He was an old manwho fished alone in a small boat on the sea and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish, the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone with another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his boat empty. The sail looked like the flag of failure forever.

      The old man was thin with deep wrinkles (皱纹) in the back of his neck. His face was terribly brown because of the strong sunlight on the sea every day and his hands had the deep scars (伤疤) from dealing with heavy fish on the lines. But none of these scars were fresh. Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful.

      “Santiago,” the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from the sea. “I could go with you again. We've made some money.”

        The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.

      “No,” the old man said. “You're with a lucky boat. Stay with them.”

      “But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks.”

      “I remember,” the old man said.

     “It was papa who made me leave. I am a boy and I must follow him.”

     “I know,” the old man said. “It is quite normal.”

       "He hasn't mush faith(信心)"                       

     “No,” the old man said. “But we have. Haven't we?”

     “Yes,” the boy said. “Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace?”

    “Why not?” the old man said “Between fishermen.”

    This was the first real task I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. As I searched the name, I found that there were two famous people having the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts（花生）, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice: let the coin decide. I flipped(掷) a coin and Ah! Tails (背面)! My report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.

    Weeks later, I stood in front of the classroom and proudly read my homework. But things started to get strange. I looked around the room, only to find my classmates with big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes and my stone-faced teacher. I was completely lost. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”

    Oh well, I dropped the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American War of Independence.” The whole world became quiet! How could I know that my teacher meant that George Washington?

    Of course, my subject result was awful. Sad but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to the headmaster Miss Lancelot, but she said firmly(坚决地): No re-dos; no new score. I felt that it was not fair, and I believed I should have a second chance. So I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, I sat in the headmaster's office again, but this time a completely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the terrible moment at the beginning of the year when the headmaster told me I was good enough to skip(跳过) the 6th grade and started the 7th grade next term.

    Last year, I went to a summer camp in the United States with my classmates. It was my first time to go abroad.

    I lived with a host family in Los Angeles for five days. My host family was friendly and gave me lots of advice. For example, they said I should say "excuse me" if I have to interrupt (打断) someone or ask for directions.

    I also took some classes. They were different from the classes I had had back home. In the US, each class is like a seminar. Students join groups, speaking freely and creating a cheerful atmosphere (氛围). I had to work hard to learn more vocabularies, so I could better communicate with my international classmates. I used to pay little attention to my word usage (使用), but now I pay more attention.

    During my visit, I also went to some famous universities in Boston, New York and Washington, D. C. We learned about the history behind the universities. At MIT (麻省理工学院), we saw lots of names on a wall in the hall. The tour guide told us they were the names of students who had lost their lives during wars. I was inspired (鼓舞) by the fact that they fought for their country.

On a Friday night, a poor young violinist was playing his violin at the entrance of the subway station. He played such great music that people slowed down to l{#blank#}1{#/blank#} and put some money into his hat. 

The next day, the violinist came to the entrance again. He put down his hat as usual. Beside the hat was a piece of paper with some w{#blank#}2{#/blank#} on it. It said, "A George Sang has put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Welcome to claim (认领) it. " Soon the people were all attracted by the words and wondered w{#blank#}3{#/blank#} it could be. After a while a man rushed through the crowd, took the violinist's shoulders and said, "I knew you would certainly come here. " The violinist asked, "Did you l{#blank#}4{#/blank#} anything?" "Lottery (彩票). " The violinist took out a lottery ticket with Sang's name on it. Sang took it and danced happily. 

Sang was an office worker. He bought the lottery and w{#blank#}5{#/blank#} a prize of ＄500, 000. But when he gave ＄50 to the violinist for his wonderful music, the lottery ticket was thrown in, too. The violinist was a college student. That morning, he was going to fly to Vienna for high-education. However, when he f{#blank#}6{#/blank#} the ticket, he put off the flight and went back to the entrance. 

Later someone asked the violinist why he didn't take the lottery ticket to pay for his high education. He said, "Although I don't have much money, I live h{#blank#}7{#/blank#}. If I lose honesty, I won't be happy forever. "

Do you believe that we can have an important influence on anyone we meet？The right words at just the right time could1 someone's life. 

When I was 3 years old，my parents found I was2 . After asking many doctors and parents of other deaf children，they decided not to put me in a special school. Although I seemed outgoing（外向的）my self﹣esteem（自尊心）was quite low. On my first day at school，the other kids3 me because of my hearing aid and the way I talked. I was hurt deeply and I saw myself as a（n）4 kid. 

Mrs. Green，my5 ，changed all of that with a simple three﹣word phrase. One morning，she asked the class a question. Sitting at my desk silently，I6 her tips（哦唇） and raised my hand right away. She called on me in front of the blackboard. I took a deep breath and7 answered Mrs. Green's question. 

I will8 forget what happened next. Mrs. Green pointed directly at me. With sparkling（闪光的）eye sand a big smile she cried： "That's right，Ben!"

For the first time in my young life，my confidence rose. At that moment，I decided that no matter how many9 I may face，I can overcome（克服）them. Thanks to those three10 words，my whole life changed from that moment. 

David was a bit too fat. He went to buy an exercise machine. He tried to 1 some weight(减肥).

At first, he put it in the basement (地下室).2 he did not use it often. He hardly (几乎不) went into the basement.

Next, he moved it into his 3 . But he still didn't use it very often. That's because he would only go into the bedroom when it was time for him to go to 4 . Finally, he moved it 5 the living room. He put the machine next to the 6 . His wife thought maybe this would finally work. He could exercise and 7 outside at the beautiful garden at the same time.

After about a week, his wife 8 David how his exercise was going. He said," Well, yes, I do 9 exercise these days. Every time I want to10 the window, I have to walk around the exercise machine."