Once, a king loved music so much that he searched the world for the best instrument. One day, a magic man1the king a harp(竖琴). The king took it to the palace, but2 he played it, the harp sounded terrible. Many3people tried it. They agreed that the harp was 4　and the king had been fooled. The harp was thrown out as rubbish.

A poor little girl 5　found the harp, and even though she didn't know how6 it, she decided to have a try. She played and played, the whole day through, for months and years. The music she produced was never perfect, 7　 each time it sounded a little better.

  Then one day, suddenly, the harp started to play the most beautiful music. It was in fact 8magic harp, and could only be played well by someone who would put in the necessary effort.

   The king heard the music from his window, and called the girl to the palace. When the king saw that she was playing his old harp, he was filled 9　 joy. At that moment he made the girl his own private 10　 , giving her and her family many riches.

It was Mary's birthday. She received a letter from her uncle1  was a farmer.

“Dear Mary,” the letter said. “Happy birthday . I am sending you some2 as your birthday present.They will arrive tomorrow. I hope you will like them. Best wishes, Uncle Toby. ”

  Mary liked eating eggs and 3 .When the chickens arrived the day, they were in a box. Mary was very 4 .She took the box off the truck and began to carry it into her garden. 5 , the box was heavy and she dropped it . The chickens all ran out .They ran everywhere, into the road , into the shops , even into the next street. It6Mary many hours to find them and take them back to her garden.

  A few days later uncle came.”Did the chickens arrive 7?” he asked Mary.”Yes,Uncle Toby.”Mary said.” 8 I had lots if trouble with them. I dropped the box. It broke and the chickens ran everywhere.I spent the whole afternoon9them.”“Did you find them all?” her uncle asked.”I hope so,”Mary replied.”I caught eleven of them.””That's very interesting,”her uncle said 10 a smile,”because I only sent you six.”

    J.K Rowling is the writer of the Harry Potter series, the most popular books.

    J.K. Rowling was born in Bristol in 1965. She has one sister 1 is two years younger than her. Both girls loved listening to bedtime 2 . They loved stories about the magical (有魔力的) world. Rowling 3her first story, called rabbit at the age of six.

    4 she graduated from the university, Rowling worked in London. During that time, on a long train trip in the summer of 1990, the idea of a 5 who has magic but doesn't know it himself came to6 . In 1992, Rowling began to teach English. She lived with her daughter, Jessica, and7much time finishing the first Harry Potter book for young8. It came out in 1997. To her 9 , the book was very successful. The film came out in 2001. Now the Harry Potter series is 10with people of all ages.

    Why is the series so successful? Many other magic stories11place in faraway lands in the past or future times,12Harry lives in modern England. He 's also a very normal boy. When other 13 read the story about Harry, they can 14 being like him.

    J.K. Rowling is very happy with her success. She says she will go on 15 children's books.

    One day, a teacher came into her classroom with a glass of water. She wanted to explain stress(压力) management to her students. She asked them how 1the glass of water was. They gave many 2 answers. Some students said it weighed 200 grams, while others 3 said they didn't know. She smiled and 4, "Actually, the weight of the glass doesn't matter. It depends on the 5 . If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my   6. If I hold it for a day, I'll have to call an ambulance (救护车). In each case, the glass of water is the same weight, but the 7 I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

    Lost in thought, all the students kept 8 and listened to the teacher carefully.

    The teacher continued, "Our stresses and worries in life are the same as that glass of water. If we carry 9 all the time, we will soon feel tired as if the weight is 10. We will not be able to move on. Just   11 putting down this glass of water, you have to put your stress down for a while and take a rest. When we're not tired, we can 12 our

burdens(负担) -- holding them more easily each time."

    More often than not, life gets terrible when we 13 too much. And the moment you let go of your burdens, you'll find yourself feeling so much more 14.

    So, 15 being upset and feeling sorry for yourself, start doing something about it. After all, life is too short to give yourself up to anything that is not making you happy.

    It was such a beautiful day that I drove to go for a look in the country. On the way back home, my car 1.

    It was out of gas on a lonely road far from a town, I decided to walk 2 I got help. I had walked almost a mile before I finally found a house near the road. I was glad to see it 3 it was getting dark.

    I knocked at the door and a little old lady 4 long gray hair came out. She said. "I've been 5 for you for a long time, Come in, 6 is almost ready."

    "But I only come for some gas," I answered. I couldn't understand 7 she was talking about.

    "Oh, Alfred! Gas? You used to like tea," she said.

    I quickly explained my problem， 8 she didn't seem to hear me. She just 9 calling me Alfred and talking about how long it had passed 10 she had seen me. She acted very strangely and I felt very 11. As soon as she went to get tea, I ran out of the house as fast as I could.

    12 ，there was another house down the road and I was able to buy the gas I needed. When I told the man about my 13 , he said, "Oh, that's Miss Bronte. She lives by herself in that big house, She's strange. She's out of her mind. But don't worry. She won't hurt anybody. She is still 14 the man she was supposed to marry thirty years ago. The day before their wedding he left home and 15 came back because of the war."