A

    When I was a little kid, a father was like the light in the fridge. Every house had one, but no one really knew what either of them did when the door was shut.

    My dad left the house every morning and always seemed glad to see every one again at night. He opened the jar of pickles when no one else at home could. He was the only one in the house who wasn't afraid to go into the basement by himself. 

    Whenever it rained, he got into the car and brought it around to the door. When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription(处方) filled. He set mousetraps. He cut back the roses so the thorns(刺) wouldn't hurt you when you came to the front door. He oiled my roller skates, and they went faster. When I got my bike, he ran alongside me for at least a thousand miles until I got the hang of it. He signed all my report and cards. He took a lot of pictures, but was never in them. He tightened up Mother's sagging(松垂的) clothesline every week or so.

    I was afraid of everyone else's father, but not my own. 

    Whenever I played house(玩过家家), the mother doll had a lot to do. I never knew what to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, “I'm going off to work now,” and threw him under the bed.

    When I was nine years old, my father didn't get up one morning and go to work, he went to the hospital and died the next day. 

    There were a lot of people in the house who brought all kinds of good food and cakes. We had never had so much company before.   

    He never did anything; I didn't know his leaving would hurt so much.

B

    Frederic Chopin(弗兰德里克.肖邦) was born in March, 1810, near Warsaw in Poland(波兰). He was one of the greatest musicians in the world. In 1831, he went to Paris. No people but he could play the piano very well.

    At that time people in Paris liked the Hungarian(匈牙利的) pianist Franz Liszt(弗朗兹.李斯特).One night, at a concert, Liszt went to the piano and the people shouted. As all the lights in the concert were turned off, a wonderful piano concert started. The music was so good that the listeners were all greatly interested. They kept praising the pianist and thought that Liszt had reached something new in playing the piano. Suddenly, all the lights were turned on again as the music came to an end. And there stood a young man instead of the famous Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt.

    Liszt had planned all this. As the lights went out, Liszt left his chair and let Chopin take his place. So with the help of Liszt and his own talent(天赋), Chopin soon became famous.

    Sandwiches are delicious, but do you know how the first sandwich came? An English earl(伯爵)called John Montagu made it three hundred years ago. Montagu was interested in card games. He would play these games with his friends for a long time. He found it too boring to stop his games for meals.

    One day, in the middle of a game, Montagu was served a meal of sliced meat with bread. At that time, Montagu was playing the game that needed its players to cover one card over another. As Montagu looked at both the game and his food, an idea came to his mind.

    He took a piece of bread, put a piece of meat on it and covered that with another piece of bread. Then Montagu could play cards with one hand and eat his meal with another.

    Montagu's friends called the new meal sandwich because Montagu's full title was “the Earl of Sandwich”.

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    Charles Dickens was an English writer. He was born in 1812. He created some of the world's best-known characters and many readers think he is the most important writer of the Victorian era (1837-1901). Some of his famous novels are Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Great Expectations. Most people in his novels lived in London.

    In 1824, Dickens' father went to prison(监狱) because he couldn't pay money to someone. In those days, a man's wife and young children went to prison with him. Charles was 12, so he left school to work in the prison. Life was hard, and a lot of children worked in those days. Dickens' own experience helped him to write about poor children without a mother or father. Dickens' success began with the publication (出版) of The Pickwick Papers in 1836. And his book Oliver Twist is about a boy without father. Important people were more interested in the problems of poor people after reading Dickens' books.

    Dickens' novels are often very long and he wrote them in different parts for a newspaper each week. His novels have a lot of exciting and sad things in them. He wanted his readers to buy the newspaper every week. And the readers wanted to finish the story! Dickens' novels are popular because many of his stories are about social(社会的) problems and family life. Dickens was successful in writing and he has been praised by other writers for his style and characters.

    Walter Dean Myers，born on August 12，1937，was an American writer of children's books．He was known for young adult literature （文学） He wrote more than 100 books，including picture books and non﹣fiction．"I care about writing for young people because I remember how much I needed help and guidance at that time in my life，"Myers said in his book．

    Myers loved writing．He got up at five o'clock every morning．He worked at home in a small office that used to be his son's bedroom．

    Myers would first write an outline for every book．He called this prewriting．He imagined what the story would be and wrote down ideas in a notebook．To make sure there's enough action and dialogue for a good story，he thought of 30scenes．He wrote a short description of each scene in his notebook．

    He also cut out pictures of real people and put them on his office walls．He looked at those pictures and came up with ideas．Once he knew what the story would be and who the characters were，he began to write the book．He wrote five pages a day on his computer．

    Myers usually worked on three books at a time．When he was not prewriting or writing a book，he might be rewriting something he had already completed．Then he would send the story to his agent （经纪人）．He or she made suggestions for the story．After these final changes were made，the book was published and made its way to bookstores and libraries．By that time，Myers would begin to write his next book．"I want to do the best that I can with my writing．"said Myers．

    "It looks so good on you," said my friend. I was trying on a bathing suit. Then the topic of conversation turned to going on a diet(节食).

    I wanted to become pretty and thin. So I decided to stick to the diet. I didn't eat my lunch. Some people asked me where my lunch was. I lied to them and made up excuses.

    I did the same with breakfast. I tricked(欺骗) my dad into thinking that I ate my bread, but I fed it to the cat. My weight dropped fast, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I still thought I was not thin enough.

    Finally, dark circles formed under my eyes. I wore thick clothing in hot weather, but I was still cold. That didn't matter. I still needed to be thinner.

    About a month after I bought the bathing suit, I tried it on again, and it fell right off me. My mother told me to look in the mirror. I could see my eye sockets(眼窝). That was the day I realized how skinny I was.

    I went to see a doctor. My total weight loss was about twenty-five pounds in one month. It took one year for my body to start working normally again.

    Sometimes I want to go back to being thin, but I will never do what I did again. It's not worth it. Please don't go on a diet when you're young. You will regret it. Don't judge and compare yourself with others. Try to love yourself for who you are, not for what you look like.