At the midnight, thunder was crashing and the rain was pouring. Suddenly my father rushed into my room. “Adam! Adam! Get up! We're flooding!” he shouted and shook me by the shoulders. That woke me up! I ran downstairs to the basement (地下室). It was like a swimming pool. My mother and I immediately started to pick up things and take them upstairs. I had no shoes on, so my feet felt quite cold.

Things got worse every minute. Within the next hour, we had moved everything that we could to the first floor. The computer, big-screen television and heavy boxes filled with our most valuable things were taken to safety. However, our piano, sofa, washing machine and water heater were all still down there — being destroyed. There was nothing we could do.

That was the hardest part. Knowing that your home is being destroyed is bad enough, but realizing that you can't do anything to stop it feels even worse. Water had come in our front door. Rescue boats were floating in our streets. Mother told me to pack an overnight（通宵, 前夜） bag of clothes and valuables and get ready to leave.

When it was finally safe to walk outside, all the people in the neighborhood gathered at the street corner. People became friends, and friends became like family. People comforted each other. We learnt later that the National Weather Service had declared (宣布) the storm a flash flood.

I really have learnt something from this flood, I've learnt what destruction is. I have learnt what safety means. I know in the future, when I watch people's lives affected (影响) by natural disasters, I can understand them. I will show my great pity on them and I will do what I can to help them.

    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.

Last year my dad got a new job in a small town,1 my family moved there. On my first 2 at the new school I was really worried. The teachers were friendly, but the 3 was the other students. They didn't seem friendly. I knew nobody and I couldn't 4 understand what they said. 

 During the break all the other students went out. I didn't know where to go, so I 5 in the classroom. After a while, a 6 came back in and came up to me. I 7 what he wanted to do. He took 8 out of his bag and said to me, "Would you like something to 9 ?"It was an apple. Suddenly I felt really 10 and we began to talk. 

 It was Tony who gave me the apple and now he is my best friend. I am thankful to the apple, which started our friendship. 

Anna Brown is a painter. She is kind. She is always ready to 1 others. Once, she found out that there were lots of children with illnesses in her town and their families were in need of money. 

Anna 2 to see what she could do for them. It was not 3 for her to give them a lot of money, so she had to think of another way. 

She started making and selling beautiful 4 to get money for the children. The cards were all made by hand and it would take her a long time to make them. So Anna had another 5 . She started 6 friends to come to her house to work with her. They all agreed to help. 

They worked together 7 every weekend. They were pleased to be able to show kindness in this way. The materials（原料）were 8 , so Ann asked for paper and other things from her neighbours（邻居）. She 9 the cards for three dollars each in a market. Anna and her friends got lots of 10 for the poor kids and more and more people joined them. 

When I was 16 years old, I made my first visit to the US. It wasn't the first time I had been 1 . Like most English children, I learnt French 2  school and I had often been to France. So I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn't understand 3 . When I went to America, I was really looking forward to 4  a nice and easy holiday. I hoped there were not any 5  problems. How 6 . I was! The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was 7  a public telephone to give my American friend Daisy a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking like being lost and asked 8  he could help me or not. "Yes, "I said. "I want to give my friend a ring. ""Well, that's 9 . " he said. " Are you getting married? But aren't you a little bit too 10 ?"" Who is talking about marriage?"I replied. "I 11  want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me 12  the phone box is?""Oh!" he said, "there is a phone downstairs. "

When at last Daisy and I did meet up, Daisy explained the misunderstanding to me. "Don't worry, " she said to me. "I had so many 13  like this at first. There are lots of words that the Americans 14  differently in meaning from us British. You'll soon get used to all the funny things they say. But most of the 15 , British and American people understand each other. "