Bert Manson, 82, slowly opened his eyes and turned to face the clock on the bedside table. It was 8:23 a.m. He felt 1. The time was nothing to him. He had nothing to do all day. He lay on the bed, 2 to the cars on the highway and the shouts of the children running to school.

After a while, Bert3 got out of bed and asked himself the same questions as he did every morning: Would he fall today? If so, would anyone come? How long would he 4? Would he die? He looked out of the window into the street below. “And who would 5?”he spoke quietly.

After Bert's wife died a year ago, his son and daughter said they would visit once a week. But the last time was months ago. On the phone, they always had a(n) 6: too busy at work; the children are 7; bad weather; no time. Nobody seemed to have any time…except for Bert. He8 his granddaughters. He loved it when Mandy and Ruth came to visit. They brought him candy and 9.

He walked toa chair near the bedroom door 10. He rested for a moment before continuing in small steps to the bathroom.

    Hello, my friends! I'm back from my vacation. I went to a 1 with my parents. We 2 two weeks there. We lived in a hotel. Our room faced (面向) the sea, so we could see the sea at 3 time of day! There was a shopping street and many restaurants around. We bought many things and enjoyed lots of seafood (海味). I 4 something special for all of you.

    The 5 in the hotel were nice. They always answered our questions 6 a smile (微笑). They were very friendly. We had many kinds of food and drinks for 7. They were 8, so I ate a lot every morning. The Happy Hour was waiting for us after we 9 from the beach! Everything was perfect (完美的). 10 I go to the beach next time, I will stay at that hotel again!

Try Something New

One day, I tried out for the school volleyball team, but I failed. It made me {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (充满) of sadness. After getting home, my mother tried to cheer me up but I still sat {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(寂静) in my room. 

In the next day, my mother invited uncle Gerry to our house. Because it was my{#blank#}3{#/blank#} （十二） birthday. The bell{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(发出铃声) and I opened the door. Uncle Gerry said "Still sad?"I guessed my mother had told him all about the{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(真相). I didn't want to say yes, but I felt better.

Later on. he gave me some advice. He said, "Tommy, I am so proud of you. You know what I do?{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(无论什么) difficulties I meet, I will find some new ways to solve them. Every year, I make a promise to try one new thing,{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(包括) a new sport, a new book or a new hobby. So perhaps you{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(推测) to try new things. It helps you grow as a better person. "

It sounded great. I decided to try new things on my way home that day. 

One day, while I was walking by a school, I saw some kids playing baseball. I thought about what my uncle had said, so I went to the kid. It took some {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (勇气), but soon I had fun playing with them. 

A year later, I became a player on our school baseball team. Now I'm still having fun playing baseball with my friends every week. In {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(整体), I found this happiness because I tried something new. 

Irwin Corey was a 1 American film actor. Ho 2 a beggar(乞丐) once and often walked in the streets of Manhattan. He wore old and 3 clothes. He was very thin and seemed to be weak, looking like a poor homeless old man.

He begged for 4 in a special way. He only asked for some change(零钱) from passing drivers, and then he gave the driver a free copy of the newspaper he bought. Each time he asked for money, he was always smiling and also told 5 to the drivers. The drivers thought him kind and humorous, so they never let him go empty- handed.

6 all the money he begged was coins, he still made lots of money at the end of the day. Irwin Corey had been begging for money for many years. However, he didn't spend 7 of the money he had asked for. Every time the money was up to a certain 8 , he donated(捐赠) it to a charity. For 17 years, he donated all his hard- earned money to the charity.

He was not short of money. He lived in a S 3.5 million big house. He was not a beggar,  9 ." On the one hand, I just want to help people in need. On the other hand, begging can make me feel not 10 , as my wife had passed away," he said.

 The police have many ways of catching criminals. One way of catching them is by fingerprinting. Fingerprinting is the study of the patterns on our fingertips. We have known that no two fingerprints are exactly the same for hundreds of years. However, it wasn't until 1910 that the first criminal in the USA was convicted(被判有罪) using fingerprint evidence(证据).

 Early on the morning of September 19,1910, Hiller's wife noticed that the light which they usually left on was off. When Hiller went to find out what was happening, he saw a stranger at the top of the stairs. The stranger had broken in and wanted to steal. Hiller and the stranger started to fight, but the stranger had a gun. He shot Hiller twice and ran away.

 Hiller's wife ran to Hiller when she heard the gunshots but found him dead. So she called the police. Soon after, the police caught Thomas Jennings, not far from the Hillers' house.

 The only problem was no one saw the criminal. However, the police had started using fingerprinting at that time. According to Hiller's wife, only several hours before Hiller's death, he had painted some wood near the kitchen window. Then the police checked the wood completely and found some fingerprints in the wet paint..

 During the trial(审判), the police proved that the fingerprints belonged to Jennings, and he was convicted of Hiller' s murder(谋杀). Since then, fingerprinting has helped in the conviction of hundreds of thousands of criminals.