Long ago there was a poor farmer called Fred. Fred and his wife Doris lived {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(happy) together in their small old house. One winter night, the Luck Fairy visited {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    “Fred, you're a good farmer. I'd like to give you a wish,” said the Luck Fairy.

    “A wish?” said Fred.

    Fred and Doris smiled {#blank#}3{#/blank#}each other. Then Fred said, “Thank you, Luck Fairy. We're very healthy and happy.”

    “You work very hard {#blank#}4{#/blank#}you make very little money. Would you like some gold coins?” asked the Luck Fairy.

    “We're poor, but we have enough food {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(eat).” replied Fred.

    “You can use the gold coin to buy {#blank#}6{#/blank#}clothes. The winter here is very cold,” said Luck Fairy.

    “{#blank#}7{#/blank#} we haven't got many clothes, we've got enough.” said Doris.

    “Well, what about {#blank#}8{#/blank#}nice new house?” asked Luck Fairy.

    “Thank you, but I love my small old house very much. I {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(live) here since I was born. We don't need a new house,” said Fred.

    “You're quite different {#blank#}10{#/blank#}others. I like you very much,” said the Luck Fairy. “I wish you happy forever.” Then the Luck Fairy disappeared and never came back.

    This morning, they left on a long trip to Hawaii. They were as {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(excite) as if it were their honeymoon(蜜月).

    When my parents married(结婚), they had only enough money for a three-day trip fifty miles from home. They made an {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(agree) that each day they would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for a honeymoon in Hawaii for their fiftieth anniversary(周年纪念).

    Dad was a policeman, and Mom was a school teacher. They lived in a small house and did all {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(they) own repairs. Raising five children was a challenge, and sometimes money was short, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} no matter what emergency came up, Dad would not let Mom take any money out of the “Hawaii account(账户)”. As {#blank#}5{#/blank#} account grew, they put it in a saving account and then bought CDs.

    My parents {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(be) always very much in love since the day they got married. I can remember Dad {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(come) home and telling Mom, “I have a dollar in my pocket,” and she would smile {#blank#}8{#/blank#}him and say, “I know how to spend it.”

    When each of us children married, Mom and Dad gave us a small metal box and told us their secret, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}we found attractive. All five of us are now saving for our dream honeymoon. Mom and Dad never told us how much money they had managed {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(save), but it must have been fairly large because when they cashed in those CDs, they had enough for the flights to Hawaii and a hotel room for ten days and plenty of spending money.

    As I write this, I'm sitting on a bus back to Santiago in Chile where I am working {#blank#}1{#/blank#} a writer. I've just spent the weekend in a city called La Serena north of Santiago. I was lucky enough to see the flowering desert, a natural scene that {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (occur) around every five years here in the Atacama Desert.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (follow) a particularly large amount of rainfall earlier, a(n) {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (vary) of flowers come into blossom. Bright purple flowers create {#blank#}5{#/blank#} unbelievably beautiful scene at the base of the surrounding mountains.

    {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (have) a look at this wonderful treasure of nature, we took a bus from La Serena to a nearby town and then rented a car to go to the desert. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} we saw did not disappoint us, and as expected it was even more fascinating than the pictures we had seen online. The bloom was particularly {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (impress) this year due to the strong presence of El Niño (a band of warm water in the Pacific Ocean that changes the temperatures and increases the rainfall in certain areas). The vast carpet of color {#blank#}9{#/blank#} spread into the distance towards the green hills was {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (simple) breathtaking and deserved a large amount of photos! A real reminder of the beauty our planet can provide.

    She looks like any other schoolgirl, fresh-faced and full of life. Sarah Thomas is looking forward to the challenge of her new A-level course. But unlike her school friends, 16-year-old Sarah is not spending half-term rest. Instead, she is earning £6500 a day as {#blank#}1{#/blank#}model in New York.

    Sarah {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(tell) that she could be Britain's new supermodel{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (earn) a million dollars in the next year. Her father Peter, 44, wants her to give up school to model full-time. But Sarah, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}has taken part in shows along with top models, wants to prove that she has brains as well as beauty. She is determined to carry on with her{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (educate).

    She has turned down several {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (invite) to star at shows in order to concentrate on her studies. After school she plans to take a year off to model full-time before going to university to get a degree {#blank#}7{#/blank#}engineering or architecture.

    Sarah says, "My dad thinks I should take the offer now. {#blank#}8{#/blank#}at the moment, school comes first. I don't want to get too {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (absorb) in modeling. It is certainly fun that the lifestyle is a little{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (real). I don't want to have nothing else to fall back on when I can't model any more."