Mary is a girl. She is a middle school student. She is thirteen. She is in Class Three, Grade Two.

    There is a big picture in Mary's bedroom. It's the picture of the family. Mary's mother is a teacher of Chinese. She is a very good teacher. Mary's father is a worker. There is a big red flower on his black coat. He is at work from Tuesday to Sunday. Mary's brother is near her mother. He is a middle school student, too. He is fourteen. He is in Grade Three.

    Mary and her brother like books. They like school. They study hard. They are good students.

    My best friends are John and Ann. We do many things together(--起).

    John lives near my house. He's fifteen years old and he's tall and slim，with blonde hair and blue eyes. He's a little bit shy but very clever. He's very good at math and he helps me with my homework.  He usually wears a T-shirt and jeans. We also play basketball at a nearby park together and sometimes we play video games at my house.

    The other friend is Ann. She's short and strong, with straight brown hair and brown eyes. She likes wearing T-shirts and a baseball cap. She never stops talking. She says she would like to be a boy. We all have kung fu lessons every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. We love it. Ann is really good at kung fu. We call her the "Kung Fu Kid". She often plays basketball with us, too. We often have great fun together.

Most of us think the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}In fact, an Italian named Antonio Meucci was officially recognized (认定) as the inventor a few years ago. Who is Meucci and why wasn't he known for his invention at the time?

Antonio Meucci was born in Italy in 1808. He studied engineering and drawing. During his studies Meucci started to experiment with electricity. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When two places were connected with wire, people in those places could hear each other talk.

In 1850, Meucci and his wife, Ester, moved to New York. Meucci was worried about his wife because she had become very ill. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} To solve this problem,he connected metal cables between his home and his workshop. This way, they could talk to each other conveniently.

Meucci invited a group of people to see his new invention. They listened in amazement as the voice of a singer was heard through the wires. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Even worse, Meucci never applied for a patent(专利) on his invention. Meanwhile，Alexander Graham Bell was working on the same idea and in 1876 the patent for the telephone was given to him. In 2002, more than a century after Meucci's death, his work was finally recognized by the government.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

Amy was a sweet little girl，but she often wasted time preparing instead of acting. In the village，Mr. Smith owned a store that sold {#blank#}1{#/blank#}fruits，including seasonal berries. One morning，he told Amy，I saw some blackberries on Mr. Green's {#blank#}2{#/blank#} today. He said anyone could have them. I will {#blank#}3{#/blank#}you 13 cents per kilogram for all you pick for me. "

Amy was excited about the idea of earning {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to help her mom. She ran home to get a basket {#blank#}5{#/blank#}，thinking about how much money she would earn if she picked 5 kilograms. After finding out that she would earn 65 cents，she {#blank#}6{#/blank#}to dream bigger. She imagined{#blank#}7{#/blank#} she would do with a dollar and fifty﹣six cents if she picked a dozen kilograms. It took her a while to dream bigger. Then，it was almost lunchtime，so she didn't leave home{#blank#}8{#/blank#} the afternoon. 

As soon as lunch was over，she took her basket and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} to the farm. Some boys were there before lunch and picked all the blackberries. She could not find half a kilogram to fill her basket. Then she thought {#blank#}10{#/blank#} her teacher's advice："Do your task at once；then think about it. One doer is worth 100 dreamers. "

 We often say," A friend in need is a friend indeed." Here is a good example. Once there were two good1 — Tom and Jack. One day, Tom wanted to borrow some 2 to build a factory. He went to the bank and the clerk said he should first3 a warrantor(担保人). Tom told Jack about it and Jack s a id he would like to help him. Unluckily, Tom did4 in his business. Finally, he had to close t h e5 and left his city without telling anyone. When the bank couldn't find Tom, they wanted Jack to pay off(还清) the money for Tam. Jack felt very 6 because he didn't earn much. So Jack 7 his house and moved to live with his parents. But he know Tom would return one day.

 Ten years later, Tom returned from Canada. He began to8 when he saw Jack. Tom said with tears in his 9 that he would give the money back to Jack, but Jack didn't accept.

"I have my own house now. I know you were in 10 trouble at that time. As good friends, we should help each other. Is it right?"