Thomas was a good student but he didn't respect others. One day，his aunt gave him a1as a birthday gift. He went around the classroom playing his drum. When others asked him to keep 2or play somewhere else，Thomas refused.

    Thomas's classmates couldn't 3the noisy drum，so they stopped playing with him. Joe, one of his classmates，invented special earplugs (耳塞)which allowed people to hear normal sounds, but stopped the bad ones. Thomas got very4with Joe. He even had a big fight with Joe.

    A few days later，a clock was put into the classroom，just next to the desk of Thomas. The clock was making the5like “Tick tock, tick tock.” Thomas couldn't concentrate on his study at all.6 ， the others，with their special earplugs，were OK. Soon Thomas started to 7how much he had disturbed his classmates with the drum，and how silly it had been to fight with Joe. In order to change the situation，Thomas decided to say8to his classmates. What's more，he9played his drum in the classroom. Seeing Thomas's great changes，his classmates10forgave (原谅)him and decided to play with him again. From then on，Thomas changed a lot and got along well with his classmates.

    Linda and Laura were very excited because it would be their mother's birthday next Monday．Their mother loved {#blank#}1{#/blank#}and she knew a lot about them．On Thursday,the two girls pretended(假装)that they were going out to buy eggs and bread with their father．{#blank#}2{#/blank#}，they went to the plant store where their mother often went．With their father's help，they {#blank#}3{#/blank#}a plant with beautiful flowers．They were sure their mother would like {#blank#}4{#/blank#}．

    When they got home．their mother was busy in the kitchen，so they {#blank#}5{#/blank#}carried the plant to their room．They didn't know where they could put it because they wanted to give their mother a surprise on Monday．They looked around the room carefully．Finally,the two young girls had a(n){#blank#}6{#/blank#}．They put the plant in a big box and{#blank#}7{#/blank#}it to the top of the bookcase(书柜)．After it was done，they were very happy．

    However,no one{#blank#}8{#/blank#}watering the plant over the next few days．They just treated(对待)the plant{#blank#}9{#/blank#}any other gift．When their mother's birthday came，they opened the box and found a dead(枯萎的)plant with dry flowers，but it still{#blank#}10{#/blank#}their mother happy．

    Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kong, China, on April 7th, 1954. His parents left the mainland of China 1 Hong Kong a short time before he was born. His parents named him "Chan Kongsang"   , 2 means "born in Hong Kong"   . They wanted to celebrate a 3 trip to Hong Kong.

    At first, Jackie's family lived in the French Embassy(大使馆). His 4 was a cook, and his mother was a housekeeper. When Jackie was seven years old, his family moved to Australia. His father got a job in the American Embassy. Later, back in Hong Kong, Jackie's father 5him to the China Drama Academy(戏剧学院). Jackie studied and worked 19 hours a day. The students 6 kung fu and learned how to do many stunts(特技表演) there.

    When he was 17, he began to do 7 stunts for films. In the early 1980s, he went to Hollywood, but he wasn't very 8. He went on to make films in Hong Kong and had great success. Finally, in 1995, he became 9 in the USA. Today, he has 10 Chinese and American fans, and earns millions of dollars from his films.

    When I was young, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn't look like any other doctor I'd ever known. He was very nice.

    In his spare time, he was always planting trees. The good doctor had some interesting views about planting trees. He didn't often water his trees and he often beat them with a rolled-up newspaper — to wake them up and push them to grow faster.

    I didn't understand why." Watering plants too often is bad for them," Dr. Gibbs explained when I asked him one day." You have to make things hard for them. Those trees that aren't watered enough will have to grow deeper into the ground for water, and then they will be strong."

    To be honest, I didn't believe what the doctor had told me. I planted a few trees several years ago. I still tried to water my trees and take good care of them every week. I wanted to make sure that my trees would grow much better than his.

    Twenty-five years later, when I came back to my hometown to check those trees, I was shocked. Dr. Gibbs' trees were extremely tall and big. My trees, however, were very weak. Dr. Gibbs' views suddenly came back to me. Hard conditions seemed to be good for Dr. Gibbs' trees.

    I used to try to make my sons' life comfortable and easy. Since then, I changed a lot. When children are growing up, they have to face lots of difficulties like Dr. Gibbs' trees, and difficulties can lead them to be strong and brave people to face everything.

    Susan couldn't see well, and she wore big glasses. Some of her classmates made fun of (嘲笑) her big glasses.

    The 1 thing was that Lewis started calling her "Four Eyes". 2 knew her as "Four Eyes". She acted like she didn't mind, but 3, Susan didn't like the name.

    One day, the class 4 some caves (洞穴) as a school trip. Lewis and Susan fell into a deep hole (跌入深洞). They shouted for help. But it was 5 that no one came. They spent a long dark night 6.

    The next morning, Lewis went on shouting for help and he tried to look for a way out. However, he found nothing helpful after a few hours and started feeling 7. Susan used her glasses to let more light (光亮) show in the hole. Lewis felt better. In the end, they got out of the cave. Lewis told everyone about what 8 below the cave. And from that day, there was no "Four Eyes" in their class.