Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humour. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.

    One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes in the town and told him that he'd better not go there. Mark Twain waved (摇动) his hand and said, “It doesn't matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don't think they will come to visit me.”

    After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I'm very sorry, Mr Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him.

    Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, “The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn't come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.

    But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.

    With more and more cars on the road, traffic jams are inevitable(不可避免的）. Traffic jams can lead to increased accidents as there are more cars. It's impossible to avoid traffic jams altogether.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Check for traffic jams before you leave.

    You can listen to the radio for traffic news, or check on the Internet to get up-to-minute information on traffic. If the route you want to take is heavy with traffic, you can choose another.

    Look for a different route all the time.

    Most traffic jams happen on busy roads.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Although the distance you may have to travel is further, it can work out quicker.

    Set your car radio to receive traffic bulletins.

    Many new car stereo systems (汽车音响系统) are equipped with a radio system by which you can hear the traffic channel.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Most traffic jams usually occur during rush hour, so try to avoid this time period if possible. Some jobs offer flexible working hours so that you can travel to work outside of rush hour. Some jobs even allow you to work at home so as to avoid moving altogether. Ask your manager to see what you can do if traffic is a problem for you.

    Use public transport alternatives where available.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Not only will you avoid traffic jams but you will most likely be saving money as the cost of motoring rises.

A. Try traveling at different time.

B. What should we do to prevent traffic accidents?

C. The easiest way to avoid traffic jams is to take buses or the underground instead of driving your own car.

D. Public transport is so important in our life that we should use it at any time.

E. This way you can get the latest traffic information and change your journey if necessary.

F. Using country roads could let you avoid a lot of traffic.

G. There are some tips you can follow to reduce the amount of time on the road.

    My 10-year-old Donna said, “Mom, I made a new friend at school today. Can she come over tomorrow?” Donna was a shy girl and I wanted her to make some friends to bring her out of her shell.

    “Sure, honey, that sounds great.” I said, thinking back to my own best friend, Lillian. We lived across the street from each other in Washington Heights, New York. We met at the age of 10, too. Like my daughter, I was shy, but Lillian drew me out. She was one of the friendliest people in school, with shiny black hair and a mile-wide smile.

    In senior high school, Lillian went on a trip to Florida. This was the first time we had to be away from each other for a few days. “I'll be back soon.” she told me. But three days later, Lillian's sister told me that she had fallen into a river and hadn't come out any more. Soon, my family moved to New Jersey. Whenever I thought of her, tears came into my eyes.

    The next day Donna brought her new friend home. “Hi, Mrs. Loggia.” the little girl said. Her hair was so shiny and black and she shot me a big smile. “My name is Laura.”

    My daughter's new friend was so much like Lillian. I was still puzzled (迷惑) when Laura's mom came to pick her up later that afternoon. I opened the door to let her in. “Judy!” she cried. “It's me, Lillian's sister, from Washington Heights.” Yes, my daughter's friend looked familiar. She was Lillian's niece.

    When I was a kid in the 1960s, my parents had a country store in the small town of Frankfort, Maine. No neighboring houses could be seen From our place， and new salesmen were always amazed at the amount of business we did. Dad's motto was, “We sell everything.” If he didn't have something in store, he would pick it up for customers on his weekly trip to Bangor.

    One time Dad was in Bangor getting shoes for someone at a shoe factory, He saw big boxes full of shoes and asked about them. They were the mates(一双鞋中的一只) to faulty shoes that had been thrown away. He looked through the boxes and realized that there were usable brand-new shoes in there. He offered the manager five cents a shoe, Dad made the deal and got the manager to reserve any future boxes for him.

    Of course Mon, his business partner, was more practical, and her first reaction was, “But what are you going to do with them?” Dad bought an old school bus. He cleaned it up, removed the seats and placed big containers down both sites of the aisle(通道). When all was ready, the whole Family helped to put the shoes in place. At first， it looked like we had plenty of room on the bus, but Dad kept bringing home more boxes.

    There was no sign on the Shoe Bus. 'The only advertising Dad did was to place a piece of paper beside the store exit that read “Shoes $1 a pair. "When folks asked about the deal. They learned it wasn't that easy because they had to find their own pairs. The attraction was a combination of getting a good deal on a quality pair of shoes and the thrill of the hunt.

    To this day I still run into people who talk about the fun they had searching for pairs in Dad's Shoe Bus.

    The annual World Economic Forum took place in Davos, Switzerland, in Jan. 23-26, 2018. What did Chinese entrepreneurs （企业家）speak in the forum? Are there some quotable quotes for you?

    Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group

    "I think globalization cannot be stopped — no one can stop globalization, no one can stop trade. If trade stops, the world stops. Trade is the way to dissolve (结束) the war not cause the war," said Ma in Davos, "Google, Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba — we are the luckiest companies of this century. But we have the responsibility to have a good heart, and do something good."

    Richard Liu, founder and chief executive officer of JD

    "Business is not only a way to make money but also a way to contribute yourself, to help people," Liu said in a speech in Davos. "How can we face the fractured (分化的) world? That's the topics of the Davos this year. I think a very important thing in business is cooperation. If we can unite, work together, if we work very closely, I think we can bring more hope to the people and we can build more trust between the people, countries and companies and partners," he said.

    Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip

    "Tourism is a sunrise industry. Since I entered Ctrip, every year there are new comers, which, first of all, shows that tourism is booming." Sun told Sina.com in Davos. "We invested heavily in ABC. A refers to AI, B is big data, and C is cloud computing. As we continue to expand overseas, these three will be very good weapons for us. So we think those mean opportunity," she said.

    Hu Xiaoming, president of Aliyun

    "In 2018, people will see the development in various countries more closely connected with cloud computing. More manufacturing enterprises and financial institutions will start to use ‘cloud', and cloud computing will increase the efficiency of technology and finance," Hu told Xinhua in Davos.