King Akbar was in the habit of putting riddles and puzzles to his people. He often asked 1 which were strange. His people had to use words in a 2 way to answer these questions.

    Once Akbar asked a very strange question. He looked at his people. As he looked, one by one the heads began to hang low in search of a(an) 3. It was at this moment that Bribal entered the palace. Birbal  4 the habit of the king. He understood the 5 at once and asked, “May I know the question so that I can 6 for an answer?”

    Akbar said, “How many crows(乌鸦)are there in the city?”

    Without even a moment's thought, Birbal 7, “There are fifty thousand five hundred and eighty nine crows, My Lord. "

    “How can you be so 8?” asked Akbar.

    Birbal said, “Make your men 9, My Lord. If you find more crows it means some have come to visit their relatives here. If you find 10 crows it means some have gone to visit their relatives somewhere else. "

    Akbar was pleased very much by Birbal's wise answer.

    The Americans were getting ready to send their first man to the moon, an old Irishman (爱尔兰人) was 1 them on TV in a hotel room. There was an Englishman in the room 2. And he said to the Irishman, “The Americans are very 3, aren't they? They are going to send some men to the moon. It's a very 4 way from our world.” “Oh, that's 5,”the Irishman answered quickly.” “The Irishman are going to send some men to the sun in months' 6. That's much 7away than the moon, you know. “The Englishman was very 8 when he heard this. “Oh, yes it is,” he said, “But the sun is too 9 for people to visit.”

    The Irishman laughed and answered, “Well, the Irish are clever, too, you know. We 10 go to the sun during the day, of course. We'll go there during the night.”

    A Little Horse Crossing the River

    There is an old horse and a little horse on a farm. One day the old horse asks the little horse to send the wheat to the mill(磨坊）。The little horse is very happy. He carries the wheat and runs toward the mill. But there is a river in front of the little horse. He stops and doesn't know {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to do next. Just then Aunt Cow is passing by.

    The little horse {#blank#}2{#/blank#},”Aunt Cow, please tell me. Can I cross the river?”

Aunt Cow answers.” It's not deep, you can cross it.”

    When the little horse begins to cross the river, a little squirrel(松鼠）shouts to him,” Little horse, don't cross it, you will be drowned. Yesterday {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of my friends was drowned in this river.”

    The little horse is very {#blank#}4{#/blank#} .Finally he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to go home and asks his mother.

    The old horse asks,”{#blank#}6{#/blank#} do you take the wheat back? What's wrong with you, my child?”

    The little horse answers sadly,” There is a river in front of me. Aunt Cow said it was not deep, but the little squirrel said it was deep. What shall I do?”

    The old horse says,” My child, you should try to cross the river by   7    . If you don't try, how do you know the river is deep or not.

    The little horse carries the wheat and    8      to the riverside. At last,he succeeds in   9    the river. Now, he knows    10    deep the river is.

A Meaningful Gift

    Emily was an eight grader. To pass her Civics course（公民课程）,she had to do some volunteer service in a nursing home for a week.

    One Monday, Emily went to the nursing home after school. When she arrived, she was told she would1an hour every weekday with an elderly lady, Mrs. Blair. She was then led into a room, where an old lady in a flowery dress was sitting on a sofa.

    Emily2awkwardly（别扭地） in front of the lady. She cleared her throat and said,“Good afternoon. I'm Emily.”

    “Good afternoon, Emily. Take a seat,please,”Mrs. Blair replied.

    Then,3filled the space between them. Emily wondered what to say.

    “Tell me about yourself,Emily,”Mrs. Blair said suddenly.

    “Well,” Emily started, “I don't have any grandparents, so I can't relate to elderly people much. I love the performing arts. I'm here mainly because I have to 4here to get a good grade for my Civics class.”Mrs. Blair didn't seem to5.Many people, especially teens, don't seem to care about old people like me. Now you're here, and I'm going to change that about you. Ask me anything.”

    Emily thought for a moment, and finally decided, “What was your job?”

    “I was a Broadway star in the 1950s,”Mrs. Blair answered.

    “Cool! Can you tell me about it?” Emily asked, amazed.

    Mrs. Blair smiled. “Back then, only the lead actress had the honor to wear a 6bracelet. I was the lead in almost all of the plays, so I always wore the bracelet. Till this day, I still have it.”

    Emily smiled along with Mrs. Blair and listened to the other stories, attentively. She had become so interested in Mrs. Blair's7that she decided to come earlier the next day.

    Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday passed by quickly. Then came Friday. As she was leaving, Emily was really8to say goodbye.

    “Don't be sad. You can still visit me,” Mrs. Blair comforted her. She then handed a small box to Emily, “It's my gift to you.”

    Emily9opened the box and was surprised to see what was inside. “It's the bracelet that you wore. Thank you!” Emily said, with tears in her eyes. “I'm sure to visit you whenever I'm free.”

    On her way home, Emily thought of her own love for the performing arts. She touched the bracelet and made a10that she would keep her word to Mrs. Blair.

    Tom was a college student. He often made excuses not to attend classes. Also, he spent much of his free time 1 computer games. He never went to the library 2.

    How time flew! At the end of the term, there was 3important event that he was afraid of—the final exam. "What should I do？" Tom walked up and down in the room the day before the exam .He was 4. Suddenly he thought of 5 idea.

    The next morning, Tom went into the exam room very early. He found a young man 6 looked so confident and took a seat next to him. "Hey you！" Tom greeted ."What？" the young man asked.

    " Can you do me a favor？" Tom begged(恳求)."Please let me 7your paper during the exam. I have to depend on you！" When hearing his words, the young man just smiled but said 8.

    When the bell rang, the young man 9 immediately and came to the front, saying, "It is time for the final exam! Now I will hand out the papers to all of you and collect them 10 an hour."

    Tom sat there with his mouth wide open.