While thousands of college students headed for warm climate to enjoy sun and fun during their week off from classes, seven local students had other plans.

        The Northern Essex Community College(NECC) students and one of their teachers spent part of their spring break in New York City, helping repair an area {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (destroy) by the hurricane.

        “I wanted to see for myself what happened,” said Terry. “I couldn't imagine{#blank#}2{#/blank#}it is like to lose your home and everything that you know and the{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (power) effect the hurricane had on thosepeople. I wanted to do something, to understand their feeling of helplessness.”

        The group headed into Brooklyn's RedHook district, which was hit hard by the hurricane. There they met people fromother parts of the country, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}had also volunteered to help. Together, thosevolunteers and the NECC students{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (work) to clear rubbish out of at hree-story building. They put on protective suits and gloves{#blank#}6{#/blank#}they enteredthe building.

        Inside the building, the students saw nothing but broken walls and doors and pieces of the building   {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (lie) all over the place.

The students returned to school with{#blank#}8{#/blank#}sense of achievement, a feeling that{#blank#}9{#/blank#}helped people in need. I was remarkable how a community lost so much and was still able to recover, and this left the deepest impression{#blank#}10{#/blank#}thestudents.

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens, more commonly {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (know) as Mark Twain, was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida. Twain is considered{#blank#}2{#/blank#} greatest author and humorist of the 19th-century American literature (文学).

    In 1839 the Clemens family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River where he was brought {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Like many authors of his day he had little formal education. His education came from the print shops and newspaper offices {#blank#}4{#/blank#} he worked as a youth. In 1853 Twain left Hannibal to travel. On a trip to New Orleans he persuaded a riverboat pilot {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (teach) him his skill. By the spring of 1859 Twain was a licensed riverboat pilot.

    After a(n) {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (success) attempt at gold and silver mining he joined the staff of a newspaper in Virginia City, Nevada. He first wrote under the pen name Mark Twain in 1863. 

    He continued to travel as a reporter for various newspapers, and in 1869 his travel letters from Europe {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (collect) into the popular book The Innocents Abroad. Between 1873 and 1889 he wrote seven novels {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (include) his Mississippi River books.

    {#blank#}9{#/blank#} Twain's life and career progressed he lost much of the humorous style of his earlier years. What was expressed more and more in his later works was {#blank#}10{#/blank#} human beings are selfish. Even so Twain is best remembered as a great humorist.

    Many people consider old friends to be more important than new ones. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}an old saying goes, “Friends are like wine, the older, the better.” If two pieces of advice {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (give) to solve a problem, one from a new friend and the other from {#blank#}3{#/blank#} old friend, people would prefer the latter one {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the former one, even though the new friend's advice may be better.

    I, however, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (agree) with the old saying, believing that new friends are not necessarily worse than old friends. It is not always right {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (determine) your friendship by the length(长度) of time.

    Once you call someone a friend, he must be a person who is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (rely) and whose interests are in common with {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(you). It is mainly his character (性格) and interests that make him your friend. It {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (actual) has little to do with time. People's appearance may change, but their character usually stays the same. Therefore, on this point, there is no {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (different) between old friends and new friends.

    Exercise could not only benefit your body, but also improve your memory, researchers found{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(recent).

    In their paper, researchers in the United States and Japan{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(introduce) their experiment and conclusion.

    Scientists invited 36 volunteers{#blank#}3{#/blank#}were in their early 20s to do 10 minutes of light exercise before taking a memory test in which they{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(show) pictures like broccoli(西兰花) or picnic baskets and asked to recall them later. The same experiment was repeated with the same group of volunteers without exercising. “The memory task really was quite{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(challenge),” said Michael Yassa, co-author of the study. “ We used very similar items to see if they would remember {#blank#}6{#/blank#}it was this exact picnic basket versus that picnic basket.”

    Researchers also scanned brains of some of the participants during the experiment.

    They found increased communication between parts{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(involve) in the storage and recollection of memories in brains of those who had exercised.

This suggested that just 10 minutes of light exercise might have a positive effect {#blank#}8{#/blank#}memory power.

    As all{#blank#}9{#/blank#}volunteers in the experiment were relatively young, researchers are still working{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(look) at the influence of light exercise on older people. “Our main goal is to try to develop an exercise way that can be used by older adults who might have disabilities,” said Yassa.

    After weeks of rain, a town flooded and the people {#blank#}1{#/blank#} lived there had to move to a safe place. At one house, rescue workers found {#blank#}2{#/blank#} man standing deep in water. "Come on! Get in the boat!" the rescuers shouted. The man shouted back, "No! I have faith {#blank#}3{#/blank#} God, and He will save me!" Soon the floodwaters chased the man to the second floor. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(luck), another boat came by at this point. "Get in the boat!" the rescuers urged. "No way!" the man said, stubborn in his thought {#blank#}5{#/blank#} God would save him. The floodwaters continued to rise, and the man had to climb to the roof of his house. Fortunately, a rescue helicopter came by and {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (drop) a ladder for him. The pilot shouted through a megaphone, "Grab the ladder!" The man refused and shouted the same thing again.

    But the floodwaters {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (rise) above the roof. The man {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (sweep) away and drowned. When {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (arrive) at heaven, he demanded to meet with God. "God, I was certain that you would save me, but you let me die. Why? Why did you abandon me?" God replied with a {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(puzzle) look, "What do you mean? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!"

    Everyone needs to know how to prevent a fire. It is also important to know what to do when it {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (break) out.

    Every year, over 11, 000 people {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (kill) or injured in house fires. These fires could have been avoided. Smokers who are {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (care) cause about 200 deaths and over 6, 000 fires. More than of those {#blank#}4{#/blank#} die in fires are poisoned or harmed by smoke.

    If fire happens, do not attempt to fight the fire unless it is small. Try putting out a small fire with water. If {#blank#}5{#/blank#} fire has spread or if the flames are more than 20 inches high, shut the door on it. Warn everyone else in the building and tell them to get out. You should leave and dial 911 for the fire department.

    Before {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (go) into a room, check the door. If the handle or the door is hot, do not open it! Instead, put clothing or a wet towel at the bottom of it to keep smoke out. If the door is not hot, open it {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (slow). If there is a rush of smoke heat, close it again and shout to warn {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (other) inside.

    Now open the window and shout "Fire!". See whether you can drop safely to the ground. Use this {#blank#}9{#/blank#} your escape course if you can. If you are not on ground level, break your fall by pushing a mat out first. Lower yourself at arm's {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (long) before dropping. Once outside, stay out outside and make sure the fire department is called.