E

    Dick was 7 years old，and his sister，{#blank#}1{#/blank#}．One day their mother took them to their aunt's house to play．

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}，and then their aunt t ook Dick into the kitchen．She gave him a nice cake and a knife and said to him："{#blank#}3{#/blank#}．Cut this cake in half and give one of the pieces to your sister，but remember to do it like a gentleman (绅士)．"

    "Like a gentleman?" Dick asked．"{#blank#}4{#/blank#}?"

    "They always give the bigger piece to the other person，" answered his aunt．

"Oh，" said Dick． {#blank#}5{#/blank#}．Then he took the cake to his sister and said to her："Cut this cake in half，Catherine．"

    A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, "I am blind. Please help me."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(认出) his footsteps and asked, "Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

    Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    My name is Robbie. I was born on a farm with my brothers and sisters. One day, a man and two little boys came to the farm.

    "Which dog do you want?" the man asked.

    "We want that one!" the boys said. They chose me!

    They drove me to my new home in the city. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Then one day, they got a computer. After that, the boys played computer games all the time. They did not play with me or feed me anymore.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} He told the staff that his boys loved their computer more than me. The centre gave me lots of food and took good care of me. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    "Do you want to come home with me?" she asked.

    "Woof!" I said. She smiled and took me home.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I know I will live here happily for the rest of my life.

    An 11-year-old blind girl is proud of walking alone every day to and from school. Why? She has to walk past so many barriers (障碍物) in her way. The girl's home is near the school, yet her mother follows her without letting her know.

    The case of the girl shows the barrier-free facilities (设施) are not enough in her city. Many other cities are short of barrier-free facilities as well. There's no well-designed path for the blind. In fact, in the early 2000s, some cities started to build barrier-free facilities for disabled people. However, almost 20 years later, only a few large cities have had facilities of high quality.

    It's common that sidewalks are taken up with barriers. Few workers are sent to move them away, so it's dangerous for the blind to walk on them. Also, some other barrier-free facilities are badly destroyed（毁坏）. Only a few workers are assigned (分配) to do the task of repairing the broken ones.

    Some ideas can make a difference-build more barrier-free facilities and employ more of them require money. In a word, more money is needed to carry on with the work. It's our duty to make life easy for disabled people, so that they can live without barriers some day.

    When I was a child, my parents always told me that I never talk to strangers. This was part of a whole list of things I should never do: Never accept food or candy from strangers, never get in car with strangers, and so on.

    But if we didn't start conversation with strangers, we'd never make new friends. We would never get a job. ①We may miss the joy that comes from talking with strangers. And the more people you know, the more chances you can find.

    The following passage offers you some advice on how to ②break the ice.

    Don't just stare at your shoes. Go and say "Hi" to that new guy. It will be easier to break the ice if you know more about different cultures.

    British: Beautiful day, isn't it?

    The weather in Britain is changeable. So, it's one of the topics the British care most about. And there's a simple rule: Say "Yes" whether you agree with the person's idea on the weather or not. ③That's because the British start a conversation using the weather so that they can continue their talk.

    French: Where did you go on holiday?

    To talk with a French person, the safest way is to ask about his or her last holiday. French students enjoy a 10-to-15-dayholiday every two months. French employees(雇员 )get more than six weeks of holidays per year.

    American: So, where are you from?

    The US is so big and people move so often that location is always source(来源) of talk. You can try to find connection with the place they're from. For example, if someone is from Los Angeles, you could say, "Oh. I have friend who studied there."