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    Bill always does everything very carefully．Everyday he drives his car to go to work and go home．He drives his car slowly and never has an accident．He often says that travelling by car is much safer than travelling by plane．

    Today，he has to go to another city to have a meeting．The meeting will begin at nine o'clock．And it is eight now．If Bill goes there by train or by car, he will be late for the meeting．Bill has no idea．One of his friends，John，says to him，"Don't worry, Bill．I can take you there in my own small plane．And we can get there at half past eight．"Bill is afraid of going there by plane．John tells him that it is very safe．Bill gets on the plane at last．

    John starts the plane and begins taking off．Bill is too afraid，so he closes his eyes．After a minute or two，he opens them again，looking out of the window of the plane，and says to John，"Look at those people down there，they look as small as ants." "But they are ants." says John．"Don't you know we are still on the ground?"

    One day Bob took two of his friends into the mountains. They put up their tents (帐篷) and then rode off to a forest to see how the trees were growing.

    In the afternoon when they were about ten kilometers from their camp(营地), it started to snow. More and more snow fell. Soon Bob could not see his hands before his face. He could not find the road. Bob knew there were two roads. One road went to the camp, and the other went to his house. But all was white snow. Everything was the same. How could he take his friends back to the camp?

    Bob had an idea. The horses! Let the horses take them back! But what would happen if the horses took the road to his house? That would be a trip of thirty-five kilometers in such cold weather!

    It was getting late. They rode on and on. At last the horses stopped. Where were they? John looked around. What was that under the tree? It was one of their tents!

Once upon a time, there was an old woman. Her1  died after their son came to the world. She lived with her only son.

However, something 2  happened to her son and the old woman lost her only son. She felt really 3  and went to a wise man and asked,"Is there any way to help me throw away my sadness?"

The wise man said to her, "Go and bring 4  a seed(种子) from a home that has never known sadness. I will 5 it to drive the sadness out of your life." The woman went off at once to 6  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}that special seed.

First, she came to a beautiful house and knocked at the door 7   , "Excuse me, I am looking for a 8  that has never known sadness. Is this such a place? It is very 9  to me. "

They told her, "You've certainly come to the 10  place."They began to describe all the sad things that had recently happened to them.

The woman said to herself,"Who is able to 11  these people that have had such sadness like me?" She stayed to cheer them up 12  she went on looking for a home that had never known sadness.

But wherever she went, whether in the homes of the poor or the rich, she found one sad 13  after another. She became so busy helping other people that she 14  about looking for the special seed. She even never found that helping others 15  the sadness out of her life.

Many of our conversations are gossip(闲话).I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people; it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction; and it can cause social pressure in a group.

An important negative(负面的）effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic that a person prefers to keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.

If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip. Sharing the latest rumor (传言) can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don't. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the "in group". In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority (优越感). 

Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. For example, if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can be sure that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The dos and don'ts carried through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.

Next time you feel the urge (冲动) to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your "juicy story" might have.

As an old saying goes, "The last leg of a journey marks the halfway point." This is exactly the case with me.

There was a time when I wondered how I should express myself and explain my opinions 1 . My parents and teacher gave me a lot of help, 2 didn't work well. And I often got low marks on writing and failed 3 proper words to express my ideas. So I 4 to make every effort to improve my writing skills. I read ancient poetry loudly every morning. At first, I made great progress, But as I continued, it became much 5 for me to improve myself.

Although 6 process was difficult, I never considered giving up. 7 important writing is! And 8 classmates supported me powerfully. They told me the saying, "The last leg of a journey marks the halfway point." I 9 by the words and I kept going. At last, my teacher was pleased 10 my writing.

I would not ignore (忽视) the value of this experience, because Rome was not built in a day. We have to put in more and more efforts as we reach success little by little.

My name is Alan. I'm {#blank#}1{#/blank#} English boy. I am not tall or short. My favourite {#blank#}2{#/blank#} is green. I like doing some reading. Here are {#blank#}3{#/blank#} books. One is my friend Yang Ming's book and the other is my book.

Yang Ming is my friend in the class. He is 15 years old. Here is a picture of his big family! Let's look {#blank#}4{#/blank#} it. His father, the one behind the tree, is a worker. In his free time, he spends a lot of time {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (go) fishing. His mother, the one in the red hat, is a teacher of Chinese. Yang Ming loves {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (he) parents very much. Who are they? They are Yang Ming's two {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (sister). They are twins. Their names are Lingling and Lili. Lingling {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (have) a cat. Its name is Coco. Look! It's under the table. Lili is good at music. She can play the piano {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (real) well! The twins are middle school students, too. Do you like to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} friends with us?