Mr. and Mrs. Brown were teachers. They lived in a big 1.Last year they went to the countryside for their summer vacation. They 2 it very much because it was a quite clean place.

    One day they went for a 3 in the morning and saw an old man. He sat in the 4 sun in front of his house. Mr.Brown went to him and asked, “Do you like 5 in this quiet place?”

    The old man answered, “Yes, I 6.”

    Mr. Brown asked, “What are the 7 things about it?”

    The old man answered “Well, 8 here knows each other(互相) well. They often come to see me, and I often go to visit 9, too. Also, there are lots of children here.”

    Mr. Brown said, “That's interesting. Well, 10 are the bad things?”

    The old man thought for a short time and said, “Well, the same things.”

    Tom is a young man. He eats and sleeps a lot,1works a little. He doesn't like to learn, so he 2little. He can't do any difficult work, so he has to look 3 an easy job. One day he finds a job on a farm. When it's work time, he always says he's tired and4So he gets less money than the others.5 is coming. The workers are getting ready for the next year. Only Tom does 6. The farmer tells him to cut down trees in the forest. The young man goes there with a 7. He feels terrible in the forest and 8 about the animals. So he looks around and sings loudly. Nobody knows 9 he's singing.

    After three days, Tom hasn't cut down any trees. The farmer wants to find out how the young man is doing. He's 10 when he finds Tom sitting on the chair, cutting the tree. “Why are you sitting here to cut the tree?” asks the farmer. “Because I can't work if I am lying(躺)down, sir.”

A

    Known as “wolf (狼) girl” at her school, Alyssa Grayson has spent much of her young life teaching others to protect animals. After starting a wolf club in second grade, Alyssa learned a lot about her favorite 1. Today, she gives speeches about protecting wolves at libraries and schools. She's even spoken at a university. In fact, she's become a wolf 2.

    When she's not teaching others about wolves, Alyssa always 3 at her local animal shelter (收容所). She cleans the dogs and plays with the cats. Back at home, she makes food for the animals and collects things for the shelter. She has even 4 medical care for a shelter dog with her money. Dogs and cats aren't the only animals Alyssa works for. She's also trained as a scientist for FrogWatch USA. Alyssa shows that you're never too 5 to make a difference to animals.

Kevin sat at the desk in his study, pencil in hand. He had to write a story for his English class by Friday. "I don't know what to1," he complained to his dog, who was asleep at his feet. Kevin was talkative when speaking to his friends, yet he had2finding words he had to write.

    By bedtime Kevin had drawn a picture of his dog smiling. He had drawn a tree with its branches(树枝) blowing in a high wind. He had also written a3asking his friend to go to the movies on Saturday.4he had not written a single word of his story.

    On Wednesday, Mrs Scott, Kevin's English teacher, asked the class to5the first draft() of their stories. Kevin had to turn in the only work that he had—the page with his name, the6, and the note.

Kevin wasn't7when Mrs Scott asked him to stay after class the next day. But he was surprised by what8said to him. "Kevin, this is a fantastic story—the dog, the movie, the tree in the9. I can't wait to find out how they all fit together. I think you have the idea of a story there. Look at your note and the pictures and try to see10a story comes to you."

That night Kevin sat at his desk, and this was what he wrote: "One Saturday Tom went to meet his friend at the11. It looked as if it might rain, so Tom12his umbrella. Suddenly a big storm blew in. The noise of the wind13like Tom's dog Spotty. Spotty really hated storms and barked whenever he wanted to be let inside. Then Tom saw Spotty running after him down the busy street, barking. The sound was full of blame(责备). Tom felt14because he had left Spotty outside. He turned and headed home with Spotty. Tom let Spotty in the door just and the rain started to pour down."

    Kevin had a story after all. The last thing he did was to write his name15at the top of the page.

    In China, almost everyone knows Ma Yun. Ma Yun became one of1 men in China when his company Alibaba went on the stock（股票)market last year with a value of around £140 billion—the largest public offering in history.2 amazing thing it is! Here are some stories about him on the way to 3.

    Ma made his 4 trip to the US in 1995 and used the Internet 5 the first time. After6 for “beer”, he saw that no results7 up about China. Then he searched for “China” and still saw no results. He decided to set up a Chinese website—the seed for Alibaba was sown(播种).

    Ma said he8 many times in his life. He failed the College Entrance Examination in China three times and9 companies offered him jobs, including one at KFC. And he was refused by the famous Harvard University 10 times.

    Learning English was difficult when Ma was a teenager 10 limited resources. However, he found that he could learn English well by giving tourists free guides around 11 hometown Hangzhou. And he kept it for nine years. Ma said that tourists opened up a new world for him because everything they said and did was so different from12 he had been taught at school and by his parents.

    Ma's hero is Forrest Gump 13 never gives up. When he made a speech about his success at Davos(达沃斯论坛)in 2015,Ma said, “Life14 a box of chocolates because you never know what you are going to get.”15as Ma does, never give up and you will be successful one day.