We went to an animal shelter （收容所）to adopt a puppy, but in reality, it was the puppy who adopted us. As we looked into the cage, a small, three-month-old beagle（小猎兔狗） puppy began wagging her tail. She seemed to say, “Oh, you’re the family I’ve been looking for!” And for the next fifteen years. Puddin’（we named her Puddin’ because she was as sweet as a pudding dessert）became part of our family.

Pet ownership（养宠物）has always been popular in Western countries. Now, China is also discovering（发现）its love for cats and dogs. It now ranks No. 3 in the world for pet ownership. The pet industry（宠物业）which sells food and toys as well as grooming （刷洗，梳毛）and pet doctor services, is one of the country’s fastest-growing industries.

Pets bring a lot of joy to your home, but they are also a big responsibility（责任）. Pets are not toys. You cannot put them away when you are tired of playing with them. Dogs, in particular, need to be trained to behave properly and they need exercise. Even in bad weather, you have to take them for walks or for a run in the park. And, while you are training your dog, your dog is also training you to think about others and care about others, nor just about yourself.

Puddin’ was my best friend when I was growing up. We sat together on the sofa and watched television. She kept me company when I was doing homework. And when I came home, she was always there to greet me, leaping up and barking and wagging her tail.

Puddin’ is now gone, but you can still recognize her in old family photos: She is the one wearing fur.

Some scientists are working on something new. It is a machine that can give blind people a new way to read. Soon, the blind may be able to read almost everything.

    33     It looks like a ring. It can scan（扫描）words and then the small computer in it will read the words out loudly. It works more quickly than any other reading machine.

It was not easy to make the Finger Reader.     34     It took them three years to make it. Many blind people helped to test the machine. Jerry Berrier, a 62-year-old man, was one of them. He was born blind. He likes the Finger Reader because it’s small. It can be used anywhere.

    35     The scientists still need to improve it because it can’t work with smart phones. The Finger Reader can read books, magazines, newspapers and computer screens, but it has problems reading a touch screen.

    36     The scientists believe that many of them may want to buy one if the Finger Reader comes into the market.

56. 假如Andy是一位来自美国的交换生，目前就读于你所在的中学，通过两个月的接 触，你们成了好朋友。请你根据下面的提示，以A Friend From the USA为题介绍一下他。开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

A Friend From the USA

Andy is an exchange student from America. He is my friend in our school now. He ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope to visit him in the USA some day!