Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835,in the state of Missouri. When he was four, his family moved to the town ofHannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a port on the Missippi River, and Clemensloved to watch the big steamboats going up and down the river. He said that allthe boys in his school had one ambition in life: to work on a steamboat!

    His father died when he was just 12 yearsold, and Clemens then went to work for a printer to help support his family. Hetravelled around, and worked in many different cities. But when he was 22, heachieved his ambition—he got a job working on a steamboat. He sailed up anddown the wide Missippi River until the American Civil War began.

    He then moved around America, and triedseveral jobs. He was a soldier, and a silver miner. Then he started working asa writer for a newspaper. It was at that time that he decided to use a pen namefor his stories, and he chose the name "Mark Twain".

    The name is interesting. It comes from hisdays on the steamboats. He used to throw a piece of rope into the river. Therewas a heavy weight on the end of the rope, and the rope had some marks on it.He used the rope to find how deep the river was. Then he shouted out, "MarkOne" or "Mark Twain", meaning "Mark Two". Each markwas about two metres, so when he shouted "Mark Twain", it meant thatthe river was deep enough for the big boat.

    In 1865 Clemens wrote a story about ajumping frog. The story and the writer became famous. In 1867 he toured Europe.He married when he returned, and lived for most of the rest of his in Harfort,Connecticut. He wrote many books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, whichhe wrote in 1876. He also gave many lectures, and became a very famous andpopular man.

    Once two of his friends decided to write tohim, but they had lost his address. So on the envelope they just wrote "MarkTwain, God knows where". Several weeks later, they received a replay fromthe writer. It just said, "He does!"

    Samuel Clemens died in 1910. He isconsidered to be one of America's most important writers.

Long long ago, there was a boy called Cao Chong. He was the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} son of Cao Cao. He was very smart.

Once, one of Cao Cao's friends {#blank#}2{#/blank#} him a big elephant. Cao Cao was very happy and thanked him. He looked at the big animal and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to his friends," What a big and heavy elephant! Can you tell {#blank#}4{#/blank#} how to weigh it?" They thought {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, but nobody could think of a good way. Just for that moment, Cao Chong was playing games with brothers. As soon as they heard this, they stopped playing. They all tried their best to come up with a way. After a while, Cao Chong thought up a great idea. He asked a man to take the elephant into a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, and then marked(标上……作为记号) a line where the water went up. After that the man took the elephant out of the boat. Cao Chong asked other persons to put some {#blank#}7{#/blank#} into the boat instead of the elephant. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the water went up to the marked line, he told them to weigh all the stones. In this way, he could know {#blank#}9{#/blank#} heavy the elephant was. All of Cao Cao's friends spoke highly of Cao Chong. They thought he would be somebody(大人物) when he {#blank#}10{#/blank#} up.

What an interesting story!

I was happy because I worked short days today in the animal hospital. The worker opened the door at 9 am. She also made everyone a cup of tea or coffee. We fed the animals. About 10 am, pet owners(宠物主人) started to arrive with their sick pets. My assistant(助手) examined(检查) them. I was busy doing the paperwork . I used about two hours to have lunch and finished all my paperwork. 

At 2 pm, I started to see new sick animals. At 5 pm, three students from a nearby school came to help out. They are very kind and warm—hearted. From 5 pm to 7 pm, I still saw sick animals. 

At 7 pm, we closed our doors. We fed and cleaned the animals. Then, we turned off the lights and went home. It was a really meaningful day. 

In ancient（古代的） China, people have three names: their family name, given name, and courtesy name（字）. For example, we know Li Bai is a famous poet（诗人）. His family name is Li, his given name is Bai, and his courtesy name is Taibai. 

People use their given names when they are with their family or friends. And grandparents and parents call kids their given name at home. But when people work, they use their courtesy names. 

Men get their courtesy names when they are 20 years old. Women get their courtesy names after they get married（结婚）. 

People's courtesy names have something to do with（与……有关）their given names. For example, Zhuge Liang（诸葛亮）'s given name is Liang. It means（意思是）"bright（明亮的）". His courtesy name is Kongming. And the meaning is"very bright". 

Lily is a little girl at school. She likes playing 1 very much. Her classmates laugh at (嘲笑) her because they think it is not for girls. 2 Lily doesn't think so. And she 3 to be a great soccer star.

Every day, after getting home from school, Lily 4 her homework first and after that she goes out to play soccer. It's 5 for her at first. She can't play it well. But she thinks it's a happy thing for her. Her parents 6 Lily's love for soccer. They think it's right to spend (花费) time on her favorite 7 .

On October 15th, there is a 8 in her school. Lily takes part in it and her classmates laugh at her again. But Lily plays so well and 9 team wins.

From Lily's story, we can 10 something useful—If you are determined (坚定的), you can make your dream (梦想) come true one day.

 One early morning, I woke up by a telephone call. It was from a taxi driver. He told me he had my {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (friend) cell phone . My friend Michael {#blank#}2{#/blank#}( leave) it in the taxi the night before. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} driver called others, but I was the first one to answer his call.

 It was {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . rainy morning. For taxi drivers in this big city, it's the best time {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(make) money. He asked me where he could drop the cell phone off. I told {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(he) the streets where I lived. Then I {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(quick) jumped out of bed and got dressed, so I could meet him at the corner

 When he arrived, I thanked him. And I was even {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (happy) than my friend. He moved to this country a few weeks ago— and I could only imagine how important his ceIl phone was to him! I asked the taxi driver for his name, so my friend could thank him. He said my {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(thank) were all that he needed. Then he drove off.

I e-mailed my friend telling him I had his phone. In the evening, he came to my home and I told him {#blank#}10{#/blank#} I got it. My friend was very excited to get back his cell phone. He said he would help others as much as possible.