My name is Jim White. I 1 a schoolboy. My school is 2 my home. Every day, it takes me 3 to get there. The road is not 4. So I can't go to school 5. I often get there by bus or 6. It takes me thirty 7 to get there by bus and an hour on foot. I must get up very early every morning. I have no time 8 breakfast at home. I often have something for breakfast 9 or on the bus. I don't want to 10 school. So sometimes I run to school.

    Tom is the son of a farm owner. One New Year's Day， when he was 15， his father 1 him to work on the farm for one year when he was free. Tom was 2 with his father's idea. "That isn't my job. I have 3 school work to do. "Hearing this， his father said， "I promise (许诺) to give you the best present if you 4 finish one year's work. "Tom thought for a while and 5.

       Starting one Saturday， the boy got up early and worked 6 until evening， just like any other farmer. Time passed quickly. Tom' s crops (庄稼) grew well. 7 the last day of the year， the father called his son to him. "I'm happy to see that you have worked very hard the whole year，" said the father.  " Now， tell me 8 you want "

    The boy smiled and showed his father a big piece of bread made from his wheat (小麦). "I've already got the 9 present. No pains， no gains. I think this is what you wanted 10 to know.” His father was quite pleased to hear that.

    Patricia is a pianist and music teacher in California.She wanted to1money for music scholarships at her local community college.One day she had an idea.She thought，"I'm going to ride my2across the United State this summer.I'm going to ask people to give money3 every mile I ride."She talked to the people in the community about4idea. They all liked the idea and strongly supported her.So she felt very5for it.

    Patricia joined about forty other6who were all from California.They began the long 7 across the US in Astoria，Oregon.Patricia went up and down huge hills.She saw beautiful countryside and8friendly people.9there were problems，too.The 10was sometimes very hot，windy or cold.Patricia was tired and sore every night.

    One day she11an accident.She12her bike and her toes were badly hurt.But she continued to ride.She overcame many difficulties and spent two13on the whole ride.She raised more than $10，000 for music scholarship.Patricia was happy and14of it. She did it!

    People don't 15her when she tells them her age.Patricia looks very young and  acts very young.Can you imagine that she is 67 years old? The 67-year-old woman rode across the US in sixty days !

    We look at the world around us everyday, but somehow we don't manage to see it until what we've become used to suddenly disappeared. That's to say that you may get used to some places and some 1 around you. For example, the neatly-dressed woman I used to see --or look at on my way to work each 2.

    For three years, no matter 3the weather was like, she was always waiting at the bus stop around 8:00 a.m. On 4 days, she wore heavy clothes and a pair of woolen gloves. Summertime turn out clean cotton dresses and a hat pulled low over her sunglasses. 5, she was an ordinary working woman. Of course, I 6all this only after she was seen no more. It was then that I realized how 7I expected to see her each morning. You might say I 8her.

    "Did she have an accident? Something 9?" I thought to myself about her disappearance. Now that she was gone, I felt I had 10her. I began to realize that part of our  11life probably includes such chance meetings with familiar strangers: the milkman you see at dawn, the woman who 12walks her dog along the street ever morning, the twin brothers you see at the library. Such people are 13markers in our lives. They add weight to our 14 of places and belongings.

    Think about it, while walking to work, 15we mark where we are by passing a certain building, why not mark where we are when we pass a familiar, though unnamed , person?