When Kyle walked into Paul's Pet World, he looked very anxious. He walked quickly to the store owner, Paul. Paul jumped out of his seat to greet Kyle. He was the store's first customer of the day.
“Good morning, sir!” Paul said. “What can I help you with?”
“Well, I…,” Kyle started to say.
“Wait, don't tell me,” Paul stopped him. “You are looking for a…a new dog… for your daughter's birthday. Right?”
“Not really, I just…”
Paul didn't let him finish. “Ah, I've got it. You just opened a new business, and you want some fish for your office. I have some very nice goldfish over here.”
“Actually, I…” Kyle was starting to look very anxious. His face had a strange look on it.
“No fish? Ah, a cat! You look like a cat person. At Paul's Pet World, we have the best cats. Take a look at this cat— long, white hair. She is looking at you. She is thinking, “Take me home. Take me home.” Would you like some cat food and toys as well?”
l“No, thank you,” Kyle said. By this time, he had a pained look on his face. “Really, I'm no interested in cats or fish or dogs.”
“What do you want, then?” Paul asked.
Kyle looked like he was going to cry. “I just want to know if I can use your restroom!” he finally said.

    This story was told long ago by the ancient people in Australia.

    Once there was a child whose parents were dead, so he was left to his relatives. However, the relatives treated him badly. They didn't allow him to drink the water they had collected far away, so the was thirsty most of the time. The child was even told to eat eucalyptus leaves(桉树叶).

One day, after all the relatives left, the boy drank the water from his relatives' water bottles. Then he hung the bottles on a small tree and began to sing some ancient songs. At once, the tree began to grow very tall. When his relatives returned, they found the boy was on the tree with their bottles. They became very angry, for they could not reach the water and they knew the boy had played tricks on them. But they said that they would be kind to the boy if he came down and brought the water bottles with him.

    However, as soon as the boy made his way down to the ground, his relatives set about beating him with sticks and stones until his body was quite soft. Mad with anger, they continued to heat him until a strange thing happened at last. The boy began to change. He became a koala and climbed up the tree. The relatives cut down the tree and the koala-boy disappeared. The bottles on the tree fell down and became a river.

    Since that time, koalas have been treated with respect or all the water in the land will dry up.

    There was a time when no one knew the name Harry Potter. Now the adventures of this extraordinary student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are read in over 45 languages, including Russian, Thai, and even ancient Greek. No one can explain the Harry Potter phenomenon (现象) – not even J.K. Rowling, his creator.

    J.K. Rowling was born in England in 1965. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be a writer. When she was 6, she wrote her first story—about a rabbit that gets sick. At school, she used to make up stories to tell her friends.

    After graduation from college, she worked as a secretary. But she didn't give up her dream.She spent her lunch hour writing stories, mainly for adults. Then in 1990, on a train trip to London,she got the idea from the boy wizard. She says he just appeared in her head. She soon created many other characters to help Harry fight the forces of darkness.

    She kept working on the story while she was teaching English in Portugal, where she married, had her first child, and divorced (与……离婚) a year later. When she returned to England, she brought back a box of Harry Potter stories.

    After returning home, she was broke and living in a small house. She continued writing, and in 1995, finished the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was published (出版) in 1997 and became an unexpected bestseller.

    Rowling's life has changed a lot. She has become internationally famous and now earns around $40 million a year. She remarried, had a second child and lives in Scotland now.

   The cold wind blew strongly outside. Amaya was warm in her house, thinking about an article she'd read at school. The article was about kids who helped out their communities, and she thought it would be really cool to help her own town, Harvard.

   The only problem was that she wasn't sure how to help. In the article, the kids had grown food for people who needed food, but it was winter. She couldn't start a garden. Amaya was deep in thought when her mom said it was time to go shopping.

   As they drove along the road, Amaya saw a family walking on the sidewalk(人行道), wearing only light jackets. How could they must be! That gave her an idea! She could collect winter coats, hats and gloves for people who needed them.

   She shared her idea with her mom, who thought it was great. But how would they spread the idea to get plenty of winter clothing? Amaya decided to talk to her teacher, because then she could share her idea with her classmates at least.

   Ms. Monroe agreed when Amaya talked about her idea. They decided to call the project Hats in Harvard. Then they wrote a letter explaining the project. Ms. Monroe even said she could help Amaya talk to the headmaster aboutit, so they could get the whole school to join in it. They met with the headmaster during lunch time. He was excited about the idea, and said he would make sure copies(复印件) of the letter went home with all the students.

   They collected enough winter clothing in only one week. Then they left the clothes around two parks, so families who needed clothes could get them there. Three days later, Amaya and her mom went shopping again. She saw the same family that had given her the idea for Hats in Harvard. This time, though, the family looked nice and warm in some new coats, hats and gloves. Amaya felt warm in her heart, and was very glad she could help others.

There is an English saying:" Laughter is the best medicine." Until {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, few people took the saying seriously. Now however, doctors have begun to look into laughter and the effects it has on the human body. They find that it {#blank#}2{#/blank#} people's blood pressure, the heart beating and breathing. It {#blank#}3{#/blank#} works the stomach and even the feet. So laughter exercises the body and improves people's health.

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