While watching the Olympics the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, nor a world record broken, but a show of someone's strong determination to win.

The event was a swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them made mistake when they started, so they were kicked out. That would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is what's important.

I watch the man jump into the water and knew right away that something was wrong. Now I'm not an expert swimmer but I do know a good jump from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he was swimming, the crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.

      I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man that was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. He tried his best, but clearly he was exhausted.

       But when they saw the man keeping on trying , they stopped laughing and beginning to cheer. Some even to stand and say: “Come , you can do it!” and “ Go for it！”

       A few minutes later ,this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and he should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.

       Just a short year ago, he had never swam, let alone raced. His country had been asked to Sydney as manners.

       In a competition where players remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch this game.

       A man that gave his all-knowing that he had no chance, but competed because of the spirit of the games.

A

    Skin­diving is a new sport today. This sport takes you into a wonderful new world. It is like a visit to the moon. When you are under the water, it is easy for you to climb big rocks, because you are no longer heavy.

    Here, under the water, everything is blue and green. During the day, there is plenty of light. When fish swim nearby, you can catch them with your hands.

When you have tanks of oxygen on your back, you can stay in deep water for a long time. But you must be careful when you dive in deep water.

    To catch fish is one of the most interesting parts of this sport.

    What's more, there are more uses for skin­diving. You can clean ships without taking them out of water. You can get many things from the deep sea.

    Now you see that skin­diving is both useful and interesting.

    Sports are important in English life. The people of England are sports lovers. Some of the world's famous sports began here such as football and cricket(板球).

    Football is a fast game played in winter and early spring. Lots of people play football in parks or playgrounds just for fun. With hundreds of years' history, it's one of the most popular sports in England. The English love football very much and they turned most of their main players into famous persons. David Beckham and Bobby Charlton became heroes（英雄） for many children. The most interesting part of the English football year is the FA (Football Association) Cup Final each May.

    Cricket is a national sport in England. It is a very popular summer sport. It is a game played on grass(草地 )by two teams of eleven players. Players wear white clothes and score points（得分） by hitting（击打） the ball with a bat(棒子). People can sit around the green, enjoying the sun, having drinks and watching the team games.

    One sunny day, I decided to go for a walk with my husband. I was wearing a special1 ring that day. It was my 20th birthday gift from my grandmother.

    As we were walking in the park, I just looked 2 at my hand and found the diamond on my ring was missing. I was really 3 so I went back to look for it. I knew how small the chances were of finding it, but I still wanted to give it a try.

    As I was fixing my eyes on the ground, I ran into an old gentleman 4.

    “What's the matter, love?” he asked nicely.

    “Sorry that I ran into you,” I said. “But I lost something important. I'm really nervous.”

    I explained about the missing diamond and showed him the5 in my ring.

    “That's not going to be easy to find it,” he said. “Tell you what, love, I take a walk here every day. I'll6 my eyes open for it.”

    I thanked him, expecting7. However, a few days later, my husband and I met the old man again in the park.

    “Guess what,” he said. “I found your diamond!”

    I couldn't believe what I saw when the gentleman handed the diamond back to me. Then my husband8him money for his help, but he refused.

    As the diamond is worth several thousand dollars, the old man could have easily kept the diamond 9sold it, but he did neither of these.

    Now thanks to this man, I always look at my ring and remind10 that there are still kind and generous souls out there. I'll spend more time trying to do something equally nice for other people.

    Mr. Black decided to know more about the different jobs of his students' parents. But some of students were laughing as he talked with Mary. Betty shouted, "Mary's father is a garbageman!"Then everybody in the class laughed out loud. Mary felt her face tum red.

    "Be quiet! Stop laughing!"Mr. Black said," It is difficult but useful to be a garbageman. We should all be thankful to Mary's father."

    Mary's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him the way she always did. When they got back home, Mary went to her room and cried for a long time. Her father came into her room, "What happened? Why are you so sad?"

    Mary told her father what happened and looked at him sadly. He didn't seem angry or hurt, "Well." He said," They are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Mary."

    Mary wrinkled her nose because of the bad smell. "Don't worry. In five minutes you won't smell a thing." said her father.

    Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Mary's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

    It was fun, but also hard work. At last, no more garbage was left and Mary felt very proud and happy.

    "Garbage makes us uncomfortable and unhealthy but when we clear it away, everything is nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making others happy."

    Mary gave her dirty, smelly garbageman daddy a big kiss because she regarded him as an unselfish man. Now whenever someone asks Mary what her daddy does, she says, "He is a garbageman! Everyone makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!"

    Tom is ten years old. He loves watching TV. But for one year, he didn't watch TV at all. What was the reason? Tom's parents said they would give him $600 if he didn't watch TV for a year. Tom's parents thought he watched TV too much.

    One day his mother read a story in a newspaper about a boy who didn't watch TV for a year. She showed the story to Tom. Tom liked the idea. He turned off the TV right away, and said," It doesn't trouble me not to watch TV. I just want the money. "At first, Tom's parents were very happy. Tom read books and newspapers, played outside, and played computer games, but soon he got bored.

    Every evening, he asked his parents." What are we doing tonight?" Sometimes his mother and father wished he would watch TV just for one evening. Tom always said," No, it would cost me money!" Finally the year was over, Then Tom started watching his favorite TV shows all day again. Tom got the money from his parents. What did he plan to do with the $600?"I want to buy myself a TV set!" he said.