Mary is four years old. She likes to ask questions. Her questions are often funny.

One day Mary goes to see her uncle with her father. Her uncle lives in another city. The city isn't near their city, so they take a bus to go there.

After many hours, they get to Mary's uncle's city. He is very happy to see them. The next morning, Mary's uncle takes her and her father out and shows them around(带领他们参观)。“Look at that big house,” says her uncle. “ It's the oldest(最古老的) house in the city.” “How old is it?” her father asks. “It is about 2100 years old,” her uncle answers.“How can that be?” Mary says. “It's only 2015 this year!”

    When Abe Lincoln was just a boy, he had to help his father to look after his farm. It was hard work and there wasn't any interesting thing for him. Abe wanted to go to school, but there was no school there. Abe was sad most of the time. Mrs Lincoln loved the boy very much. She tried her best to make Abe happy. One early morning she got up early and went to town. That was a long way and it took her a long time to get to town. She bought something there and went back. And it was late in the evening when she got home. The next morning Mrs Lincoln said to Abe, “Today is your birthday. We're going to have a party.” She put some food on the table, then brought out a present. A book. Abe cried. It was an old book, but he liked it. A smile came to his face. He looked up at Mrs Lincoln and said, “Thank you, Mum.”

    Many people think heroes need to be handsome, rich, or very smart. But as for me, a hero is a person who always helps others. My hero is Uncle Bill. He is the oldest son of a worker, and he grew up in a poor family with four younger brothers and two little sisters.

    He was good at neither writing nor maths. In fact, he never did well in school. So he had to give up school at a very young age. He worked and gave all his money to help his parents. When he was getting older, he found that he was very interested in fixing things. He collected broken things which people threw away and fixed them. He could fix almost everything that did not work. He worked hard and never gave up. Finally, he opened his own repair shop. It took him about 20 years to become a successful shopkeeper.

    Now, he is very rich and has four shops. But he never forgets the days when he had nothing. He gives money to poor families, helps poor kids buy books and offers them free lunch. He also encourages people to reuse things. He always says, "Make good use of what you have because we just have one earth."

    I am proud of Uncle Bill. He is really a hero.

It was about two o'clock in the early morning {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 21 September, 1999. Tommy was sleeping when the earthquake started. He felt a slight shake, then he {#blank#}2{#/blank#} a loud noise like thunder. Soon the real noise came, like bombs under the ground. The earth started to {#blank#}3{#/blank#} . People screamed in fear. Some ran out of the building. He tried his {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to run out too, but he couldn't.

Outside, people were running in all directions while pieces of glass and bricks were falling down. Then the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} began to come down too!

Finally, the noise and shaking ended. It was dark and silent around him. He could not see anything at all, and he did not know if anyone else was near him. He felt {#blank#}6{#/blank#} and his heart was beating fast. A moment of fear went through his mind, but he told {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to calm down since he was still alive. He shouted for {#blank#}8{#/blank#} , but no one came. He started to move slowly in the darkness. Luckily, there was just enough space for him to move.

Hours later, Tommy heard {#blank#}9{#/blank#} noise above him. He screamed, "Help! Please help! I'm here!" Then he heard shouts from excited people. They {#blank#}10{#/blank#} moved away the bricks. At last, Tommy was safe.

There are many things in life that impress you deeply. For me, there is one thing I still remember now. 

One year, my family and I were on vacation in southern Mexico. When we were enjoying the beautiful sights near the sea,1 that was bright silver caught my eyes.

It was a ring! It looked expensive. It must be worth thousands of dollars, and the owner must 2 a lot. When I got back to the hotel, I took the ring to the manager and told him that I found it in the water off the beach. He promised me that he would send out a message that a ring had been found.

That evening, while having dinner, we heard a woman cheering in a loud voice. She had just got the ring back! I saw 3 standing with the hotel manager. He raised his hand and pointed at me, and then the woman 4 came over and introduced herself. She told me that she swam with the ring and 5 it that morning. When she went back to the beach to 6 it, she failed. We had a dinner together, celebrating our good luck that night. That day was so special for both of us, and it was 7 Christmas in July.

The next day when I checked out of the hotel, the bill had been paid by the woman. I felt touched. I have to say that when I saw that ring for the first time, I had an idea to 8 it or sell it. However, it didn't take me long to realize that the only thing to do was to look for 9 the owner was. I was so glad that I had done the right thing when I saw the 10 look on that woman's face after she got her ring back.

Sometimes, when something happens, you may hesitate (犹豫),11 you know what the right thing to do is. When you do it, you will feel good about it, and perhaps you can also get an 12 surprise. This is the lesson I learnt that day.