My friend Alan did not have a rich family. He did not have much money. Sometimes Alan 1 had to accept money and gifts from his family and friends. But do not get me 2. He was not the kind of person who never 3 the money he should. He was always very 4 with the money he spent.

    A few years ago, he won the lottery (中了彩票) and got a huge 5 of money. He was very excited. It changed his life. The 6thing he did was to buy a very expensive new car. Then he 7 spending money on unnecessary things or the things that he normally would not buy. It seemed that he had money to 8. He had more money than he needed and it was burning a hole in his pocket. He wasted his money 9.

    When we got together for a  10 at a restaurant, he would always pay the bill.  He 11 me the money made him feel very happy.

    But, Alan soon 12 out all of his money. He was as poor as a church mouse again. His last dollar was spent and he had no money   13.

    I admit (承认) I do feel  14 for my friend. He had enough money to live like a king. 15, he is back to living a hard life. He was wise about small things, but not about important things.

    Mr. White with his wife was now living at a small Italian hotel. Last year they had stayed in Italy for months on holiday. One night he went out for a walk1. It was late. The small street was dark and 2. Suddenly he heard steps behind him. He 3 his head and saw a middle-aged woman with wild hair， who quickly walked past him. The woman was 4 out of sight when Mr. White suddenly found that his watch was 5. He thought it was the passing woman who had taken his watch， 6 he ran quickly after her and soon caught up with her. As he knew 7 Italian， Mr. White had to ask the woman to8 the watch in another way. He showed the woman his strong arms and pointed to her watch pocket. The woman thought a while and gave the watch to Mr. White.

    Mr. White returned home and told his wife 9had happened. He was greatly 10 when Mrs. White pointed to the watch on the table. Now he found it was he himself that had taken the Italian's watch.

    I had never noticed her. She was not the kind of girl who could draw attention. She was not tall 1 looked ordinary. In class, she liked sitting at the back, reading or writing notes. One day I asked her 2 aloud the text. When I heard her standard （标准） American English, I looked at her with new eyes. And I remembered her name﹣Kelly. Later on, the National College Speech Competition would be held. One student in our school 3 to attend. I thought it over and filled in her name. Kelly practiced 4 for the competition. However, I was a little worried 5 she was always too quiet. Could she really 6 well in the competition?

    7 the night of the competition, I sat in the front row of the hall very early. I told her to take it easy. Her face turned red and she said nothing. 8 seemed that she was really nervous. I felt upset, but I just patted her on the shoulder and 9 her go to draw lots （抽签）. As a result, she drew No.9 while No.8 was a boy who was very good at giving speeches.

    Sure enough, No.8 was very 10. The whole audience made a warm applause.

    While they 11 about his speech with excitement, Kelly appeared on the stage. I with no courage to look at her. It was her 12 time to go up the stage, so I couldn't be angry with her for any small mistakes. But at that moment, I found 13 I was so afraid of her failure（失败）.

    The strong spotlight and large hall made her so small that nobody seemed to notice she had been on the stage. I felt 14.

But the moment that surprised me came. I clearly heard a voice, a very loud voice, "Now, please focus on me."

    Three times in all, louder and louder.

    The whole audience fell silent.

    I could hardly believe that loud voice came from the girl, who was usually soft-voiced and didn't catch attention at all. She gave a perfect speech.

    I think I will never forget this touching lesson which my student taught me-never underestimate（低估） the power of the 15 people.

    J.K. Rowling is the writer of Harry Potter, which is now one of 1 sellers in the world. She was born in Britain on July 31st, 1965. She had one sister who was two years younger than her. Both girls liked 2 to their father's bedtime stories. They especially loved stories about magic. Rowling wrote her first story3the age of six.

    On a long train trip in 1990, an idea came to her. She wanted to write about a boy who had magic but he didn't know it. In 1992, Rowling began4 the first Harry Potter book for young5. It appeared in June, 1997. The book was a great success. And the film came out in November, 2001. Now the Harry Potter series (系列) is6with people of all ages and about sixty7books were sold in 200 countries. In this series, Harry is an ordinary boy: polite, friendly, brave and clever. So when children read about Harry, they can imagine being like him. That's8the Harry Potter series has been so popular. J.K. Rowling is very9with the success. Now she's really enjoying life. She said she would go on 10 children's books.

    A man walked into a restaurant. The restaurant advertised it had the1menu in the world. The manager was very proud of being able to provide any dish, no matter how2it was.

    At the bottom of the 3, there was a notice that said, "If you do not see the dish you need on this menu, please tell us and we will add it to the menu right away."

The man4 the menu and decided to make sure if it was true. He would order5 that was very unusual.

    When a waiter came up to take his order, he said, "You say you can serve any dish, even if it's not on your longest menu in the world."

    "That is correct, sir. We are able to meet everyone's requirements."

"Well, "the man said, "bring me a sandwich with two elephant ears.6, not African." The waiter wrote down on his paper：Two Indian elephant ears on toast.

    "Very good, sir, "he said." That shouldn't 7long."

    The waiter walked away quickly.

    The man was very surprised and rather disappointed.

    Then he smiled8 the waiter returned with a very unhappy look on his face.

    "Ah！"the man said." You can't9 it to me, can you？"

    The waiter made an apology(道歉).

    "I'm very sorry, sir, and this is the 10 embarrassing, "he said, "but I'm afraid we can't because we've run out of bread."