Jed and Matt were walking home from school. It was the first really cold day of winter. "The 1 on the river is hard!" Matt shouted. "Let's take a shortcut (捷径) across. "

    Jed made a face. "It started to freeze," said Jed. "I don't think it's 2." "You're afraid of everything," said Matt with a laugh. "3 you want to walk all the way to the bridge, go ahead.  I'm going to 4 here." Then he ran toward the river. Now Matt was near the middle of the river. "Are you still 5, Jed?" he laughed. "Look how 6the ice is." Matt jumped up and down a few times to 7 his point.

    Crack! Loud sound filled the air. Matt looked down. In all directions, the thin ice was8away from his feet. Another crack, and Matt was in the river! "Help!" Matt screamed. His wet clothes pulled him down.

    Jed felt the ice, 9 testing the area around him. Using the feet, he pushed 10 slowly toward the hole in the ice. Gripping (抓牢) the ice with his feet, Jed took hold of Matt's 11.

    Little by little, he dragged (拖) Matt out of the water and then across the ice. After what seemed like hours, they reached the 12.

    A police car came up to them. Officer Crane helped Matt into the car. After hearing the story, Crane said, "Well, Jed, it sounds like you are a 13. Maybe I should call the newspaper. Someone from the paper can come and take your picture and write an article. "

    "Good idea," said Matt.  He was feeling a lot  14.  "I have never had my picture in the paper."

    "I was talking about 15 picture," said Crane.  "He is a hero."

    A long time ago, a king put a huge rock in the middle of a roadway, and then he hid (藏) himself to watch because he wanted to know who would move the huge rock out of the roadway.  Some of the richest people came by and simply walked around it. Many of them loudly blamed (谴责) the king for not keeping the road clean, but none did anything to get the rock out of the way.

    Then a farmer came along carrying a heavy bag of vegetables. Upon walking close to the rock, the farmer put down his heavy bag and tried to move the rock to the side of the road. After much pushing, he finally succeeded. After the farmer picked up his bag of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying on the road where the rock had been. The purse included many gold coins and a note from the king saying that the gold was for the person who moved the rock away from the roadway.

    The farmer learnt what many of us never know! Every obstacle (障碍) means an opportunity to improve our condition.

    On the way back from work every evening, more often than not there would be a homeless man standing at the exit of the freeway(快车道). He looked to be in his late 40s but was probably a lot younger. He had shoulder length straight black hair and a short beard.

    Every day after work I would remember to gather any spare change, and put it aside to give to him if I saw him. A feeling of joy would come over me every time I saw him, while coming off the ramp(坡道). So did he. Sometimes the red light would be on for a minute and we would ask each other about our day. His answer would always be the same, "I'm blessed!"

    Then one day I was called into my boss's office and was told that I was being laid off. For the rest of that day all I could think of was "how am I going to provide for my kids as a mother, how am I going to pay rent?"

    Needless to say that on my way home that day I was very sad and upset. I didn't remember to look for my spare change and keep it ready like I usually did. Yet there he was as always, as I turned the ramp. He set his eyes on me, while still smiling and waving at others as usual.

    While I was waiting for the red light to turn, he strolled(闲逛) over to my car. He had a big smile. He looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "Today I will give you a dollar." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill.

    You see that day he taught me a valuable lesson more than a dollar bill. No matter what material things are taken from you, no one can take away your choice to be joyful. Every time I'm faced with challenges, I think of the homeless man's valuable lesson and remember that I am blessed.

    Dear Andrew, I write this letter to tell you something exciting. We had a sports meeting in our school last Friday!

    At about 8: 00 am, all the students arrived at the playground. I took part in the first event-the 100-metre race. Steve got first place. My classmate David took part in the long jump and Lisa took part in the high jump.

    The tug-of-war(拔河) between Class Three and Class One was the most interesting event in the morning. It was at 11: 00 am. And Class Three won it. The events in the afternoon were the 400-metre race, bicycle race, basketball game and tennis game. My classmate Maria took part in the 400-metre race. But she fell down and could not move. Frank is the best basketball player in our school. He helped his team win the basketball game.

    The sports meeting ended at 5: 00 pa/8All of the students were excited. We looked forward to the next sports meeting in our school.

Jerry

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of his cow. One day it was ill, the farmer was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" the vet asked the farmer when he arrived. "My cow is ill," said the farmer, "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and doesn't eat. She's making a strange noise." The vet looked at the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some strong medicine." He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better." "How should I give them to her? The farmer asked. The vet gave him a tube(管子) and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked worried. "How's your cow?" asked the vet. "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said." the farmer answered, "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put the two pills in it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first." the farmer said.