A

    The most popular food in America was invented because a cook got angry. George Crum was a cook at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. One day in 1853, a customer(顾客) who had ordered fried(油炸的) potatoes sent them back to the kitchen. He wanted the cook to slice(切) them thinner and fry them longer. George Crum had a bad temper(脾气), and he thought the potatoes were fine the way he made them. To teach the customer a lesson, he sliced potatoes very thin and fried them until they were crispy(脆的). But instead of being angry, the customer loved the new fried potatoes. He asked for more. Other people who tried them like them too, and customers kept asking for them. Far many years, people called them Saratoga chips after the town where they were first made.

    Even now, after more than 150 years, potato chips are very popular. At least one of every ten potatoes grown in the United States is made into potato chips. So if you like potato chips, be glad George Crum had a bad temper!

    It is school time again, a new start of a new period.

    You are, probably feeling excited and a little sad that summer is over. Some kids feel nervous or a little scared on the first day of school because of the new things, new teachers, and maybe even a new school. Luckily, these new worries only stay for a little while.

    On your first day, most teachers start the school year by introducing themselves and talking about all the things you'll do that year. Maybe you'll have a chance to tell something about yourselves to the others of the class. The most important thing for you is to learn new rules and follow them. After all, rules can make the school life better. Besides, the most exciting thing for you is to meet new friends in a new place. The first day of school doesn't sound bad, but there is some advice for you to make you a better person, such as developing good learning habits, making a good plan and taking your new schoolwork seriously. The last but not the least is to have fun in your new school.

    As the saying goes: Good beginning is half done.

Hi! My name is Bart Simpson and I'm ten years old. I live in a1 with my parents. It's far from the city (城市) center and there are not many people living here.

Every day, I get up early in the morning.2 a quick breakfast, I walk to school. Classes start (开始) at 8:00 and3 at 3:30. 

When I get home in the afternoon, I take a shower first. Then I do my homework and have dinner. After that, I meet friends. I have some good friends but Mike is my4 friend. We always have fun. Mike has a black bike and I have a blue one. We like 5 them everywhere. At ten o'clock, I go to bed.

As I repeated my shopping list in my broken Italian, the grocery (杂货店) worker in front of me couldn't help 1 . Was he getting mad?

We had just 2 to Italy, and I was trying to learn Italian. We had lived here for a short time years earlier, so I had 3 learned some words. But this time I wanted to 4 the language well. I even put notes on things in the house, labeling (标签) everything in 5 .

We kept a grocery-shopping list on the kitchen wall, and added things on 6 we made a trip to the store. I encouraged my husband to write things down in Italian, so I would get used to reading the list and speaking to the 7 in Italian.

One day we decided to hold a housewarming party because we hadn't met our Italian friends for long. At the party, they all seemed interested in my efforts to learn 8 language when they noticed the Italian labels and my Italian grocery list. I spoke to them in my broken Italian and was 9 that I was already able to understand and join in simple conversations.

The next day, I went to the grocery store 10 with the shopping list. Once there, I managed to 11 most things on the list and find them on my own. But there were some things on the 12 I just didn't understand. So, I found a worker and talked to him in Italian, reading out the 13 things on the list. That's when he started laughing. Quickly, he asked to see the list. "Perhaps someone has 14 on you," he said in English. "Things like ‘husband' on the list can't be found in any store."

Then I realized that while hanging around the kitchen, our friends at the party also "15 " my shopping list.

Last year, we took a trip to New York City. When we 1 our hotel, it was around 1 a.m. My son Joseph looked out at the lights of Times Square and said he wanted to go 2 . I told him it was too 3 to go out, but he kept looking out of the window and said, "Just for two minutes." 

My wife and I just looked at each other, 4 and said "Two minutes". We got 5 and walked to the center of Times Square. When we got there, my son pointed at the lights and said "Dad, look!" and then started to fall asleep.

It took us 20 minutes to 6 the 20 seconds we spent outside, but it made our son happy and that meant a lot to us. That night, I learned a lesson about 7 . We sometimes can have happy moments (时刻) in our lives, 8 we often find an excuse to do something else. 

Because of my son, I learned that I am the 9 enemy (敌人) to my own happiness. Happiness is a door that is always 10 . However, we are the ones who have to decide if we are going to walk through the door.

Once there was a large stone in a family's vegetable garden. People would often trip(绊倒) over it and get hurt. The son asked, "Dad, why don't we dig out that annoying 1 ?" The father weplied, "That stone you mentioned? It has been there since your grandfather-s time. It's so2 I don't know how long it will take to dig it out. Instead of filgging it out for no reason, it's better to be careful while a walking and it can also train you to 3 better."

A few years 4 , the son got married and became a father. One day, his 5 said angrily, "Dad,I really don't  like that big stone int he vesergale garden. Let's ask someone to move it away someday." The father replied, "Forget it! That big stone is very heavy. 6 it could be moved, it would have been moved when I was a child."

 The daughtes felt very 7 . That big stone had caused her to fall many times. She 8 the matter and wanted to make a change. One morning, shě took a hoe(锄头) and a bucket(桶) of water. She poured water around the stone and waited for about 10 minutes. To her surprise, she used the hoe to loosen (松动) the soil. She thought it might take all day to dig it out.

 Unexpectedly, it took only a few minutes to dig up the stone. Looking at its 9 , this stone was not as big as they thought. They man all been tricked by how big it looked.

 What 10 us from discovering and creating new things are the psychological obstacles(心理障碍) and stubborn  stones(顽石) ineur minds.