Mark Twain was a famous American writer. One day he went to a city by train. He was a busy man. He usually 1 something. When he was in the train, the conductor asked him for his 2. Mark Twain looked for it here and there, but he could not find it. The conductor knew Mark Twain. She said, “If you can't find it, it doesn't matter.” “Oh, but it does,” said Mark Twain. “I must find it. If I can't find it, how can I 3 where I'm going?” Another day, he went to Dijon by train. He was very 4 and wanted to sleep. He asked the conductor to wake him up before the train 5 Dijon. But first he explained that he was a heavy sleeper. “I would probably protest (抗议）6 when you try to wake me up. But do not 7. Just put me off the train anyway.” Then Mark Twain went to sleep. By the time he woke up, the train had already been in Paris. He 8 that the conductor had forgotten his words. He was very 9. He ran up to the conductor and began 10 him, “I never was so angry in all my life.” The conductor looked hard at him and said “I just put a man off the train at Dijon. You were not half as angry as him!”

    On 28 of March Richard Byrd stood outside the small house. He shook hands with the men who were leaving. They were heading back to the main camp on the coast of Antarctica (南极洲). He would 1 to work at the base camp.

    "I don't like leaving you here alone,"Pete Demas said."I'll be 2,"Byrd replied. He was looking forward to the challenge of spending the winter at the base camp. He would be recording the weather. There was plenty of food and fuel (燃料) in the tiny house. He felt sure 3 would go wrong.

    But something did go wrong. Byrd was burning the fuel for4 . But the fumes (有毒气体) were not leaving the house. Slowly he was being poisoned (中毒). On May 31 he broke down. When he came to, he made himself into his sleeping bag. Three days later he 5 it was a Sunday. The men would be  6 his radio message. Byrd moved hard out of bed and 7 the call. He didn't want the men to know how 8 he was. It was too dangerous for them to come to save him.

    By will-power alone, Byrd managed to stay alive. He was so 9 that he could hardly walk. But he forced himself to do the basics. He 10  food and made myself eat. He took 11of weather and sent radio messages. But by late June, the men 12 that something was wrong. Most of the time, Byrd's messages made no sense.

    On August 11 Demas and two others reached the base camp. They 13 recognized (认出) Byrd. He was very thin and looked terrible. Byrd 14  them and then fell to the ground. The men had arrived in time. After two months of care, Byrd's good 15returned. He and his men worked together again.

    My parents were in a huge argument, and I was really upset about it. I didn't know who I should talk with about how I was feeling. So I asked Mom to allow me to stay the night at my best friend's house. Though I knew I wouldn't tell her about my parents' situation, I was looking forward to 1. I was in the middle of packing up my things when suddenly the power went out in the neighborhood. Mom came to tell me that I should stay with my grandpa until the power came back on. I was really 2 because I felt that we did not have much to talk about. But I knew he would be frightened alone in the dark. I went to his room and told him that I'd stay with him until the power was restored. He was quite happy and said, “3.”

    “For what?” I asked.

    “To hold a private meeting, just you and I,” he said, “To hold a private meeting about what we're going to do with your mom and dad, and what we're going to do with ourselves 4we're in the situation we are in.”

    “But we can't do anything about it, Grandpa,” I said, surprised that here was someone with whom I could share my feelings and someone who was in the same “boat” as I was.

    And that's how the most unbelievable 5 in this family started. Sitting there in the dark, we talked about our feelings and fears of life. That night, because the power went out, I found a new friend, with whom I could6talk about all my fears and pains, whatever they may be.

    Suddenly, the lights all came back on. “Well,” he said, “I guess that means you'll want to go now. I really like our talk. I hope the power will go out every few nights!”

    Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One early morning, I1a call for a taxi. When I arrived at the building, it was 2:30 a.m. and I found the building was dark except for the only light in a first floor window.

    Many drivers would just shout once or twice and then drove away, but I thought this2 might need my help. So I walked to the door and knocked, "Just a minute," answered a3, elderly voice. After a long time, the door opened. A small old man showed up before me, 4a small bag. He kept thanking me for my5. "It's nothing," I told him.

    "Oh, you're such a good man." He said. When we got into the taxi, he gave me a (an) 6, and then asked, "Could you drive through the city center?"

    "But it wasn't the7 way." I answered quickly. "Oh, I'm in no hurry." He said. "I'm on my way to a hospital. I don't have any family left. The8says I don't have much time left.

    I 9 started the taxi and shut off the meter(计程器). For the next two hours, we drove through the city center. He showed me the building where he once worked. We drove 10 the church where he got married. He would never forget that happy moment. Sometimes he'd ask me to slow down in front of a building and would sit11the darkness for a long time, saying nothing. When the sun began to rise, we drove in silence to the address he had given me. When we arrived, 12without thinking, I gave him a big hug. "You gave an old man a little moment of13. Thank you!" He said with tears in his eyes.

    I was completely lost in thought for the rest of the day. What would happen if I had refused to do14I did? We always think that there are no15moments in our lives, but great moments are just in what others may think small and unimportant ones!

    Who is that? That's Zhang Hao chen. He is one of the greatest young1in China.

    Zhang Hao chen was born2June 3. 1990 in Shanghai. He showed his3talent when he was only a small boy. He4his first music show in Shanghai Concert Hall at the age of five. In 2002, he took part5the fourth Tchaikovsky(柴可夫斯基)International Youngsters Music Competition. He became the6piano player who won the first prize in the history of the competition. In 2004, he took part in the 5th Asian International Chopin(肖邦)Piano Competition in Japan, and won the gold7. In 2005, Zhang Haochen went to8at the well—known Curtis Institute of Music(柯蒂斯音乐学院)in America  His teacher is Gary Graffman. Mr Graffman is also the teacher of the9musician Lang Lang.

    In 2009, Zhang Haochen won the gold prize in the world piano competition, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the United States. The 19 year—old boy was the youngest piano player in the competition and he was also the10Chinese to win this prize.

    I'd like to tell you something about my trip. First, we landed in Cape Town and took a taxi to our new friend Richard's house. We 1 there for a few nights. We did some cool things. We visited a bird and monkey park and saw many kinds of African 2 there.

    After 3 some time with Richard and his daughter, we left them to go to a place called Grootbos. 4 we were there, we saw my dad's friend Michael and we had supper together. We had fun5 Michael and staying at Grootbos. The food there was great. We really enjoyed 6. The next morning, we went to see whales and we got really 7 because we saw twelve of them. One pair came right up to the boat and rolled over on top of each other.

    From Grootbos we 8 to Cape Town to meet our friends who came to visit us on their vacation. We were both so 9 to have friends from home coming to 10 us in Africa. We spent a few days with them. It was very cool visiting Grootbos with them.

    Now we are going Oil Safari. I'll tell you about that later.