Four years ago when I was a boy of 11，I got into the biggest trouble as a kid．It was a Saturday morning．Both my parents were out，leaving me and my 10—month—old sister alone．Anyway，my sister was still asleep in her room．In fact I had the house to myself．I decided to do some drawing．Soon I gave up．Nothing was on TV，so I felt bored and touched the candles on the shelf．I had an idea! What would happen if I set fire to some kitchen paper? Well，of course it went on fire，but it wasn't the tiny flame (火苗)．I'd expected，and I couldn't blow it out．I threw it on the floor, and then luckily got my dad's boots (靴子) and．Stamped it out ．

    I thought I was safe until there was a hole in my room．When my mum came home later, she smelt the smoke immediately．She dropped the shopping bag，luckily for me，over the hole．I thought this meant she would never see it．However，after running round the house checking for a fire，she of course picked up the bag and saw the hole．Next I was grounded (关禁闭) and in trouble for months．Even though，the hole was still there，reminding me of what I did．

Have you ever read stories of Sherlock Holmes—a famous detective? Here is one of his cases.

Stapleton, Charles' younger brother, found that he would inherit (继承) the Baskerville lands if Charles and his nephew(侄子) —Henry both died.

    Charles who had a weak heart believed super natural stories. After knowing this, Stapleton had the idea of buying a huge hound, and of using the phosphorus(磷) to make it shine like the hound in one story.

    Then Stapleton asked his friend Laura to write a letter to bring Charles to the moor gate on that sad night. The hound, which was shining with phosphorus, chased Charles down the Yew Alley. Charles' fear was so great that his weak heart stopped, and he died but the animal did not touch the dead body. There was no sign of murder. It was difficult for Holmes to find the murderer.

    Two weeks later, Stapleton learned that Henry had reached England. He took his wife and the hound with him. He wore a false beard and followed Henry in London. He wanted to use the same way to murder Henry there. He needed something to give the hound Henry's smell, so he paid a woman at Henry's hotel to steal one of his shoes. The first one was a new one, which was no use for the hound, so it was put back. And then another older shoe was stolen. Before he was ready to murder Henry, he wasn't sure if his wife would keep his secret, so he did not tell her the truth. He locked her up in their hotel. She knew that he must have some evil plans. She sent Henry a letter which was made of words cut from a newspaper.

    After receiving the letter, Henry realized he was in great danger and it must have something to do with his uncle Charles' death. So he asked Holmes for help.

    O. Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862. O. Henry was a pen name. His real name was William Sydney Porter. When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know.

    When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. But he got himself into some trouble. Some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen(偷)it, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing.

    He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change. This made the readers surprised.

This is a true story. There was a player1Jerry in the football team. He liked playing football, but he wasn't good at it. So he had few chances to play2his team. He felt very sorry for it.

One day, his father died from a terrible illness. He had to return home to deal with something. After that, an important3was going to begin. He found the coach at once, 4to attend the match. He was not good at skills, so the coach would not5him to take part in the match. But now, as he relented(心软), he agreed to let Jerry play for only three minutes. When the time was up, he would be changed by6.

    On the court，Jerry turned very agilely(敏捷地)7his practiced skills. He broke through the opposition line bravely. The coach was very satisfied with him. Three minutes 8, the coach made Jerry keep9on the court. Jerry continued his excellent10, leading the team11the match.

    The coach hugged him12and said, "Kid, you have never been so fast, so strong and so skilled. What happened on earth(究竟)?"

Jerry said, "My father is blind,13he has never watched my match. Now14to the heaven and finally can watch my match. As soon as I think of my father watching me, I am full of energy, and I feel confident, too. "

    The coach understood:15can drive everything. Do you agree with him?