It was snowing heavily outside. The roads were ________ with snow and ice. The parents didn’t want Mary to go out. ________ they also knew very well that they could not stop Mary from going out. No matter what the weather was like, snowy or rainy, Mary would ________ her good friend, Emily, on Saturday and Sunday.

A year ago, it was also a snowy day. In the morning, Mary ________ and saw the snow outside. She was a little excited because it was the first snow of the year. After breakfast, she would meet her good friend Emily who was waiting for her at the bus stop. Then they would take the ________ to school together. But because the road was slippery(滑的), a car knocked down Emily as she was walking. ________ , Emily could never walk again. Her life became difficult. She wanted to give up her life. But with the help of her parents and her good friend, Mary, she made a new ________ to go on living.

________ the accident, Emily had to stay at home and couldn’t go to school. Emily was very worried about her studies. Mary ________ to help Emily at weekends. With Mary’s help, Emily has been able to keep up with ________ classmates. Emily is very thankful for having such a good friend.

One warm afternoon, the grandmother and her granddaughter were sitting together in the garden, talking. The girl looked at her white-haired grandmother and asked, “Grandmother, are you afraid to leave this world?”

The grandmother smiled at the girl, “I’m not afraid to leave, because I’ve had a colorful life.” Then she told the girl some of her experiences, looking at a rose in the distance (远方).

When she was a child, there were several children in the family. Her parents worked very hard to support the family. She also worked with her brothers and sisters. Her family was so poor that she had no chance to go to school. But here parents knew that learning was very important. At that time, they let her learn from her sister. So she knew a lot of words and slowly could read some books by herself.

Then when she was 15, she went to work in a factory that made shoes. Far from home, she missed her family very much but she couldn’t go home. After a few years, she saved some money. Then she opened a small restaurant. She met all kinds of difficulties, but she never gave up learning and reading. She felt that if she went on with them, she would succeed. When she got rich, she also paid attention to the children in other poor areas. She wanted to give them chances to learn. She always believed that learning will give a person unlimited (无限的) energy.

The grandmother looked at the girl again and said slowly, “So you have to study hard. Cherish (珍惜) every chance to learn.”

Hans Christian Andersen(安徒生) was born in a poor family. He was very     46     in arts when he was a little boy. At the age of 14, he left his hometown and     47     a new life as a singer, dancer, and actor in a big city. However, he wasn’t     48     at first and became very poor. Later in     49     life, Andersen got a lot of money from a rich person and he     50     it to go to university and entered the world of writing.

Andersen’s first book of fairy tales(童话故事) , which was published in 1835, sold very well, so he kept writing     51    . From then on, he wrote about one book a year for 37 years. In his whole life, he wrote many fairy tales     52     he died in 1875. Andersen’s fairy tales were not only for young children but also for people of all     53    . Because his books are touching and easy to understand, they are     54     very popular today.

There will be a park about Andersen’s works and life in Shanghai. If you like Andersen, you can go there to     55     about his works and life, and you can play games, too.