbors {#blank#}7{#/blank#} by and saw the loose (松的) soil. He suggested that the sons should turn it into a farm. Soon, good fruit and vegetables grew out of the land. The four sons sold them at a good{#blank#}8{#/blank#} and made lots of money.

    Then they realized that the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} box their father mentioned was hard work in fact. The father successfully played a trick to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} his sons how important it was to work hard. What a clever father!

    Have you ever ridden a Ferris wheel lately? Can you imagine the flying feeling as you are pulled up to the top and then moved down to the bottom quickly again?

    Today a Ferris wheel is usually 40 to 60 feet tall. That seems very high when you are on the top looking down. But the first Ferris wheel was 264 feet high- taller than a twenty-story building! Can you imagine the view from the top of that?

    The first Ferris wheel was built for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. The people who planned the fair were looking for an attraction that would bring people to Chicago. George Ferris handed a drawing of a giant wheel that people could ride on. At first everyone laughed at his strange idea. But Mr Ferris did not give up, and finally the idea was accepted. The ride opened in June of 1893.

    Today's Ferris wheels have 12 to 16 seats, which each carry 2 or 3 people. But that first one had 36 enclosed cars, each holding 60 passengers. When filled, it carried 2,160 people. During that summer in Chicago, about 1.5 million people rode the Ferris wheel.

After the fair, the ride was moved to a nearby amusement park built especially to show off the wheel. In 1904, it was moved again一to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. After the fair there, the wheel stood unused. In 1906, it was finally sold to a company for scrap metal(废金属).

    Luckily a Chicago bridge builder, W.E. Sullivan, figured out how to make a smaller Ferris wheel that could easily be taken apart and put together. In 1906, he started the company that still makes many of the Ferris wheels used today.

    But, whenever you ride one, remember that it all began with George Ferris's strange idea!

It was a sunny day. Tom got up very {#blank#}1{#/blank#} in the morning because he would try out for school basketball team. It was important for Tom. Tom ran downstairs to tell his mom that he had to {#blank#}2{#/blank#}for school earlier. Mom told him that he should eat breakfast first so that he would have enough{#blank#}3{#/blank#} after he got to school，but Tom said that he was too {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to eat. "Try to have some，"said Tom's mom. Tom still felt a little sick（心烦意乱的），but he ate some {#blank#}5{#/blank#} in the end. Before he left home，Tom's mom hugged him and {#blank#}6{#/blank#} him just to do his best. 

Shortly after Tom arrived at the basketball court，all the boys were required to run，catch and throw balls. Even though he had lost the ball several {#blank#}7{#/blank#}，Tom thought he did pretty well. Afterwards，Tom was really {#blank#}8{#/blank#} and walked off the court. Minutes later，one coach called {#blank#}9{#/blank#} name. He asked Tom if he would like to{#blank#}10{#/blank#} the school basketball team. Tom jumped in excitement. "That would be really great!" he shouted. 

 Mr. and Mrs. George and Olivia Ransom bought an old house, and were spending time fixing it up. The walls needed painting and the wooden floorboards(地板) needed replacing.

 One day, they pulled (拉) up some old floorboards and were surprised to see a case under the floor. They pulled it out, dusted it off and opened it. It was full of old newspapers from the year1977. George and Olivia were interested to read the news stories at that time. But as they took the newspapers out, they noticed a black box at the bottom of the case. It was locked.

Then Olivia remembered that there were some old things in the kitchen. There was a cup with old keys in it. She ran to get the cup, took out the keys and tried them in the lock. One of them opened it!

 The box was full of jewellery (珠宝). There were necklaces and rings of silver and gold. Olivia and George were amazed. Who put the jewellery there, and why? Who did it belong to?

 George remembered a story in the old newspapers. He quickly found it again and they read it together.

"That name— Jensen, said George. "It's familiar to me— why?"

"It's the old lady who sold the house to us!" replied Olivia. "Her name was Mrs Jensen. She told us her husband died in 1978 and he was a jeweller."

"That's strange," said George. "I wonder, was there really a jewellery theft? Or did Stanley Jensen hide the jewellery under his own house? But why...?"