I work as a volunteer for an organization that helps the poor in Haiti. Recently I took my son Barrett there for a week, hoping to  1  him. Before setting out, I told Barrett this trip would be tiring and   2  . For the first two days, he said almost nothing. I worried the trip was too much for a 17-year-old boy. Then on day three, as we were climbing  3    high rocky mountains, he turned to me and grinned (咧嘴笑), "Pretty hard."

    After that there was no turning back. A five-year-old girl, wearing a dress several sizes   4  large and broken shoes, followed Barrett around, mesmerized (着迷). He couldn't stop   5   . Later he said regretfully . "I   6   I could speak French." I was  7－this from a boy who hated and    8   French classes throughout school.

       Usually silent, he made friends with Gaby, our host, and kept asking questions about the country and its people. He came alive

      However, the moment that really took 9    breath away happened during my interview with a woman villager for an article at her house deep in the mountains. 135 centimeters tall, she was small in figure but strong in 10  . Through determination(决心), she had learned to read and write and 11  to become part of the leadership of the village .    her story, Barrett was as touched as I by this tiny woman's achievements. His eyes were wet and 12  was a mixture of love and respect on his face. He had finally understood the importance of my work.  13       When leaving for home, Barrett  13offered to stay behind as a volunteer. My insides suddenly felt struck. This   14  achieved all I'd expected. Soon he will celebrate his 18th birthday. He'll be a man.

The desk is not dirty. You {#blank#}1{#/blank#} clean it.

    Every morning my father buys a newspaper on his way to work. Every evening my mother reads magazines at home. And every night, I look at the posters with photos of David Beckham and Yao Ming on my bedroom wall before I go to sleep. Can we{#blank#}1{#/blank#}life without paper or print?

    Paper was first created about 2,000 years ago, and has been made from silk, cotton, bamboo, and since the 19th century, from wood. People learned to write words on paper to make a book. But in those days, books could{#blank#}2{#/blank#}be produced one at a time by hand and they were expensive and rare. Because there weren't many books, few people learned to read.

    Then printing was invented in China. When printing was developed greatly at the beginning of the 11th century, books could be produced more quickly and cheaply. Then more people learned to read. After that, knowledge and{#blank#}3{#/blank#}spread quickly.

    Today information can be received online, downloaded from the Internet rather than found in books, and information can be kept on CD-ROMs or machines,{#blank#}4{#/blank#}MP3 players.

    Computers are already used in classrooms, and newspapers and magazines can already be read online. So will books be replaced by computers one day? I am not sure.