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    O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison（监狱）. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales（故事）were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader's surprise.

    When our son Bradley was ten, the new bicycle he had received earlier that year was stolen. Owning a bicycle was a big deal to our children when they were little. They spent hours and hours, day after day, on their bicycles, riding up and down the footpath, and at the front of the house. We also rode together as a family a lot. Bicycling was a great way to get the kids out of the house and into the fresh air without spending any money.

    Bradley had discovered that his bicycle had been stolen from our backyard in Campbelltown, South Australia, when he and his sister went outside for a morning ride. He couldn't believe that someone would do this.

    He got a large piece of cardboard, painted a sign begging for the bicycle to be returned, and tied the sign to the letterbox. The following morning, when I went out to collect the mail, I found a white envelope with the magical words, "Buy yourself a new bicycle". There was a $100 banknote inside.

    We were very touched that someone had the heart to do this, We've never been able to thank the person but we suspect(猜想) that it may have been one of our wonderful neighbors. Bradley painted a big"______!"on the sign and we left it outside for a couple of weeks afterwards, hoping the kind stranger would drive down our street.

    A delighted Bradley was able to buy a new bicycle. As the years went on, the bicycles became bigger and more expensive but remained just as important for those family bicycle rides. Now Bradley is 25. Sometimes I miss the days when receiving a bicycle was the best thing in the world to them.

    All these years later we are still thankful for the stranger's kindness. We were a young family with three little children and it meant a lot to us. We still talk about it and, even now, wonder who the kind stranger was.

    The greatest saleswoman in the world today doesn't mind if you call her a girl. This is because Markita Andrews made more than $ 80,000 by selling cookies when she was 13 years old. Andrews and her mother shared a dream of travelling around the world. Once, while reading magazines, Andrews found that the person who sold the most cookies would win a free trip for two around the world. She decided to have a try.

    To make her dream come true, Andrews went door to door every day after school and repeated, "Hi, I have a dream. I'm earning a trip around the world for my mum and me by selling cookies. "Then she asked, "Would you like to buy one or two dozen boxes of cookies?"

    Andrews kept asking for a whole year, no matter how heavily it was raining or snowing outside. Her hard work paid off. She sold 42,000 boxes of cookies that year and she won her trip around the world.

    Andrews is no smarter than thousands of other people. The key to her success is that she has found the secret of selling: Ask. Ask. Ask! Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what they want.

    It takes courage to ask for what you want. And, as Andrews has discovered, the more you ask, the easier it gets.

On the day of the interview, I got up at 6:00 in the morning. I got to the interview place without having1. l was the 24th interviewee(应聘者) and the 22nd was a short ordinary- looking girl. I greeted her by2my head. I asked her where she graduated. She told me in a low3, "I graduated from a junior college， the only one without getting a bachelor' s degree(学士学位) among the 50 interviewees.

I didn't4he interview would last so long. As I didn't have breakfast, my stomach started to ache. I had to sit by the table for a5. Just at that time, the girl asked me6happened, I told her, "I didn't have breakfast this morning, so my7comes to me.

    After a while, a worker came in and8me a bottle of milk and a piece of bread. It was certain that they were bought by the girl. I felt9all over my heart because I hadn't imagined she would be so nice to help me- her rival(竞争对手).

Luckily, I got the job. The first day I went to work, I was10to see the girl there. She also got the job. Later I asked her why she got the job. She said11a smile, "That day when I bought you the12, an interviewer went to the toilet with papers in hands. He asked me13I could help him to copy those papers while he was in the toilet. I helped him. After I came back to him, he asked me why I took the food in hands. I told him the14. Then I got the job." At that moment, I came to know that when the girl helped me and the interviewer, she also helped15.

    Helping others will benefit yourself as well.

Last night，John went to a welcome party for foreign students. In the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}something funny happened. He met a Japanese boy {#blank#}2{#/blank#}was called Sato. He didn't know {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the Japanese are supposed to greet each other. As soon as he held out his hand, the boy {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. He just stood there, embarrassed, with his hand out. But finally he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the bow.

Last weekend, Katie met her French friend Marie for the first time. She did the {#blank#}6{#/blank#}as John did, holding out her hand. To her great surprise, Marie kissed her on {#blank#}7{#/blank#} sides of her face. She also felt embarrassed. Later she came to know that {#blank#}8{#/blank#}people are supposed to kiss when they meet each other.

Li Hua went to the Capital International Airport to meet Tony Garcia from Colombia and Julia Smith {#blank#}9{#/blank#} Britain. After Li met them and introduced {#blank#}10{#/blank#}to each other，Tony went {#blank#}11{#/blank#}to Julia, touched her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. She stepped{#blank#}12{#/blank#} appearing surprised and put up her hands, as if in defense(防卫)!

These actions are not good {#blank#}13{#/blank#}bad, but they are simply ways that cultures have developed. Studying international customs can certainly help avoid difficulties in today's world of cultural crossroads!