After Columbus discovered the New Continent(新大陆) and 1 back to his motherland, Spain, he was warmly 2. But not everyone felt  3 at Columbus' Success. Some people thought Columbus was only a 4 and what he had done could be done by any other seaman. One day, at a dinner, some self-important men did what they could to 5 Columbus unhappy, saying that he had only done the 6 thing in the world. Hearing this instead of jumping up angrily, Columbus took an 7 from a dish and asked,“Look, here, gentlemen, is there anyone here who can make this egg stand upright?” They tried one by one but none could. Then the egg 8  back to Columbus. He broke it a little, put the egg on the table and it stood upright. “What can be easier than this, gentlemen?” he said, “Now you will say it's so 9 that everybody can do it. Of course, because I have shown you now.” They looked at each other and talked 10.

      I never thought I would have a life-changing experience at Wal-Mart.

      Although my thoughts were only on speed, the checkout line I was standing in wasn't moving as quickly as I wanted, and I glanced toward the cashier.

      There stood a man in his seventies, wearing glasses and a nice smile. I thought, well, he's an old guy! For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before scanning the items. Sure, his words were the usual, “How's it going?” But he did something different-he actually listened to people. Then he would respond to what they had said and engage them in brief conversation.

      I thought it was odd. I have grown accustomed to people asking me how I was doing simply out of robotic conversation habit. After a while, you don't give any thought to the question and just mumble something back. I could say, “I just found out I have six months to live,” and someone would reply, “Have a great day!”

      But that wasn't the end.

      He gave them the change, walked around the counter, and extended his right hand in an act of friendship. He looked at the customers in the eyes. “I sure want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “Wish you have a great day. Bye-bye.”

      The looks on the faces of the customers were priceless. There were smiles and some sheepish grins. All had been touched by his simple gesture-and in a place they expected. They would gather their things and walk out, smiling.

      Of course, he did the same to me and I got to know his name, Marty.

      Who was the guy? It was as if Sam Walton had come back from the dead and invaded this old guy's body.

      I had never walked away from that shop feeling like that.

Dave is my friend. His family is rich. His parents always give himlots of pocket money(零用钱). But Dave thinks his parents work very hard and it's not easy forthem to make money, so he always tries to save money. He has some good ways todo it.

Dave likes books. He tells me he often buys books online, because they'recheaper. And when he is free, he often goes to bookshops to do some reading. Davehas a bike. He usually goes to school by bike instead of(代替) taking a bus. Sometimes whenit rains or snows, he walks. These two ways help Dave keep healthy and savemoney.

Dave brings a bottle of water to school every day. When others drinkjuice, he enjoys water. He says water is the cheapest and the best drink.

Some students think Dave is mean(吝啬的). But I don't think so. I think he is right.

Emma is a young mom and she is good at making bread. With enough eggs and flour（ 面粉），she can make all kinds of bread. In some of her bread，you can see pictures of famous paintings and many cartoon characters. For example，when you cut the Sponge Bob bread，you can see the face of Sponge Bob and some small pieces of bread. The small pieces of bread are all in the shape of the characters from the cartoon. There is a lot of fun in making bread. Emma's son gives her lots of great ideas. Once he drew a picture of happy bees（蜜蜂），and it wasn't long before they appeared in Emma's bread. Her son got a big surprise. From then on，Emma started to make such cute bread. "My little boy loves the bread，and he usually has two pieces for breakfast，"she said. From famous paintings to her son's favorite cartoon characters，Emma shows that there is no end to her imagination（想象力） when it comes to wonderful bread. What do you think of Emma's bread? Would you like to enjoy one piece of it?