In a small village， there lived a potter（陶工）. He had a donkey. Every day his donkey would carry soil from the field to his house._______the field was quite far away， the potter would rest under a tree midway, _______his donkey nearby.

One day, the potter forgot to take the_______with which he tied the donkey every day. When he reached the tree，he thought，"How do I tie this donkey today？ He might ________if I sleep. " The potter decided to lie down, ________the donkey's ears so that the donkey would not run away.

But _______this way neither the donkey nor the potter was able to take a rest. A wise saint（圣人）, who ______to be passing by, saw the potter holding on to the donkey's ears. Then the saint wanted to know what the problem of the potter was. When he was ________what the problem was， the wise saint said， "Take the donkey to the place where you tie him every day. Pretend（假装） to tie him using a（n）________rope. I promise you that he won't run away." The potter did what the saint had said.

He left the donkey and went to take a rest. When he woke up, to his ________， he found the donkey standing in the same place.

Soon the potter prepared to leave for home.________the donkey did not move. "What is wrong with this donkey？" shouted the potter in frustration.

________， the potter saw the wise saint again. He ran up to the saint and told him about the donkey's_________behavior. The saint said, "You tied up the donkey, but did you untie him? Go and pretend to untie the rope with which you had tied the donkey."

The potter_________the saint's advice. He thanked the wise saint and went home happily with his donkey. The donkey is stupid and ________are those people who can't get away from old habits. Sometimes， the unseen rope is more confining（束缚的） than the one that can be seen.

Gustave Eiffel designed the Eiffel Tower as the entrance to the 1889 Paris World’s Fair. Today, it is a symbol(象征) of France. Take a closer look at the country’s “Iron Lady”.

For most people, the word “fashion” means “clothes”. But people may ask the question, “What clothes are in fashion?” And they use the word “fashionable” in the same way. “She was wearing a fashionable coat. His shirt was really a fashionable colour.”

But of course there are fashions in many things, not only in clothes. There are fashions in holidays, in restaurants, in films and books. There are even fashions in school subjects, jobs ... and in languages.

Fashions change as time goes. If you look at pictures of people or things from the past, you will see that fashions have always changed. An English house of 1750 was different from one of 1650. A fashionable man in 1780 looked very different from his grandson in 1860.

Today fashions change very quickly. Some of this is natural. We hear about things much more quickly than in the past. Newspapers, radios, telephones and televisions send information from one country to another in a few hours.

New fashions mean that people will buy new things, so you see there is money in fashion.

I’ll never forget that summer day in 1965 when my mother suddenly died of an unexplained illness at the age of 36. Later that afternoon, a police officer stopped by to ask my father if the hospital could use Mother’s corneas(角膜). I was shocked. “The doctors want to dissect Mum and give her away to other people!” I thought as I ran into the house in tears.

“How can you let them do that to her?” I screamed at my father. “My mum came into this world in one piece and that is how she should go out.”

“Linda,” Father said quietly, putting his arm around me, “the greatest gift you can give is a part of yourself. Your mother and I decided long ago that if we can make a difference in just one person’s life after we die, our death will have meaning.” He went on to explain they had both decided to donate their organs(器官).

The lesson my father taught me that day became one of the most important in my life.

Years passed. I married and had a family of my own. In 1980, my father became seriously ill and moved in with us. He cheerfully told me that when he died, he wanted me to donate his eyes. “Sight is one of the greatest gifts a person can give,” he said.

I told Wendy what her grandpa had said, and with tears in her eyes, she went into her grandpa’s room and gave him a big hug. She was only fourteen years old—the same age at which I was introduced to such a thing. What a difference!

My father died on April 11,1986, and we donated his eyes as he had wanted. Three days later, Wendy said, “Mum, I’m so proud of you for what did for Grandpa.”

At that moment, I realized that my father gave much more than his eyes.

Portia gave the decision. “One pound of the merchant’s flesh is yours. It is what the contract says. You may take his flesh!”

Shylock held his knife and told Antonio to get ready. “Wait” exclaimed Portia. “You will not do anything that is not written in the contract. Is that right, Shylock?”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Shylock. He wondered what the wise young judge was going to say.

“Well” said the young judge, “I have read the contract carefully, and it does not say anything about taking his blood. It says ‘a pound of flesh’. You can take your pound of flesh, but you may not take one drop of his blood. If you take any of his blood, the duke will take everything you own!”

Now it was Graziano’s turn to bless the judge and call him wise.

“You wanted justice,” Portia told Shylock, “and you will have more justice than you wanted.”

Shylock didn’t want to give everything he owned to the duke. He decided not to take his pound of flesh. He said he would take the money.

“Give me ninety thousand dollars,” he said, “and I will have mercy on Antonio and let him go.”

Bassanio was happy to give him the money. He was very pleased that his friend Antonio would not die.

“Wait!” Portia said again. “He does not want the money. It is not written in the contract.”

But shylock said he just wanted to have his money back and wouldn’t even demand interest. Bassanio was ready to give it to him, but again Portia stopped him.

“He said he wanted only the penalty that is in the contract.”

Shylock understood that he would not get his pound of flesh. He understood that he would not get his money. He decided to go home.

“Wait!” said Portia, for the third time. The law of Venice, says that if you plan to kill a citizen of Venice, you will lose everything that you own. Half of what you have will belong to the person you tried to kill, and the other half will belong to the duke.

Taken from The Merchant of Venice

A young man traveled by train. As it was running across a wild land, the passengers looked out of windows without aims.

When the train came near a turning, it slowed down and then a simple house came into view. It was the only house the passengers saw on such a long journey. Everybody on the train admired it with eyes wide open. Some passengers even began a discussion about it.

The young man was also impressed by the scene. On his return, he got off the train at the nearest station from the house and found his way there. Its owner told him he was troubled by the noise of the train and that he wanted to sell the house but nobody would buy it.

Soon the young man paid 30, 000 dollars for the house, thinking it a wonderful place for advertisement. It faced the railway turning, where the train had to slow down and the bored passengers would cast their eyes at the house to refresh their minds.

The young man tried to contact big companies and make them realize the place was the perfect for advertisement. Finally the Coca-Cola Company put up an advertisement on the house. The young man got 180, 000 dollars for three year’s rent.

Good chances always hide somewhere around us, waiting for those who are careful and smart enough to find them.

It is easy for many people to catch a cold in spring or fall.It makes us wonder if scientists can send a man to the moon,why can’t they find a cure for the common cold？The answer is easy. There are actually different cold viruses(病毒) out there.You never know which one you will get, so there isn’t a cure for each one.

When a virus attacks your body, your body works hard to get rid of it. Blood rushes to your nose and causes a block in it.You feel terrible because you can’t breathe well, but your body is actually eating the virus.Your temperature goes up and you get a fever, but the heat of your body is killing the virus.You also have a runny nose to stop the virus from getting into your cells.You may feel very uncomfortable,but actually your wonderful body is doing everything it can to kill the cold.

Different people do different things to deal with colds.In the United States and some other countries, for example, some people might have chicken soup, some take hot baths and others take medicine to stop different symptoms(症状) of colds.

There is one interesting thing to note- some scientists say taking medicine when you have a cold is actually bad for you.The virus stays in you longer because your body doesn’t have a way to fight it and kill it.Bodies can do an amazing job on their own.however, there is a joke on taking medicine when you have a cold. It goes like this: It takes about one week to get over a cold if you don’t take medicine, but it takes only seven days to get over a cold if you take medicine.

If the rose can be said to be a special flower, then the apple can be said to be a s    71     fruit. It is very important in American culture. American stories speak of Johnny Appleseed, who went all over America, collecting apple seeds and p    72     apple trees. He had a great love for nature and went through fields and farms adding richness and beauty to the country.

One of the first sayings taught to school children is, “An apple a day keeps the doctor a    73    .” This short saying encourages children to eat fresh fruit to keep h    74    . If someone always says good words to a person, people will call him an “apple polisher”. This, however, is not a good name. If someone is very dear to us, we say that he or she is the “apple of our eye”.

Most people b    75     that the fruit which Eve gave to Adam was an apple, even though the Bible (圣经) never says so. The apple, therefore, is a deep part of the language and stories of America.

An apple is also delicious. Apples can be cooked in many w    76    , used as a dessert, and made into sweet juice.

In many parts of the country during the harvest season, a popular activity is to go into an apple garden to p    77     apples. Washington D.C. and New York are b    78     famous for their apples.

F    79    , when it’s time to take a vacation to American cities, one can always visit New York-“the B    80     Apple”, because New York is the symbol of the USA and is also one of the biggest cities in the USA.

81. 亲爱的同学们，初三的你，生活紧张而又忙碌，相信你的身边一定会有这样的一位好朋友：与你一起学习，一起玩耍，一起感受成长的快乐与痛苦……假如你是Lily ，请根据所给提示，以“My good friend—Millie”为题，写一篇短文。

My good friend—Millie

My name is Lily. I have a good friend called Millie. Now let me tell you something about her.