Mark Twain was a famous American writer. One day he went to a city by train. He was a busy man. He usually 1 something. When he was in the train, the conductor asked him for his 2. Mark Twain looked for it here and there, but he could not find it. The conductor knew Mark Twain. She said, “If you can't find it, it doesn't matter.” “Oh, but it does,” said Mark Twain. “I must find it. If I can't find it, how can I 3 where I'm going?” Another day, he went to Dijon by train. He was very 4 and wanted to sleep. He asked the conductor to wake him up before the train 5 Dijon. But first he explained that he was a heavy sleeper. “I would probably protest (抗议）6 when you try to wake me up. But do not 7. Just put me off the train anyway.” Then Mark Twain went to sleep. By the time he woke up, the train had already been in Paris. He 8 that the conductor had forgotten his words. He was very 9. He ran up to the conductor and began 10 him, “I never was so angry in all my life.” The conductor looked hard at him and said “I just put a man off the train at Dijon. You were not half as angry as him!”

    A giant panda ran away from the zoo in London. He walked and walked and became1 . He walked into a restaurant, where he found a 2at an empty table. The waiter took the panda's order.

    After he 3 his dinner, the panda stood up, calmly pulled out a gun which he had hidden, and fired into the air.4 he turned around and walked toward the door.

    Naturally, the waiter was horrified(恐惧的), but he tried hard to pull himself together and stopped him for a(n) 5.

    The panda said to him, "What do I look like to 6 ?"  .

    The waiter answered, "Well, a giant panda, of course,"

    "That's right," said the panda. "Look it up." and he walked out.

    The waiter called the7. When they arrived the waiter told them the whole story，8 the panda's words "looking it up". So the police officer 9 a young man out to get an encyclopedia(百科全书).

    The young man returned with the encyclopedia. The officer  10 "panda" and there was the answer," Giant panda, lives in china, eats shoots (竹笋) and leaves."

    "The first of June, and the King family is going on holiday tomorrow! " said Meg. "I'm free for three months!"

    "And Aunt March went away for her holiday today." said Jo. "Isn't life wonderful!"

    "What will you do all your holiday?" asked Amy.

    "I'll stay in bed late, and do nothing." said Meg.

    "I have lots of books to read." said Jo.

    "Let's not do any studying, Beth...." said Amy. "Let's play all the time and rest, as Jo and Meg are going to do."

    "I will if Mother doesn't mind." said Beth.

    Mrs. March agreed to the plan and said they could try it for a week.

   "But," she added, "I think by Saturday night you will find that all play and no work is as bad as all work and no play."

    Next day, Meg appeared at ten o'clock and ate breakfast alone. It was a lonely meal and the room was untidy, because Beth had not cleaned it.

    Jo went to the river with Laurie, then sat in the apple tree and read a book. Beth began to tidy things in her cupboard, but she got tired and left it half-done. She went to her piano, glad that she did not have to wash the cups and plates. Amy sat in the garden to draw, hoping someone would see her and say something nice about her picture. But no one appeared, so she went for a walk, got caught in the rain and came home very wet.

    At tea, everyone said that it had been a happy but unusually long day. Meg, who had been shopping in the afternoon, now decided that she did not like the dress she had bought. Jo had a headache from reading too long. Beth couldn't find anything in her cupboard, and the rain had made Amy's dress so wet that she couldn't wear it to Katy Brown's party the next day.

    Mrs. March listened, smiled and said nothing.

    The week seemed to get longer and longer with nothing much to do, and by Friday the girls were glad that it was nearly over. Then Mrs. March gave Hannah a holiday, and when the girls got up on Saturday, there was no breakfast ready, no fire in the kitchen, and no mother waiting for them.

    "What has happened?" said Jo.

    Meg ran upstairs, then came down to say that Mother was staying in her room to have a rest.

    "She says we must look after ourselves today." Meg said.

    "Good, I want something to do." said Jo.

    Secretly, they were all pleased to have something useful to do again. Beth and Amy put cups and plates on the table while Jo and Meg got the breakfast, then Meg took some tea and an egg up to Mrs. March. The tea was too strong and the egg was burned. Mrs. March did not complain, but she laughed to herself afterwards.

    Children like to copy（模仿）what they hear. They copy their parents， their friends and even the TV. This teaches them how to speak the language. Copying is also 1 for students of a second language. When you listen to foreigners speak English， repeat 2 they say.

    Children don't practice grammar， but they can use the language to talk about things that 3 them. They don't complain 4 their vocabulary or poor grammar. They can find ways to express themselves， and they do it 5.

    Students who are learning English should also pay their attention to 6. Look for chances to talk with people in English. If you can't find a 7 to talk to， you man talk with other students who know English instead. 8 an English discussion group and talk about music， movies 9 whatever interests you. Don't worry about 10. The objective（目标）is to learn how to communicate easily and comfortably. Remember that you communicate successfully even with a small vocabulary.

Comfort Zone

    I would never forget what I learned from the day when I left my junior high school. On the last day our teacher told us something1that I would like to share with you.

    He began by drawing a man standing in the middle of a circle. To make it more interesting, he drew things like a house, a car and a few friends inside the circle.

    He asked, "Can anyone tell me what this is?" In a long silence, one student decided to2his idea," The world?" The teacher said, "That's close. This is your Comfort Zone. Inside your circle you have all the things that are important to you. Your home, your family, your friends and your job. People feel that inside this circle they are safe from any3."

    "Can anyone tell me what happens when you step out of this circle?" A strong silence came over the room. The same student replied," You are afraid." Another student said, "You may make mistakes." The silence continued and our teacher smiled and asked," When you make mistakes, what can the result be?" The first student said," You4something."

    "Exactly, you are learning." Our teacher turned to the blackboard and drew an arrow（箭头）5from the man to the outside of the circle. He went on saying," When you leave your Comfort Zone, you put yourself out there, in a6that you are not comfortable with, The result is that you learn something that you did not know and you enlarge your knowledge to become a better person." He turned again to the blackboard and drew a bigger circle around the original（原来的）circle, and7a few new things like more friends, a big house, etc.

    A lesson from this story is that if you stay inside your Comfort Zone you will never be able to open your eyes to the outside world and learn, When you step out of your Comfort Zone, you will8make your circle bigger to challenge your mind and grow to be stronger, and all in all be a better person.

    Alex was a giraffe, he lived in a zoo with his mum, dad and other giraffe friends. As Alex grew, he 1 his neck was much shorter than the others'. He began to get 2. But his mother told him that he was special.

    Alex tried not to think about his short 3. But as his friends grew taller and taller, his neck 4short. Sometimes the other giraffes laugh at him, 5 his parents told him not to worry. They said that he should be happy with himself the way he was. He tried, but he could not even play in some giraffe sports. He was just too 6.

    One day, one of the zoo workers came and took Alex away. Alex was frightened(害怕的). Would he have to leave the zoo just because he didn't have a long neck? The zoo worker calmed Alex down and gave him some food. He felt a little 7. Then he took Alex to another area of the zoo. There was a small door 8 the two areas. Alex was the only giraffe that could go through it.

    Soon Alex's parents came to see him. "I told you that you were special," his mother said. "The zoo has made a place just for 9because so many people want to see how special you are!" She was right. Visitors pointed to him and talked 10. They looked happy to see something so special at the zoo.