An old friend from the US whom I was looking forward to staying with, telephoned from the airport to tell me that he had arrived. I was still at the 1 at that time, but I had got everything ready for his arrival. After letting him know where my house was, I told him that I had the 2 under the door-mat (门垫). 3 I was possible to be home rather late, I told him to go into the 4 and help himself to food and drink.

    Two hours later my friend 5 me from the house. At the moment, he said, he was listening to some of my records after having just had a truly wonderful 6. He had found a cooker and 7 two eggs and had helped himself to some cold chicken from the ice box. Now, he said, he was drinking a glass of orange juice and he hoped I would 8 him. When I asked him if he had reached the house without difficulty, he answered, "I was not able to find the key, but 9 the living room windows just by the apple tree were left open and you know what I could do."

    I listened to all this in 10. In front of my living room there was no apple tree at all.

    The story of how the teddy bear was invented is an interesting one.  In 1902, American president(总统), Theodore(Teddy) Roosevelt was hunting (打猎) in the forest 1 several of his friends. Almost everyone had successfully shot an animal, but the president2not. Nobody wanted to make the president look 3, so they tied an American black bear to a 4They wanted the president to shoot 5.

    The president was very surprised to see the bear tied to a tree. He felt it was 6to shoot the bear, because it couldn't run away. He 7to shoot it, and the story of his decision went all over the country.    8 was moved by the president's beliefs(信念). There was9 a cartoon showing the president refusing to shoot a cute bear.

    It was this cartoon and the story behind the president's hunting trip that gave Morris an idea to make a new 10. He made a small, soft bear and11 it in his shop window. Next to the bear he made a sign that read, "Teddy's Bear". The new toy was a big success and it 12 Morris with the money to create a toy company.

    Teddy bears have been13since they were first made. A teddy bear would be the first choice14 people think about children's toys. Theodore Roosevelt's famous 15 on a hunting trip in 1902 brought millions of soft, stuffed bears. They are being loved by people across the world.

    Last year I went to Australia to study and travel. I stayed in Sydney for three months. I visited places of1in the morning and took English lessons in the afternoon. A friend and I stayed in a host family in Sydney. The family were very2to us. We talked about a lot of things with each other in English.

    My spoken English improved 3in Australia. I used to speak little English in China, 4 in Australia I had to use it very often. I was soon able to5with my teachers and host family in English freely. To me, the best place in Australia is the Sydney Opera House（歌剧院）. You can look at it from different sides. It is beautiful to look at. I cannot sing very well, but6I was inside, I really wanted to sing.

    Time7 while I was in Sydney. Soon Christmas came, then the New Year. I had to spend the New Year8my parents. I felt a little lonely. I missed them so much. In the evening, I9my family. When I heard 10voices, I began to cry. My host mother held me in her arms and comforted（安慰）me.

    Ernest Hemingway, the son of a doctor and a music teacher, was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. Hemingway's father{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(teach) him early on how to hunt and fish, two activities Hemingway loved throughout his life. Instead of {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(go) to college, Hemingway became a reporter for the Kansas City Star.

    Later, in Europe, he worked as a driver {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the Italian army until he was wounded and shipped home, where he again wrote for newspapers. Two years {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, he moved to Paris, where he hoped to improve his writing. There he became friends with other {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(America) writers, including

    Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

    Hemingway developed {#blank#}6{#/blank#} style of writing that was simple and direct. He chose words sparingly(俭省地), avoided using adjectives, and trusted the reader to understand {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(mean) of his writing. As he put it, "I always try {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(write) on the principle(原则) of the iceberg(冰山). There is seven eighths of it under water for every part that shows. "This style continues to influence Writers today. In his career(生涯), which lasted some 40 years, Hemingway earned the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize. He was one of the finest writers of the{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(twenty) century.

    For a while Emest Hemingway lived in Key West, Florida, where he had nearly 50 cats. One of them was a cat with six toes(脚趾), which a ship's captain had given him. Today his Key West home is a museum, and many cats still live there. Some of them are {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(child) of Hemingway's six-toed cat. Hemingway was married four times and had three sons. He died in 1961.