Dick lived in England. One day in January he said to his wife, "I'm going to fly to New York next week because I've got some work there." "Where are you going to stay there?" his wife asked. "I don't know yet." Dick answered. "Please send me your address from there in a telegram （电报）," his wife said. "All right," Dick answered.

He flew to New York on January 31st and found a nice hotel in the center of the city. He put his things in his room and then he sent his wife a telegram. He put the address of his hotel in it.

In the evening he didn't have any work, so he went to a cinema. He came out at nine o'clock and said, "Now I'm going back to my hotel and have a nice dinner."

    He found a taxi （出租车） and the driver said, "Where do you want to go? "But Dick didn't remember the name and address of his hotel.

    "Which hotel are my things in?" he said, "And what am I going to do tonight? "But the driver of the taxi did not know. So Dick got out and went into a post office. There he sent his wife another telegram, and in it he wrote, "Please send me my address at this post office."

    When you are ill, you should go to see a doctor. After the doctor looks you over, he will write you a note to take to the chemist for some medicine. Chemists are usually good at reading doctors' notes. But sometimes doctors write too badly and even the chemist can not read them.

    One day a woman wrote to a doctor to invite him to have dinner with her family in the restaurant. The doctor wrote an answer, but he wrote too badly and the woman could not read it. "What shall I do?" she asked her husband, "I don't know whether he is going to come or not. I don't want to call and say that I don't understand him."

    Her husband thought for a few minutes and then he had an idea. "Take it to the chemist," he said, "He will be able to read it for us."

    "Thank you," the woman said, "That's a good idea." She went to the chemist's shop and gave the doctor's note to him. The chemist looked at it for a long time.

    "Could you wait a moment, Miss?" he said. Then he went to the back of the shop. After a few minutes he came back, carrying a large bottle. He gave the bottle to the woman.

    "Take one spoonful(一匙) every day." He told the woman.

      Bob was only seven years old. One night Bob was at home {#blank#}1{#/blank#} while his parents were out for a party. He had often stayed alone before, so he wasn't afraid. As he waited for his parents to {#blank#}2{#/blank#} home, he watched a film on TV. His eyes became heavier and heavier as time {#blank#}3{#/blank#} by.

      Suddenly Bob's eyes opened wide-what was the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} in the next room? Bob heard the window being opened slowly. For a minute, Bob was so {#blank#}5{#/blank#} that he could not move, and his body felt like ice. He knew that he couldn't lose his head (惊慌失措) and began to think of the things he could do. Again he heard the sound of someone trying to climb into his home {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the window.

      Bob's drums were standing in the corner near the TV. "Wait, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} there is something I can do," thought Bob. He {#blank#}8{#/blank#} on his drums as hard as he could. The sound was so terrible that Bob {#blank#}9{#/blank#} even himself. He also surprised the man in the window, who {#blank#}10{#/blank#} away as fast as possible. How clever he was!

Mr. Watson's store sold many different things. Every day, Jess came to the store and he loved to look at the pipes. One pipe especially caught his eye. He imagined that some day he would be a grown man and could smoke a pipe, just like his father that he didn't remember.

Jess reached out and touched the pipe. He kept thinking that when he was old enough, he would go to work and his mother could stay home. He would not have to wait three hours after school until she came.home from her job. Oh, why? He wondered, did it take so long to grow up and take his father's place.

He looked around the store and put the bowl of the pipe in his hand. He just wanted to get the feel of it- nothing more.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around quickly. It was Mr. Watson, the friendly store owner.

"Hello, Jess," Mr. Watson smiled, and kept on walking. Jess struggled to answer but could not get his voice up. He swallowed and smiled back weakly.

The store seemed extremely warm. Jess watched his feet begin to move and take him out of the store. Like sleepwalking, he moved towards the ground. He looked around and saw the empty swing. Sitting on the swing, a sharp pain caught him in the stomach. He knew it was the pipe he felt. He had walked out of the store with it!

The sun was slipping down through the trees and it was time to go home. His mother would look at him and she would know. She always knew. A bot tear ran down his cheek. She trusted him. He remembered the nice way she said, "You're a little man now, Jess." Her trust in him was all he could think about now. The pipe and its magic power meant nothing. His dream of growing up meant nothing.

Looking at the long shadows of the trees coming towards him, Jess now knew what he had to do. He jumped out of the swing and started running. His feet were quick, decisive, taking him straight back to the store like an arrow. Mr. Watson was just inside the door. Suddenly and blindly he held out the pipe. Mr. Watson gently took the pipe from the boy's hand and patted him on the

shoulder. Jess felt the warmth of Mr Watson's big hand, and felt his shoulders had become a little broader and stronger.

"Why do I live? Why do I wish for anything, or do anything? Is there anything in my life that will not be broken by my death?" Like Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, many people ask these difficult questions. Tolstoy spent his whole life trying to answer these difficult questions. 

As a young man, he thought people could be perfect if they tried hard enough. So he worked very hard to be the best in everything. He thought that he would find the meaning and the truth in success. 

In the 1850s, Tolstoy wrote his first stories. He wrote about his life when he was a soldier. He also told stories about his childhood. These works were published (出版) and Tolstoy became a well- known writer. He got the respect he always wanted. Many rich and smart men met and talked with Tolstoy. But soon Tolstoy recognised that these men were not perfect and they could not answer his questions. 

So in the 1860s, Tolstoy tried a different way to find the meaning of life. He opened a school for the children of his serfs — the people who worked on his land. These workers were very poor. He wanted to help them because he thought they were more honest than the rich people he knew. 

Tolstoy learnt a lot from his workers. He understood how they worked hard to support their families. He began to believe that marriage and family would give his life meaning. So in1862, Leo Tolstoy married a young woman named Sonya Behrs. 

 The next 15 years were the best years of Tolstoy's life. It was during this time that he wrote his most famous books— War and Peace and Anna Karenina. In these books, Tolstoy believed humans should live a simple life and take care of their families. Tolstoy thought this would satisfy him and bring him happiness.