The Man of Many Secrets

    Harry Houdini was one of the greatest American entertainers(表演者·演艺人员) in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes－from prison cells(囚室), from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.

    Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had ability to move his toes as well as to move his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.

Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in a New York club. They called themselves the Houdini brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant, but for a long time they were not successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspaperman to watch. It was the publicity(名声) that came from this that started Harry Houdini's success.

    Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs(手铐) and toes trained to escape from ankle chains（脚镣）, but his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck－and a small skeleton key（万能钥匙）, which is a key that fits many locks passed quickly from her mouth to his.

    Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local jail of every town he visited. In the afternoon the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? Worldwide fame, and a name remembered today.

C

    My name is Rose. I usually get up at six ten in the morning. I always have my breakfast at half past six. I go to school on foot. I am never late（从不迟到）for school.

    I have many lessons in the morning. At about twelve o'clock, I have lunch at school. In the afternoon, I am not busy. After school, I do my homework first, and then I play with my friends.

    In the evening, my parents come back from work（下班）. We have dinner together. I go to bed at half past nine. But my father often works late at night.

B

    Last summer, Mac Hollan, a primary school teacher, was cycling to Alaska with two friends. On the way, his friends had to stop for a bicycle repair, but they encouraged Mac to ride on, and they would catch up with him soon.

    Mac began to cycle alone. A few minutes later, Mac heard quick and loud breathing behind him. "Man, that's a big dog!" he thought. But when he looked to the side, he saw immediately that it wasn't a dog at all, but a wolf, quickly catching up with him.

    Mac's heart jumped. He searched and took out his can of bear spray（防熊喷雾）. With one hand on the bars, he fired the spray at the wolf. A bright red cloud enveloped the animal. To Mac's relief（宽慰）, it fell back, shaking its head. A minute later, however, it was again by his side. It even attacked the back of Mac's bike, tearing open his tent bag. He fired at the wolf a second time, and again, it fell back, only to quickly restart the chase（追赶）.

    Mac was riding hard now. He waved and shouted at passing cars without slowing down.

    At that moment, Paul and Becky were driving their car on their way to Alaska. They found a dog-like animal running alongside a man on a bike. As they got closer, they realized that the "dog" was a wolf. Mac heard a large car behind him. He kept waving and shouting as the wolf was catching up closer. And the car did stop in front of him at the right time.