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    Dick was 7 years old，and his sister，{#blank#}1{#/blank#}．One day their mother took them to their aunt's house to play．

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}，and then their aunt t ook Dick into the kitchen．She gave him a nice cake and a knife and said to him："{#blank#}3{#/blank#}．Cut this cake in half and give one of the pieces to your sister，but remember to do it like a gentleman (绅士)．"

    "Like a gentleman?" Dick asked．"{#blank#}4{#/blank#}?"

    "They always give the bigger piece to the other person，" answered his aunt．

"Oh，" said Dick． {#blank#}5{#/blank#}．Then he took the cake to his sister and said to her："Cut this cake in half，Catherine．"

    One day last November, Liz Douglas went shopping. She spent hours at the supermarket. After she paid for all the things she bought, she went back to her car and put the shopping bags on the back seat (后座) of the car. Then she started to drive home.

    Ten minutes later, it began to rain heavily. Soon, Liz found it hard to see the road clearly. There was a lot of water on the road, so she drove slowly. Although Liz was an experienced driver, she felt afraid.

    突然，Liz看见她前面的一棵树并试图停车。But it was too late. Liz closed her eyes. She hoped that the airbags (气囊) in the car would work when the car hit the tree. Unluckily, they didn't.

    However, Liz was lucky. When the car hit the tree, a bag of bread flew out of one of the shopping bags. The car turned over, and the bread landed between Liz' s head and the roof(顶部) of the car. It stopped her head from hitting the roof of the car.

    About half an hour later, firefighters (消防队员) helped Liz get out of the car. They sent her to the hospital, but she went home soon because she didn't get hurt badly. Her head was free and she only had a few cuts. Liz's son went to get the things Liz bought from the car and gave the bag of bread to her. She was going to keep it as a souvenir (纪念品) because it brought her good luck.

    John: I'm 15 years old and I love football. I also like reading, especially(尤其是) stories about people from other countries. I don't enjoy singing or playing computers. I think that rock music is terrible.

    Ann: Hi, I'm Ann. I'm 16 and I like dancing and computers. I also like rock music. I hate hiking and I'm not interested in classical music. I don't enjoy reading too much.

    Steve: I'm 14 years old and I love skiing. Other favorite hobbies are reading and singing. I don't like hiking. I think that rock music is too noisy and I think that football is boring.

    Peter: I'm from Australia. I'm 15 and I am fond of singing. I sing a lot, and when I'm not singing, I listen to rock music or use my computer. I don't like football and I think that classical music is terrible. I hate dancing!

    Sarah：My name is Sarah and I'm 14 years old. My interests are reading novels, playing football and singing songs. I think that rock music is terrible, and I don't like dancing. I don't enjoy computers, either.

    Joe：Hi, I'm Joe. I really like computers. I surf the Internet all the time and I like playing computer games. I don't enjoy football and I hate hiking. Rock music is OK, and so is skiing.

    Lu Xun was an excellent writer and thinker of modern China. He took part in the May

    Fourth New Culture Movement of 1919. He could be said to have laid the foundation(基础)of modern literature(文学)in China. You couldn't believe that he almost became a doctor! So how did Lu Xun give up the study of medicine and take up writing？

    When he was young, his father fell badly ill, and little Lu Xun bought medicine for him.

    But the medicine bought from a quack doctor(庸医)did his father no good at all, and his father died. With a deep sadness and great anger, Lu Xun promised to study the most modern medical skills and help people through medicine. He studied hard, and was accepted to study in Sendai Medical College in Japan.

    However, one event changed Lu Xun's life. One day, the teacher played a film of news in class. In the film, Japanese soldiers were preparing to kill a Chinese while some Chinese were watching it with great interest, as if it had nothing to do with them. After that, Lu Xun thought he should treat the numb(麻木的)spirits of Chinese.

    For this reason, he gave up the study of medicine and moved to Tokyo. He produced a magazine with some friends there. As a writer. Lu Xun hoped that he could save Chinese people with his pen. Many of his works were translated into the leading languages, including English, Russian, German, French and Japanese.

    Do you know Jenny Brown?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}She is English. Her family are in China now.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} . Her mother is an English teacher in that school, too. Her brother, David is a student in our school. He is learning Chinese.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. They like China.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. In this photo, her parents are on the sofa. David is in his room.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. She is in her room, too.

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835,in the state of Missouri. When he was four, his family moved to the town ofHannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a port on the Missippi River, and Clemensloved to watch the big steamboats going up and down the river. He said that allthe boys in his school had one ambition in life: to work on a steamboat!

    His father died when he was just 12 yearsold, and Clemens then went to work for a printer to help support his family. Hetravelled around, and worked in many different cities. But when he was 22, heachieved his ambition—he got a job working on a steamboat. He sailed up anddown the wide Missippi River until the American Civil War began.

    He then moved around America, and triedseveral jobs. He was a soldier, and a silver miner. Then he started working asa writer for a newspaper. It was at that time that he decided to use a pen namefor his stories, and he chose the name "Mark Twain".

    The name is interesting. It comes from hisdays on the steamboats. He used to throw a piece of rope into the river. Therewas a heavy weight on the end of the rope, and the rope had some marks on it.He used the rope to find how deep the river was. Then he shouted out, "MarkOne" or "Mark Twain", meaning "Mark Two". Each markwas about two metres, so when he shouted "Mark Twain", it meant thatthe river was deep enough for the big boat.

    In 1865 Clemens wrote a story about ajumping frog. The story and the writer became famous. In 1867 he toured Europe.He married when he returned, and lived for most of the rest of his in Harfort,Connecticut. He wrote many books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, whichhe wrote in 1876. He also gave many lectures, and became a very famous andpopular man.

    Once two of his friends decided to write tohim, but they had lost his address. So on the envelope they just wrote "MarkTwain, God knows where". Several weeks later, they received a replay fromthe writer. It just said, "He does!"

    Samuel Clemens died in 1910. He isconsidered to be one of America's most important writers.