The morning was cold and clear. A yellow bus came around the corner and stopped near a wood (树林). A coach asked the students to get off the bus. Girls began to gather by the starting line. One of them is a young, little girl. She had prepared for this running race for the whole summer. She looked around at the other girls, noticing how she was different.

    There was a break in the silence, and everyone started to run. After about twenty-five minutes, every runner finished the race except the girl. She was still running for the next forty minutes. As she came near the finishing line, she saw her parents, classmates and the coach. They shouted her name and told her not to stop until the end. The sweat (汗水) was flowing down her face.

    She kept on running until she crossed the line. I was that girl, and that was the first time I had finished a cross-country race (越野赛跑). Finishing this race made me realize that I could do anything with my own strength. After that, I took more hard work to practice running. I was not a natural-born runner, but I want to become one. I continued to struggle (努力) with every run. Now I run much faster than before and become more and more confident. I am so thankful for running because it has helped make me who I am today.

    It was just three degrees above zero. "That's cold," thought Jane as she got ready to deliver her morning papers. Jane had 50 customers, and on cold mornings when she couldn't ride her bicycle, it took her more than an hour to make her rounds. As she collected her papers and put them into a big canvas bag, Jane regretted that she hadn't finished her math homework the night before. There was still time. She'd hurry with the papers and finish the math before breakfast.

    Less than an hour later, Jane was nearly finished. She had only five customers to go. She could then head for home to complete her math while her room fixed breakfast. As she rounded the corner, she saw a car in the middle of the street. It was Mr. Zimmerman, the elder man, who walked with a walking stick. His car was out of gas. "I'd like to help Mr. Zimmerman," thought Jane, "but if I do, I won't have time to do my homework." She hated to think what Mr. Roberts would say if she hadn't completed her papers.

    "It's his own fault for running out of gas," Jane talked to herself. "The station is only a half mile down the street. Surely Mr. Zimmerman can walk that far, even on a cold morning like this — can't he?" As she walked down the street, Jane wondered what to do.

    Mark Twain was a great writer in America. He wrote many books. He liked telling jokes in his books. People liked reading them very much. And it was full of jokes in his life, too. Mark Twain liked reading. So he often borrowed books from other people. One day, he wanted to borrow a book from his neighbor. His neighbor was a mean man. He didn't want to lend it to Mark Twain. Then he had an idea. He said to Mark Twain, “I have a rule. You will have to read the book at my home. If you want to borrow it from me, you should never take it out." Mark Twain had to read that book at his neighbor's house.

    A month later, his neighbor went to borrow a cropper (割草机) from Mark Twain. Mark Twain said to him with a smile, "I make a rule, too. That is, you must use my cropper in my garden. If you borrow it, you can never take it out either."

    Nowadays, computers and Internets are playing an important part in our life. Some people even say they can't live without them. We usually need to set passwords (密码) when we use computers and Internet. But not all the passwords are safe. In order to keep our accounts (账户)and personal information safe, we must learn how to make safe passwords.

    How can you make your computer and Internet passwords safe? Experts have some advice for you. You'd better remember the advice and they are useful for you. Here are the suggestions.

    Firstly, make your password out of capital(大写) letters. If your password is made of capital letters, it will be difficult for others to get into your account. It only takes a hacker(黑客) 10 minutes to work out a six- letter password made of small letters. But the same password in capital letters takes 10 hours to work out.

    Secondly, add numbers or symbols to your passwords. It may be much safer. Sometimes such password is not easy to remember, but it is really safe.

    Thirdly, never use personal information for passwords and use different passwords for different accounts. Experts say that a user should change his or her passwords every 90 days. In this way, hacker won't guess your passwords.