Tom is a junior high student. He is good at some subjects but his favourite subject is chemistry. Yesterday he met some trouble when he had his chemistry class.

    At that moment, Tom was doing an experiment in class. He tried twenty times, but he couldn't succeed. So he decided to stop doing the experiment. He felt really unhappy.

    His teacher came up to him and asked why he was unhappy. Tom said, "All my work is in vain (白费力气). I fail twenty times and I get nothing."

    Tom's teacher touched Tom's head with a smile. He said to Tom, "Oh, you do a lot and you can get a lot from the mistakes. At least, you know that there are twenty ways you can't use to do this experiment."

    After hearing the teacher's words, Tom became excited. He kept doing the experiment, improved his methods, and he succeeded at last.

    It is autumn, and the Indians ask their new chief (首领) what the weather is going to be like this winter. The chief looks at the sky and says it's usually cold, and he tells the villagers to collect wood for the winter. As a good chief, he goes to call the weatherman and asks, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

    "It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold," the weatherman answers.

    So the chief goes back to his people and tells them to collect more food. A week later he calls the weatherman again.

    "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

    "Yes," the weatherman answers again. "It's going to be a very cold winter."

    The chief again goes back to his people and tells them to collect every piece of wood they can find. Two weeks later he calls the weatherman again.

    "Are you sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

    "Yes," the weatherman answers again. "It's going to be very very cold."

    "Why are you so sure?" asks the chief.

    The weatherman answers, "Because the Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"

    I arrived in the UK last weekend to learn English. So far I have already made a few friends and had some traditional English food there. But after having three days of hamburgers, sandwiches and potatoes, I thought none could be more delicious than Chinese food , especially my favorite—huo guo. You can't imagine how excited I was when I got to know that there was going to be a free meal of hotpot to welcome the new students. On the way to the canteen, I seemed to smell huo guo in the air.

    To my surprise, when I went into the room I didn't see any of huo guo. Where was it? With many questions in my mind, I sat down to have the free meal. After talking with an English girl, I got to know that Chinese huo guo is completely different from hotpot. Chinese huo guo is written in two words—hot pot, and hotpot, one word, is a traditional English dish.

    Hotpot is made from mutton and onion. On the top are pieces of potatoes. People put it in the oven all day in a heavy pot on a low heat. It takes very little effort to prepare. You can often see it at parties in the UK because it's easy to prepare for a large number of people and is not expensive.

    Hotpot doesn't taste bad. However, I still miss huo guo—hot pot, two words!

    Mr. Knott [not] is a teacher. He teaches in a big school in London. Because he lives a long way from the school, he is usually quite tired（疲惫的） when he get home. At nine o'clock one evening when he is in bed, the telephone rings（铃响）, so he answers the phone, " Hello! Who's that?"

    "Watt [what]." a man says.

    "What's your name, please?" says Mr. Knott.

    "Watt's my name," the man answers.

    "Yes, I asked you that what is your name." Mr. Knott asks.

    "I told you. Watt's my name." says the man. "Are you Jack Smith?"

    "No, I'm Knott," says Mr. Knott.

    "But what's your name?" the man says.

    Mr. Knott and Mr. Watt put their telephone down and think, "What a foolish（愚蠢的）man!"

    I was doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in a toy store. A nicely dressed little girl was 1 the teddy bears beside her father 2 she saw a little boy walk in and stop in front of the Pokemon toys. His jacket was obviously too small. He had money in his hand. However, it looked no more than five dollars at most. He was with his father, and kept picking up the Pokemon video games. Each time he showed 3 to his father, his father shook his head, "No".

    Rather disappointed, the boy gave up the video games and chose a book of stickers 4. After they walked away, the little girl ran over to the Pokemon video games. She excitedly picked up one 5 on top of the others, and ran toward the check-out. I picked up my purchases（购买物）and 6 the girl and her father.

    Then, much to the little girl's satisfactory（满意）, the little boy and his father got in line 7 her and me. After the video was paid for and bagged, the little girl handed it back to the cashier（收银员）and said something to her in a low voice. The cashier smiled and put the 8 under the counter（柜台）. I was putting things in my bag when the little boy came up to the cashier. The cashier said, "Congratulations, you're my hundredth customer today, and you win a prize!" and she handed the boy the Pokemon game. The boy could hardly believe his ears. It was, he said, 9 what he had wanted! The little girl and her father had been standing at the doorway, and I saw the biggest and prettiest smile on that little girl I have seen in my life.

    I suddenly understood that the world is not 10 into the strong who care and the weak who are cared for. We must each in turn care and be cared.

Sandy is a 13-year-old girl. She lived in a small {#blank#}1{#/blank#} village with her grandparents three years ago. Her past life was busy but interesting. There was a big {#blank#}2{#/blank#} garden with many fruit trees and vegetables. Her grandparents went there to work. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} In front of the village there was a clear lake with many fish.

In the morning, Sandy usually{#blank#}4{#/blank#} got up at half past six, and then she had a bottle of milk and some bread for {#blank#}5{#/blank#} breakfast. School started at ten to eight, so she went to school at seven thirty. She walked to school with her friends, After four classes, she {#blank#}6{#/blank#} had lunch at twelve o'clock. In the afternoon, school {#blank#}7{#/blank#} finished at four o'clock. Sandy played basketball in the playground for an hour, At five o'clock, she went home. The she helped her grandmother feed (喂养)chickens and pigs, From nine o'clock to nine thirty, Sandy read books. Then she went to bed early. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} At weekends, she enjoyed going fishing by {#blank#}9{#/blank#} lake or {#blank#}10{#/blank#} going for a walk in the garden,

Now Sandy lives in the city, but she loves the life in the village.