I'm an office worker and work in a downtown(闹市区) office. I live on a small island(岛), so take a boat from the island to the city center on weekdays. The boat leaves at 6:20 and① it takes about 35 minutes to get to the city. Then I have a short walk to my office. Sometimes when the weather is bad, I can't get to my office on time by boat.(Tina Brown)

    I'm a teacher. ②I take the train to work every day. The train is quick and cheap and there are hardly any delays(耽误). The trains run every half an hour. The train station is near my home. It takes only 35 minutes from my home to the school.(Ms Jackson)

    I'm a college ( 大学)  student. I live in a college. The college is very big, so I usually walk a lot. Sometimes ③it takes 15 minutes to get from one building to another. When I want to shop with my friends outside the college, we take a bus. The buses stop running after 10：00 pm. So if we get back after that time, we take the bus to our school. (Maria Black).

    “Please take my penny,” said Maggie to old Dan, the fisherman, who sat on a bench repairing his nets.

    Her brother Andrew drew her back, whispering, “Maggie, he is not a beggar (乞丐)!”

    But Maggie paid no attention. “Please take it,” she said again. Old Dan smiled, and took it. “Thank you, little miss,” he said, “It is kindly meant.”

    After that, Maggie went to the beach to gather shells. She never thought how fast the hours were passing until being tired. She sat down on a rock. Soon she was scared because the sea water was going up. She wanted to go home, but she found the places she had gone down easily very difficult to climb up. The stones were wet and smooth. What could poor Maggie do? She felt sad and cried.

    Luckily, Dan's large dog Rover jumped down from a rock! Rover raised his loud bark. The fisherman had taken his nets to the top of the cliffs (悬崖), and was laying them out in the sun when he heard the loud barking of a dog. He felt sure that it was Rover, and Rover was in trouble, so he looked over. There he saw it all.

    “Bless her! It is the little one that was so kind-spoken to me this morning!” he cried, and he hurried to his sons' rooms.

    “Quick, boys, quick!” he said. “Get to the boat, and row fast to the sea. There is a poor child there just waiting to be helped.” The fishermen lost no time, and soon little Maggie and Rover were rowed safely to land! Old Dan was waiting there to lift her out to give her into her mother's arms.

    “It was the penny that did it, madam,” he said to Mrs. Weston later. “I saw Rover looking at her when she put the penny. And I am thinking he had been looking after her all the day.”

    Some years later, Rover came to Maggie's home with a little note, in which was written—“Will Maggie help Rover?—his master is dead.”

    Li Lei just graduated from college, he was going for a job interview in Shaoyang. He arrived at the bus station quite early for bus. The bus for Shaoyang would not leave until five to twelve. He saw a lot of people waiting in the station. Some were standing in line; Others were walking around. There was a group of schoolgirls. The teacher was trying to keep them in line. Li Lei looked around but there was no place for him to sit.

    He walked into the station Coffee. He looked up at that clock there. It was only twenty to twelve.  He found a seat and sat down before a large mirror（镜子） on the wall. Just then, Han Meimei, one of Li Lei's friends came in and sat with Li Lei. "What time is your bus?" asked Han Meimei. "There's plenty of time yet." Answered Li Lei. "Well, I'll get you more tea then" said Han Meimei.

    They talked while drinking, Then Li Lei looked at the clock again. "Oh! it's going backward!" he cried. "A few minutes ago, it was twenty to twelve and now it's half past eleven". "You're looking at the clock in the Mirror" Said Han Meimei. Li Lei was so sad, the next bus was not to leave for another hour, since then Li Lei has never liked mirrors.

    She used to sleep on the sidewalk of the Fifth Street Post Office. I could smell her before I came close. She wore dirty clothes and her mouth was nearly toothless. I hardly saw her talk with others. If she was not asleep, she talked to herself. I always had sympathy for her. What a poor old lady! She must be desperate (感到绝望的)and hungry.

    One Thanksgiving, we had lots of food left over. I thought about the old lady. She might be still hungry. So I packed the food up and drove over to the Fifth Street.

    It was a cold night. There was hardly anyone out. But I knew she would stay at the same place and I would find her easily.

    There she was, squatted against a fence near the post office. She was dressed as she always was.

    I drove my car over to her, rolled down the window and said, "I've brought you some food. Would you like some turkey and apple pie？"

    However, the old woman didn't seem to be very excited about this. She looked at me and said quite clearly, "Oh, thank you very much, but someone has given me food earlier and I'm quite full now. Why don't you take it to someone else who needs it？"

    Her words were clear and her manners were gracious. Soon her head sank into her arms again. I was the only person who didn't know what to say. An old lady who was clearly down on her luck still thought about others. Why don't more of us do that？

    William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in English literature. His plays can be divided into three categories: histories, tragedies (悲剧) and comedies. Shakespeare wrote eighteen comedies, although two were lost. These comedies usually have happy endings and a light-hearted tone and style that are quite different from his tragedies.

    All of Shakespeare's comedies have five acts and the most important or exciting point always takes place in the third act. The hero does not appear until after other characters have talked about him. Shakespeare had some themes that he usually wrote about: the fight between good and bad, love's great effect on people, and the difference between first appearance and a person's true personality or face. Shakespeare also wrote his play in a certain style. For example, Shakespeare used words in such a clever and humorous way that they had more than one meaning. Some of the characters changed their appearances so that people didn't know who they were.

    Even though the tone is lighter in these plays. Comedies in Shakespeare's day were quite different from modern-day comedies because their purpose was not to make people laugh. Shakespeare's comedies are very emotional (有感染力的) and often include serious topics to think about.

Some of my earliest memories include sitting with my dad in his study every night when he came home from the office. I watched1 he put his personal items away: his watch, wallet, comb and car keys. They would always take up the same space on the table every time.

Dad's comb was jade green. I heard he bought it when he married Mum. Every night, he would smile, hand me the comb and say, "Be a good girl and help Daddy 2 it, OK?"

I was more than happy to do it. At age five, this kind of task brought me such joy. I would turn on the tap 3 , and then brush the comb with a used toothbrush as hard as I could.4 that I'd done a good job, I would proudly return the comb to Dad. He would smile at me, and place the comb on top of his wallet.

About two years later, Dad left his sales job and started his own wholesale business. I started primary school. That was when things started to 5 . Dad's business wasn't doing so well, and our stable (稳定的) life started getting shaky. He didn't come home as much as he used to. And when he did come home, it was always late and I'd already be in bed. I started to get 6 . Why didn't he listen to Mum and just stick to his old job? Why does he 7 placing the whole family in trouble? Over the years, I 8 waiting for him to come home, and going downstairs to welcome him.

Now 28, I've graduated from college and got a job. Dad's business has also started to get back on track. Yet the uncomfortable 9 between Dad and me went on.

Two days before my birthday last year, Dad came home early. On that evening, I helped him carry his bags into his study 10 . When I turned to leave, he asked me to clean his comb. I looked at him for a while, then took the comb and headed to the tap.

It was a 11 comb. This one was brown. I hadn't noticed that he'd changed it. After cleaning it, I passed it back to Dad. He looked at it and smiled. But this time, I noticed something 12 . My dad had aged. He had wrinkles next to his eyes when he smiled, yet his smile was still as heartwarming as before.