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.

Peter was a robot in Sky City. There were some words1 his name card: "XT-27: The best robot". Yes, he was the best robot here. And he was the only XT-27 robot in the2 as well. Peter thought he was so3 , so he didn't want to make friends with other robots. When they asked him to play, he always said he was4 .

One day, Peter went to5 another city, Bionic City. After getting there, he found there wereXT-27 robots everywhere. Peter was very6 and he walked around the city for a long time. He7 to other XT-27 robots, telling them how happy he was to meet them there. He thought he found8 true friends there. Finally, he9 decided to live there. 

However, as time went by, Peter got10 with living in Bionic City. All the robots here11 the same—one big head and one big eye. And they always did the same thing. There was12 new every day. Peter thought of Sky City. Hundreds of robots lived there13 they were so different. He missed them and wanted to go back to Sky City. 

When Peter14 to Sky City, he was happy to meet so many different robots. He15 that it was great to make friends with them. 

I was always busy with work and travel. I didn't think I would have 1 or energy to care for a pet. But everything changed when I met Kitty.

Kitty was a homeless cat that I found on the street one 2 night. She was wet, hungry and frightened, and she looked at me as if she was begging (祈求) for 3 . So I decided to take her to my 4 .

At first, Kitty was 5 and nervous. She hid under the sofa and only came out when I offered her food and water. She didn't like to be 6 or held, and she would scratch (绕) me if I tried to pet her. I wondered if she would ever 7 me or love me.

But as time went by. Kitty started to warm up to me. She began to 8 me around the house, and sit next to me on the sofa or the bed. She would play 9 with the toys I bought her and would wait for me at the door when I came home from work.

Kitty 10 my life for the better. She made me feel more relaxed. She taught me how to be more patient and caring.

Every day，a bus driver called Cheng Lin picks up students in a far﹣away village in Chongqing. The bus driver stops1 he notices a schoolbag hanging on the door of an old house. After a moment，a boy2 outside and gets on the bus. 

The boy's parents work far from home and leave3 in the village. Though the boy is far from his parents，he is trying hard4 his study. He goes to school in the city every week. He and5 driver，Mr Cheng Lin，have a special habit. Every time the6 schoolbag is hanging outside the house，the driver knows that the boy needs a ride. 

7 Mondays，Mr Cheng pays more attention while driving，because these children usually go to school on that day. 8 warm man he is!

People call him"9 driver in Chongqing" on the Internet. One man said， "Some people10 not know that the mountain road is so difficult. A 15﹣minute bus drive would take an hour of walking. The schoolbag is their secret with love inside. "

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Julie, a college student, likes love stories. She likes to follow the story and see the happy ending of the lovers.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Amy, a 26-year-old girl, dreams to be a singer. She wants to know how other people show their talents and make their dreams come true.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Mike is a student in Grade 8. He is really a sports lover. He is a big fan of NBA star Curry. He never misses his matches.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Alan Green, a 45-year-old man, cares about world issues（问题）. He hopes to find out what's going on around the world.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}John Smith, a 60-year-old man, likes to make his friends happy. He wants to learn some great jokes. 

Kenneth Riggins and his daughter, Angelica, then 5 years old, had fallen asleep on the sofa in their house when he was woken up around 2 am by their dogs and the smell of smoke. He followed the smell to a small room next to a back bedroom. "I opened the door, and the fire came in the doorway," says Riggins, a high school teacher and single dad. After pushing the door shut, he ran to the living room and woke up Angelica, shouting at her to get out quickly. 

Angelica, who had recently attended a fire demonstration（消防演习）at her school led by Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, knew exactly what to do. "The smoke was everywhere, so I crawled（爬）under it and out of the house, just like Sparkles taught me, " Angelica says. "I was really afraid, but I moved as fast as I could." She ran straight to the home of a neighbor, who called 911. When the firefighters arrived a few minutes later, Angelica told them she hadn't seen her dad and that he might still be in the house. 

She was right. After getting out, Riggins had returned to look for a friend's 5-year-old girl who had been staying with them. "I was unable to think clearly because of all the smoke and I forgot her mom had picked her up earlier," he says. Firefighters found Riggins unconscious（失去知觉的）in the living room. As they carried him out of the front door, the back of the house blew up. It was later found out that some old electrical wiring had caused the fire. Riggings spent the next week in the hospital with some burns, but he's healthy now. "If Angelica hadn't run to our neighbours for help, I wouldn't have made it." Riggins says. 

Since the fire, Angelica and her dad have moved—to a home across the street from their old one.