Gary and Gavin were twin brothers who worked in a store owned by their father. After the father had passed away, they took over the store. One day, Gary left the bill on the cash register (收银台), but when he returned, the money was gone.

    Gary then asked his brother," did you see that twenty-dollar bill on the cash register?" Gavin said no. But Gary did not let it go and kept asking. That made Gavin very angry and they quarreled with one another. The quarrel divided the young men. Later, a wall was built in the center of the store. For twenty years, hostility (敌意) never ended.

    One day, a strange man came to the store. He walked in and asked Gary, "How long have you been here?" Gary replied that he'd been there all his life. "Then you are the person I'm looking for," the man said. "Twenty years ago, I was totally broke and hungry. I entered this store from the back door and saw a twenty-dollar bill on the cash register. And I took it. All these years I haven't been able to forget that. I had to come back and apologize for that."

    The stranger felt shocked when seeing tears well up in the eyes of the middle-aged man in front of him. "Would you please go next door and tell the same story to the man in the store?" Gary asked. Then something surprised the stranger even more-after hearing his story, the two middle-aged men hugged each other. After twenty years, the wall that separated them finally came down.

    In 1834, the clock tower in London was burned down. People planned to build a new clock which would be the biggest and best in the world. So the clock had to be big and keep very good time. The big clock was made in two years. Five more years later the tower was finished. Then people put the big clock in the tower, and made it ring out for the first time on July 11, 1859.

    In order to give the big clock a good name, people held a meeting. Someone wanted to call it the Queen of Bells, and someone thought Victoria was good. At last, a man named Benjamin Hall stood up. He was a big man. Before he started to speak, someone shouted, "Why not call it Big Ben?" Everybody laughed and agreed with him.

    From then on, Big Ben became its name. And it also became a famous building of London. People all over the world write to Big Ben. They even send birthday presents-bottles of oil to help keep Big Ben running. Big Ben is not only a clock but also a dear friend of people.

A boy was walking home from the school. Suddenly, he saw a large, red apple 1 on an apple tree. The boy didn't like fruit very much, but this time he had a 2 will to have this one. And the more he looked at it, the 3 he felt and the more he wanted that apple. 

He stood on tiptoe（脚尖）, stretching as high as he could, but he was unable to 4 it. He began to jump up and down, as high as he could, but the apple was still out of 5 . 

"I can't 6 ! " he thought, "7 I can have something to stand on." But his schoolbag wouldn't give enough height and he didn't want to 8 the things inside, either. Looking around, he hoped he could find an old box, a rock, or, with luck, even a ladder, but nothing was 9 . 

Without seeing any other choices, he felt quite 10 and had to walk away. At first, he felt angry 11 how hungry he had become, and how he really wanted that apple. The more he thought like this, the unhappier he would become. 

However, the boy was always a pretty 12 guy. He thought for a while and said to himself, "I can do nothing to get the apple, and the result is unchangeable for me. Being upset isn't 13 because it can't change anything. So I must change my 14 and be joyful. I should go home earlier and eat something else, then I may not be hungry and I may not be angry, 15 .

That wasn't a sunny day, but we felt very happy because we went to the Shanghai Waterworks Museum.

First, we went to a grey building. When we entered it, we saw a map on the floor. We met each other happily. On the map there was the Yangtze River, the Huangpu River, and so on. Then, we saw a large fish bowl in the wall. But there were only five plastic(塑料的) fish. That means if we waste water, we will no longer see real fish.

Next, we went upstairs. There we saw a big blue poster. There was a water tap at the top of the poster and the earth was under the water tap(水龙头). It tells us we should save water. The No.3121 water supply station was found on the left side of the poster. An old man was writing on the blackboard. Two women were washing some clothes. At that time, there were stones in the water. The man was writing the number of the stones in the water.

After that, we went to the first floor. We took some photographs there.

We left the museum at eleven o' clock in the morning. Every one of us had I an interesting and meaningful experience that day.

A man in Shanwei in eastern Guangdong Province rented 12 trucks to protect his restaurant against typhoon Saola, which became a piece of hot news.

The restaurant is just over 100 {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(metre) away from the sea,but it did not experience any loss from Saola, according to Southern Metropolis Daily. "The tall, huge and strong trucks can protect the restaurant from the typhoon,"said the restaurant owner, Mr Lin. Lin even loaded mud（装载泥浆）onto the trucks to make {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(they) heavy enough to keep strong when the typhoon came. Typhoon Saola resulted in a rainstorm in Shanwei. 68{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(lucky),it did not do any harm to his restaurant.

These trucks cost Lin {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(much) than 20,000 yuan. Some people thought it was unnecessary to protect the restaurant by {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(spend) so much money on the trucks. However, Lin {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(believe) it was valuable. This was not {#blank#}7{#/blank#}first time for Lin to use trucks to protect his restaurant. Lin also saved his restaurant with 12 trucks during the earlier typhoon Doksuri {#blank#}8{#/blank#}August. He said he would do the same {#blank#}9{#/blank#}next typhoon comes.

After learning that Saola was gradually leaving, Lin decided to return the trucks {#blank#}10{#/blank#} reopen the restaurant.

John used to have difficulties in school. He didn't pay attention in class. Even worse, he was often 1 from class. As a result, he couldn't catch up with others and 2 passed the exam. This made his teachers disappointed(失望的) with his 3 and his classmates didn't want to be friends with him.

 One day, a famous mentor(导师), who used to be a difficult student himself at high school just like John, 4 John's story. He showed great interest and decided to have a heart-to-heart 5 with the young student. He believed that he could 6 John into a good student.

 The mentor met John and began the conversation by asking him about his hobbies and interests. Then He 7 his own story with John. He talked about the challenges he faced, the mistakes he made and the ways he used.

 The mentor's story touched John a lot and his words seemed to 8 John realized what he used to do was 9 . He made a decision to change himself. From then on, he listened to his teachers 10 and took notes actively in class. After class, he finished his homework on time. Several months later, John made great 11 .

 Now John keeps working hard. He has changed himself into a(n) 12 student from a difficult one. People who 13 him in the past can't believe he has changed that much John's story 14 as an inspiration(鼓舞人心的事) to many people. It shows that no matter who you are, you have the power(力量) to change yourself. 15 you keep working hard, you can achieve your dream and become the person you want to be.