On 28 of March Richard Byrd stood outside the small house. He shook hands with the men who were leaving. They were heading back to the main camp on the coast of Antarctica (南极洲). He would 1 to work at the base camp.

    "I don't like leaving you here alone,"Pete Demas said."I'll be 2,"Byrd replied. He was looking forward to the challenge of spending the winter at the base camp. He would be recording the weather. There was plenty of food and fuel (燃料) in the tiny house. He felt sure 3 would go wrong.

    But something did go wrong. Byrd was burning the fuel for4 . But the fumes (有毒气体) were not leaving the house. Slowly he was being poisoned (中毒). On May 31 he broke down. When he came to, he made himself into his sleeping bag. Three days later he 5 it was a Sunday. The men would be  6 his radio message. Byrd moved hard out of bed and 7 the call. He didn't want the men to know how 8 he was. It was too dangerous for them to come to save him.

    By will-power alone, Byrd managed to stay alive. He was so 9 that he could hardly walk. But he forced himself to do the basics. He 10  food and made myself eat. He took 11of weather and sent radio messages. But by late June, the men 12 that something was wrong. Most of the time, Byrd's messages made no sense.

    On August 11 Demas and two others reached the base camp. They 13 recognized (认出) Byrd. He was very thin and looked terrible. Byrd 14  them and then fell to the ground. The men had arrived in time. After two months of care, Byrd's good 15returned. He and his men worked together again.

    “You don't understand me!” I shouted. Then I ran out of the door and got on a bus. I didn't know 1 it was going. I just want to get away from home as 2 as I could.I couldn't 3what had just happened to me. My mother, the person I believe in, had just read all of my 4 from my close friends! It shouldn't have happened to me. She read my letters and told me not to write to 5 any more! I couldn't 6 the tears from falling when I thought about this. Later that day, I went to my close 7 house. 8 my friend gave me a cup of water, the phone rang. “It's your mother,” she spoke to me in a low 9. “Tell her that I'm not here!” I answered. However my mother heard it. “Tell her not to leave! I'll be right there!” Then she rang off the phone 10 a goodbye. In fact, I should say that I was a little 11. I couldn't imagine what would happen. But to my 12, when my mother arrived, “sorry” was the first word she 13 to me. Her 14 told me that she had been crying and her voice told me that she was really tired. “will you forgive (原谅) me?” at last she asked. I didn't know what to say. I just15her, and gave her a hug. She held me so tightly. You know, at that time, I felt so warm. I really love you, Mum!

    Mr. Black has a big shop in the city center. He tells all his employees (雇员) to be 1 to the buyers and he gets a lot of money.

    One day an old woman went to the shop to buy a silk blouse. When she came 2of the shop with the blouse, she left her wallet in it. A girl3and found there were nearly five hundred dollars in it. She looked around and 4 saw it. She put it into her pocket 5. Soon the old woman came back to look for it, of course she 6 . That evening Mr. Black was told about it. He was very angry and sent the girl away. Then he decided to employ7 honest man to take her place. Several young 8 came, but none of them could satisfy him.

    This morning a young man came into9 office. He asked, “Do you smoke, sir?”

    “No, sir,” answered the young man.

    “Do you drink?”

    “No, sir.”

    Mr. Black asked him the other questions, and the young man's answers satisfied him.10 he employed him, he asked him the last question, “You have no shortcoming(缺点), do you?”

    “No, I don't, sir,” said the young man. “I only like telling lies (撒谎)”.

    Mr. White lived in a house less than two miles from his office, so he could1 home for lunch every day. Every time he drove back home, 2cars were parked outside his house and there was no room for his car. He had to park his car somewhere else, and then walked back home. This made him very 3.

    Then he wrote "NO PARKING"4 a small board, in the garden facing the road, but it didn't work. People seem to obey only a public notice.

    Mrs. White asked him to 5 a police notice. But he was afraid to do so. Then Mrs. White asked him to make6 just like a police notice. But he said he was not a 7and couldn't use the word "police". However, after a few days, Mr. White made a notice board.

    "Oh, dear!" Mrs. White looked at the board and said. "You told me you couldn't use the word 'police', 8why do you use it?"

    "9 at it again, please." Mr. White said. Mrs. White looked at it 10 this time and found it was a "polite" notice. She started to laugh, "You are really clever."

    An old carpenter(木匠) was ready to retire(退休). He told his boss that he was leaving1 an easy life with his family. The boss was 2 to see his best worker go and asked 3he could build just one more house. The carpenter said yes, but it was easy4that his heart was not in his work. He used bad wood and didn't work5 before. When the carpenter 6 his work, his boss came to see the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said. "This is your house, my gift to you. The carpenter was surprised! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all7. So it is the same with us. We build our life, a day8, often putting less than our best into the9.Then, in surprise, we know that we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it again, we would do it much more differently. But you cannot go back. Someone once said, "Life is a do-it-yourself job. So, build your10 well

    A zero-waste life is a lifestyle that hardly creates any rubbish. So, a zero-waste theme store is about 1 people with a number of everyday, practical and pleasant zero-waste products to help them start on a one-stop, zero-waste life journey.

    "Zero waste" or "danshari" was first 2 by a French woman Bea Johnson. "Live a life and try not to create any rubbish; use different methods to protect the earth." she said.

    Yu Yuan, 27, is 3 attracted by this idea.

    She and her boyfriend have lived in Beijing for many years. And earlier she used to be a customer without thinking a lot. 4 she saw a video about "zero waste"

    The 5 is about a family of four, and the rubbish they produce every year is placed in a jar.

    After watching the video, Yu wanted to 6 this zero-waste lifestyle with her boyfriend.

    Yu says that a zero-waste life 7 the 6R principle --Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle and Rot (腐烂）.

    Over August-October when Yu followed the principle of zero waste 6R, she and her boyfriend Joe Harvey both 8 only two cans of rubbish.

    Now, the couple have opened a small 9 called The Bulk House in Nanluoguxiang, Beijing, to support a zero-waste life.

    At the store they use environmentally friendly products. For example, they use wood products to replace 10 ones and prepare cloth bags printed with zero-waste logos for customers. Most of the products sold in the store can be reused, and a small number of 11which are not recyclable can degrade (分解). The store 12 has secondhand books and audio-visual CD/DVDs.

    For used toiletries things like soap and toothpaste that are used for cleaning yourself) there is a company which accepts them, and the couple regularly mails their waste to it.

    Yu says that those who were once not 13 in the zero-waste lifestyle have gradually changed because of curiosity. The zero-waste lifestyle, she adds, is for everyone.

    "It's 14 us at our fingertips." Yu expects some of her friends to 15 her on the road to zero waste. As the saying goes, many hands make light work.