C

    O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison（监狱）. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales（故事）were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader's surprise.

    The designer of the Apple Computer, Steve Jobs, was not quite successful in his early years. He was not among the best students at school, and from time to time he got into trouble with either his schoolmates or his teachers. But he was full of new ideas, which few people saw the value of. Things remained the same when he went up to college and he dropped out halfway.

    Steve Jobs worked first as a video game designer at Atari. He worked there for only a few months and then he set out to tour India He hoped that the trip would give him more ideas and give him a change in life for the better.

    After he returned from India, he began to live on a farm in California. And then, in 1975, Steve Jobs set about making a new type of computer. Along with his friend Stephen Wozniak, he designed the Apple Computer in his bedroom and built it in his garage(车库). He chose the name 'Apple' because it reminded him of a happy summer he once spent on an orchard(果园) in Oregon. His Apple Computer was so successful that Steve Jobs soon became worldwide famous. But unluckily, he died of illness in 2012.

    One day, a rich boy bought a magic mirror(魔镜). When he got home, he looked in the mirror. His face looked sad. He tried to smile and make funny faces. His face looked still sad. Then he did many happy things, but his face always looked sad.

    "Oh, what a terrible mirror! It doesn't work！"he said angrily.

    The next day, on his way to buying some chocolate, he saw a little girl crying sadly. The rich boy went up to her and asked what had happened. The little girl said she couldn't find her parents. "Don't worry. I'll help you，"the rich boy said. So they went to look for them together. Finally, they found her parents. They were so thankful for his help. After the rich boy arrived home, he looked in the mirror as usual. To his surprise, his face looked very happy. The boy understood the magic of the mirror. The mirror could show the true feelings of its owner.

    This was true—the rich boy had helped that little girl so he felt really happy.

    I was born in Mississippi, America in the 1960s. When I was a five year old boy, I was badly ill and became disabled. I grew up knowing I was different. The first time I felt hurt and left out was in Grade Five. The other fourth and fifth graders played together in gym class, while I was put in the second grade gym class. 'Mom called the school to say it was unfair, but the school scolded me for complaining too much.

    In the 1980s, when my mom was giving birth to my sister, she died. My dad became even more distant. I was very sad and began drinking wine to ease the pain.

    Dad got remarried in 1985. Everyone went to his wedding except me. He told me to stay at home and watch the house. When my high school bail came around, I wanted to go out but wasn't allowed. When I graduated, my dad and step-mom weren't willing to hold a party for me. They put me into a group home after graduation.

    However, my life changed when I became a local leader of the National Self-advocacy(自我辩护) Group. At first, I thought the group wasn't for me until I found out it was all about empowerment(授权) ! My goal is to be the voice for people who haven't been heard and to help them. Many families, like mine, don't believe their disabled family members have a voice of their own.

    Looking back over my 16 years of leadership experience, I'm proud that I've helped so many disabled people. They should be encouraged to never give up and to follow their own way.

    I felt very sad not to be able to get the ticket to the film Titanic last Friday. I learned in the newspaper that tickets could be bought at the cinema box office in Richland Hills every day between 10：00 a.m. and 4：00 p.m. Because I work from 9：00 a.m.to 5：30 p.m., the only time I could go to the cinema was during my 45-minute lunch time. It is a pity that the cinema is on the other side of the town, and the bus service between my office and Richland Hills is not very good. But if you are lucky, you can make the round(往返)trip in 45 minutes.

    Last Monday I stood at the bus stop for fifteen minutes, waiting for a bus. By the time I saw one coming around the corner, there was not enough time left to make the trip-so I had to go back to the office. The same thing happened on Wednesday. On Thursday my luck changed, I got on a bus right away and arrived at the cinema in twenty minutes. But when I got there, I found a long line of people at the box office. I heard one man say he had been waiting in line for fifty-five minutes. I found that I would not have enough time to wait in line. I caught the next bus and went back across the town.

    Then on Friday I understood my only hope was to make the trip by car. It was not cheap, but I felt it would be worthwhile to see the film. The trip by car only took 10 minutes, but it felt like one hour to me. When I reached the cinema, I was delighted to see that nobody was waiting in line. But I quickly found out that it was because they had already sold out all the tickets.

    It was a Monday morning. When the teacher walked into the classroom, he heard a low voice. "Here's the teacher. I'm sure this boring fellow is going to talk about how to use commas." It was a boy's voice and the teacher knew who he was.

    However, the teacher didn't get angry. He said nothing about it, but really began to talk about how to use commas. And he wrote the following sentence on the blackboard, "Nick says the teacher is a boring fellow." The class laughed and Nick's face turned red. "Now," said the teacher, "I will tell you the importance of commas." He put two commas in the sentence and then said, "Nick, says the teacher, is a boring fellow." The whole class laughed again. Nick felt very surprised first, then his face turned much redder. Finally he couldn't help laughing with the other students, too.