One day a young man put an ad (广告) in most of the newspapers in England. He said that his parents   1 him millions of pounds (英镑). He graduated from Oxford University. Everyone knows this university is one of  2   universities in the world. So he had got a great education there. He'd like a girl to be his3  . The girl must be like the one in the books written by Somerset Maugham,  4  Maugham was his favourite.

This ad was read and known   5 by parents and young girls all over the country. Parents went to shops to   6  the books. They bought those books for their daughters  7 presents. Girls tried to get those books   8 . They wanted to know what kind of person the writer liked so that they could marry the young man.

All the books written by Maugham 9  in a short time and the writer became famous.

Can you guess who the young man was? It was Somerset Maugham   10  ! What a clever man he was!

    Good morning, everyone. I want to 1 you about my neighbor(邻居)，Mr. White. There are 2 people in Mr. White's family. Mr. White is a manager of a big shop. Mrs. White teaches English in a university(大学).Her students like her very much 3 she is interesting. The Whites have two 4 . The son is Tim. He is thirteen. The daughter is Nell. She is twelve. There is also a brown 5 in their family. 6 name is Stella.

    Mr. White loves sports and he is good at playing tennis. Mrs. White likes 7 . She draws many beautiful pictures. Tim 8 listening to music. He has many CDs. Justin Bieber is his favorite singer. 9 is Nell's hobby? She likes doing some 10 . She has a lot of books in her room now. On Sunday, then take their cat to the nark and they often have a .good time there.

    I noticed an old couple as they walked into the second-hand store. Just before that I had dropped off a bag of clothes and a few other things I no longer needed.

    The couple moved 1 around me in search of things they had on a list.

    “Can I help you 2 something?” I asked curiously.

    They stopped, looked at me and said, “We're looking for 3 things that look new.”

    “Every year in the past, we tried to 4 the year with new things. It was a goal (目标) to have new things around us so that we had a new 5, new hopes and dreams for the new year,” said the old man. “But nowadays we also believe that even though something is old, it 6 be new to someone who has never seen it before.”

    “So, at the end of each year we search for things that are 7 to no one but new to us,” the old woman added.

    “What have you found so far?” I asked.

    The man showed two things: a small frame made of sticks and one baby boot.

    “We still need one more thing,” he said.

    “Got it!” I heard a loud 8.

    “What did you find?” the old man shouted, too.

    The old woman walked slowly towards us 9 something in her hand. “Look! It's a flower vase. Well, it looks 10, but it's new to us!”

    They then headed for the checkout without saying another word.

    Everything that you see for the first time is new.

    The hippo(河马) is the most dangerous animal in Africa, but that hasn't stopped a South African animal lover from making friends with one.

    Marius Els is 40 years old. He 1 around 20 different kinds of animals on his ranch(饲养场), in South Africa. He has a real soft spot for Humphrey, a 6-year-old hippo that's like a son to him. While all of his friends are too 2 to go near the animal, and his wife told him not to get too close, Marius climbs on Humphrey's back as he swims 3 the lake.

    Marius has kept the hippo 4 he was just five months old. And over the years, the two have 5 a special relationship that people just don't understand. Marius looks on Humphrey as a son, although the 1, 200 ton animal could 6 a person with ease. Only sometimes the hippo can throw Marius off his 7 in the water. Humphrey is very friendly to his owner, especially after Marius offers him a dinner of his favorite 8, apples.

    Humphrey feels very 9 in his life. He had another good friend, a goat, but she got eaten by a jackal, so now he's all by 10. Marius says he's been trying to get a female friend for Humphrey, but there's no such thing in Africa right now.

    When Jane was a little girl, she liked keeping pets. She had many books about animals and there were many pictures and stamps on the walls of her bedroom. She often said that she would work in a 1 when she grew up.

    Most of Jane's pets were quite small — parrots, cats, dogs and so on. But one day she met something quite 2 .

    That afternoon, Jane's mother was surprised to see a big animal with long hair in the kitchen. He 3  a T-shirt and was sitting on a chair, trying to put on a pair of glasses and making faces at her. In front of him, on the table, were a basket of fruits and a glass of water. “Jane, where are you?” the mother shouted. Then suddenly she remembered that a few days before a young gorilla (大猩猩) called Gor had run away from the zoo.

    “I found him in the city square,” Jane said. “He seemed so lonely. I talked to him. We became friends at once and he followed me 4 .”

    “Well, you know you 5  keep him,” her mother said. “You must send him back to the zoo. You'd better phone the police.”

    Soon a 6  came and also a truck from the zoo. 7  was angry with Jane when she told her story. The policeman knew Jane loved animals. And the zookeeper said, “Thank you for your kindness (好意). I can see Gor likes you, 8  we need him back.” Jane agreed. She hugged Gor and said that she would go and see him 9 .

    These days Jane has stopped collecting 10 , but you can still find her with her friend Gor at the zoo on Saturdays and Sundays!

    One day, Mr John, a rich and fussy man, walked into a restaurant. He would like to have a meal there. The waiters of the restaurant felt terrible when they saw 1. They knew he always wanted the best but would only pay 2.

    A waiter gave the menu to Mr. John and he decided to order a bowl of oxtail soup. The waiter took the order and left as 3 as he could.

 4the dish was served. Mr. John tasted it and then called the waiter. All the waiters knew he would ask 5 the proof that the soup was made of real oxtail, 6, the smart waiter just smiled and went over. After listening to Mr. John's question, the waiter went into the kitchen and then he brought an ox with no tail. Mr. John had 7 to say but to go on with his meal.