David was a middle school student. His father, Mr. Hill, was a rich farmer and he had a very big  1. They lived in a small village 2fifteen years. Later on Mr. Hill opened a shop in our town and 3a house here last month. Then his family moved to the new house and David began to 4in our class. But at first he had 5friends at school. He was always alone. His neighbor Cathy was a  6girl. She had many friends. When she found the boy

    7talked with others, she decided to 8him. She talked a lot with him and sometimes played with him. So very soon  9became good friends.

    One afternoon, Cathy said to David, "It'll be my 10birthday tomorrow. I'll have a birthday 11. Will you please come?" "Certainly, I'm glad to," the boy said  12.

    David got home and thought about 13he could give to Cathy. He was sorry that he  14 to ask the girl what she liked. At that moment Mrs. Hill came and asked, "What's the matter, dear?" "What would you like 15it was your sixteenth birthday, Mummy?" "Nothing," the woman said, "I just wish I were sixteen."

I was ten years old when my mother died. Ten years old on that very day, my mother organized a party for me at the hospital. She made sure everyone there brought me presents. 

Nurse Ms. Louise gave me a fountain pen. "Now you can write beautiful stories, Katie," She said. Then the twins in the same room gave me a pink diary. A little too cute for me. I mean, I read Stephen King, the novelist and wanted to write like him. There was one box they held out till the end. It was a large box, carefully wrapped (包裹) with exquisite paper and ribbons. "Who's it from?" I asked. 

"It's you," Mama mouthed, hard breathing, but she smiled a very small smile at me. I read her lips. She meant it was a present for me. 

"Of course, it is," I said happily. 

I took off the paper carefully. It was a beautiful box made of heavy cardboard. Then I opened it slowly and...

"It's empty," I said. "Is this a joke?" I turned to ask Mama, but she was gone, no breath. 

"Mama!" I cried. I screamed. 

I cried steadily for a week at night, and for about a year, I stopped writing and reading. I felt empty and angry. 

One night, I woke up remembering how she had said, "It's you." Not, "It's for you," just "It's you." Mama had been a writer herself. She didn't use words carelessly. But, why? 

I took the box out and opened it. It was as empty as the day I had put it away. 

 "It's you," I whispered to the box. Suddenly I knew. 

I was the box, solid and strong, maybe even beautiful on the outside. But I had to fill up the box to make it all it could be. I had to fill me up as well. 

Then ____. The first thing I put on paper was about that birthday. I kept it in the box, and pretty soon that box was overflowing with stories. And poems. And memories. 

And so was I.

One Sunday evening, it was quite dark when old Stanley went for his walk. He was walking long the sidewalk, suddenly, he saw a white car coming around the corner at high speed. It was going too fast and crashed into a red car in the street where he was walking. He rushed up to the cars to see if anyone was hurt and needed help.

The two drivers were arguing. "You came around the corner too fast, "one man said. "No!" said the driver of the white car. "That's not true! Your car was parked in a wrong place." Stanley listened to their argument and then said the white car driver was wrong to drive too fast. The driver of the red car asked Stanley to prove he was right in court(法庭). Stanley gave the driver his name and telephone number.

Next Thursday morning. Stanley was asked to go to the court. The lawyer(律师) for the driver of the white car asked him a lot of question about what he had seen. Then he asked Stanley how old he was.

"I am eighty-two," answered Stanley. "Do you usually wear glasses?" asked the lawyer.

"Yes, I do." answered Stanley. "Were you wearing them on the night of the accident(交通事故)?" the lawyer asked."No," replied Stanley.

Then the lawyer said, "Why should the court believe you? You are eighty-two years were not wearing your glasses, and it was dark. How far can you see in the dark?"

Stanley thought about it for a minute. "Well" he said, "when it's dark, I can see the Moon. How far is that?"

When the three dirty- looking pirates try to s{#blank#}1{#/blank#} the royal treasures when Queen Norah is away, the masked cleaning ladies of Om teach them a lesson. With their excellent cleaning skills, they finally lead the three pirates into the bathroom where they are s{#blank#}2{#/blank#} and soaped. Later when they are taken into the room the queen k{#blank#}3{#/blank#} all the royal treasures, they have a second try but still fail because King Harry and his man notice everything and stop them in time.

Ben and Tim are good friends. They were very active before. They played games together outdoors a lot. But now Tim is not active any more. He has some bad habits. He watches too much TV and plays too many computer games. Ben worries about him.

Ben sends his friend a poem:

You can be a couch potato and watch TV all day.

But don't do that. There is another way!

Move your body, get out and have fun.

Fresh air, a bike ride, playing in the sun!

Tim gets home from school. There is a letter at his front door. It's Ben's poem! He reads the poem and he laughs. He writes a poem back to his friend:

Your poem is funny,

But I feel really lucky.

With a true friend on my side,

My world will be open wide.

Let's meet tomorrow at six o' clock,

And we can go for a good walk.