Bert Manson, 82, slowly opened his eyes and turned to face the clock on the bedside table. It was 8:23 a.m. He felt 1. The time was nothing to him. He had nothing to do all day. He lay on the bed, 2 to the cars on the highway and the shouts of the children running to school.

After a while, Bert3 got out of bed and asked himself the same questions as he did every morning: Would he fall today? If so, would anyone come? How long would he 4? Would he die? He looked out of the window into the street below. “And who would 5?”he spoke quietly.

After Bert's wife died a year ago, his son and daughter said they would visit once a week. But the last time was months ago. On the phone, they always had a(n) 6: too busy at work; the children are 7; bad weather; no time. Nobody seemed to have any time…except for Bert. He8 his granddaughters. He loved it when Mandy and Ruth came to visit. They brought him candy and 9.

He walked toa chair near the bedroom door 10. He rested for a moment before continuing in small steps to the bathroom.

Black or White

    When I was in elementary school, I got into an argument with a boy in my class. The teacher  1 to teach us a very important lesson.

    She brought us up to the front of the 2 and placed him on one side of her desk and 3 on the other. In the middle of her desk was a large, round object. I could 4 see that it was black. She asked the boy what color the object was. "White," he 5.

    I couldn't 6 he said the object was white, when it was clearly black! Another

    7 started between my classmate and me, this time about the 8 of the object.

    The teacher told me to go 9 where the boy was standing 10 told him to come stand where I had been. We changed 11, and now she asked me what the color of the object was. I 12 answer, "White."

    It was an object with two 13 colored sides, and from his viewpoint (视角) it was white. Only from my 14 it was black.

    I have never  15 the lesson I learned that day. Sometimes we need to look at the problem from the other person's viewpoint in order to truly understand his / her view.

    An old friend from the US whom I was looking forward to staying with telephoned from the airport to tell me that he had arrived. I was still at the 1  at that time, but I had got everything ready for his arrival. After letting him know where my house was, I told him that I had left the  2under the doormat(门垫),  3  I was likely to be home rather late. I told him to go into the 4 and help himself to food and drink. Two hours later my friend 5 me from the house. At the moment, he said, he was listening to some of my records after having just had a truly wonderful 6 . He had found a cooker and  7  two eggs and he helped himself to some cold chicken from the ice box. He said he was drinking a glass of orange juice and he hoped I would 8him. When I asked him if he had reached the house without difficulty, he answered, "I was not able to find the key,  9 luckily, the living-room windows Just by the apple tree were left open and you know what I could do." I listened to all this in 10 . In front of my living-room there was no apple tree at all.

No one was sitting on the park bench. I went over and sat down, sighing. I felt my life was hopeless because my whole world was 1 . Just then, a young boy walked up to me, out of breath. He stood right before me and said with great 2 , "Look what I found! "He had a flower in his hand. 3 the petals were all dry. I told 4 to go away politely, and faked (假装) a small smile. But he shook his 5 . He sat down next to me and put the flower to his 6 . He said, "It smells pretty and it's beautiful, too. That's why I 7 it. It's for you. "The flower before me was dying. I knew I must 8 it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, "Just what I need." Just then, for the 9 time I noticed that boy could see 10 . He was blind. 

Tears came down my face as I 11 him for picking the best one. "You're welcome," he smiled, and then 12 . I sat there and wondered how he was able to know I was 13 . Through the eyes of a blind boy, I found it was me who can't see the beautiful world, 14 I was blind in my heart. Then I decided to see the beauty in life, and 15 every second of my life.

Stephen Hawking was probably the world's most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He was an expert on black holes. He put his whole life into digging into the beginning and the end of the universe.

"My goal is simple," Hawking once said. "It is to completely understand the universe, why it is as it is and why it is there at Hawking received many awards and prizes for his work over the years. This includes winning the Albert Einstein Award. It is the highest achievement in theoretical physics (理论物理)• But Hawking is achitvements are even greater if you think of his disability.

Hawking had a bad illness that stopped him from moving or talking. Later he got a wheelchair with a computer by his side. He moved two fingers to control the computer's mouse. He chose his words from the screen, which were then spoken by a voice synthesizer (合成器). This helped him communicate better.

"I have had the disease for most of my life, and I even have had no way to communicate except by simple eye movements since 2011?^" Hawking once said. "Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work."

Hawking tried to make science more popular with people. In 1988 he wrote A Brief History of Time, sharing his understanding of the universe with other people. The book was a best-seller for a long time. So far, it has sold more than 10 million copies around the world. Hawking also wrote a children's book— Unlocking the Universe with his daughter. He said the book would be "a bit like Harry Potter" but without the magic.

Hawking liked pop culture. He sang in rock songs. He even played roles in popular TV plays including StarTrek{ 1992), The Simpsons(1999) and The Big Bang Theory(2012). He played himself in all these shows and was proud of making the audience laugh.

One day Mr. Smith went to a dinner party. He was wearing old clothes. He came into the room, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} people in the room didn't look at him. They didn't ask him to sit{#blank#}2{#/blank#} the table. He wasn't happy. But he said{#blank#}3{#/blank#} （something）. 

Mr. Smith went home and put{#blank#}4{#/blank#}his best clothes. He went back to the party. All the guests in the room{#blank#}5{#/blank#}（stand） up and looked at him. They gave him good food to eat. Mr. Smith took {#blank#}6{#/blank#}his coat, and put it on the food and said, "Eat, coat！"

The other people were{#blank#}7{#/blank#}（surprise） and asked, "What are you doing? Why do you do that? "

Mr. Smith answered, "I am asking my coat to eat food. When I {#blank#}8{#/blank#}（wear） old clothes, the man standing at the door didn't let me in until I showed him my{#blank#}9{#/blank#}（invite）. When I came in, you didn't ask me to sit down. Now I am wearing these nice clothes and you give me good food to eat. Now I see, you give the food to my coat, not to{#blank#}10{#/blank#}（I）. "