Early in the morning, at noon, or in the evening in big cities and in the countryside, all over the United States, you can see Americans running—men and women, old and _______. People run everywhere—_______ the beaches of California, through Central Park in New York, down quiet streets in small towns or at the gym (体育馆). Some people even _______ in their living rooms.

Running wasn’t so _______ in the past. In the 1960s, runners were mostly athletes (运动员) and healthy strong people. When people saw a runner, they used to ask, “Hey, what’s the hurry for?” or they might say to _______, “Is he crazy?” At that time, women almost _______ ran. If they did, people might laugh at them. But today all these have changed. Men and women of all ages enjoy running.

Doctors say many of the _______ problems in the United States come from these _______ habits: eating too much, smoking cigarettes, and taking _______ exercise. Doctors tell us, “Eat less, don’t smoke, and ________ more.” Running is a good exercise because it helps build strong hearts and lungs. It also helps most people lose weight.

This is a story about two friends: Linda and Ann. Linda and Ann lived in the same city for a quarter of a century. They were best friends. Then the time came for Ann to move away because her husband took a job in another city. Even though they were miles apart, they stayed in touch through letters, e-mails, and calls.

Things went well for about a year for Ann in her new home, but then Ann’s husband lost his job. It was a very difficult time for their family. There were lots of days when Ann was very sad during this time. She often wished she could just talk to Linda face to face.

One day when Ann was especially sad, she got a letter from Linda. Ann opened the letter and there was an unexpected gift of money from Linda along with a letter. Ann read the letter from her friend. The letter was very sweet and encouraging(令人鼓舞). At the end of the letter was a drawing. The drawing was an outline of Linda’s hand. Written under the hand was this message from Linda, “Ann, I wish I could be there to hold your hand. Since I cannot be there, here is an outline of my hand. Whenever you feel lonely or sad, just place your hand on my hand and it will be we are holding hands.” Ann felt special after reading this letter and seeing this drawing of Linda’s hand. She knew that she had a lifelong friends, Linda, someone who really cared.

A boy called Mario had many friends, and he was proud of it. Whoever he met, he would like to show off (炫耀) how popular he was at school.

One day, his grandpa said to him, “Mario, I know that you don’t have as many friends as you think. Many of them are not true to you.”   

Mario thought maybe his grandpa was right. However, he wasn’t sure how he could test whether his schoolmates were real friends or not, so he asked his grandpa. The old man answered, “I have just exactly what you need. It’s in my room. Wait a minute.” The old man left, soon returning as if (好像) carrying something in his hand, but Mario could see nothing there.

“Take it. It’s a very special chair. Because it’s invisible, it will be hard for you to sit on it. However, if you manage to sit on it, you can use the chair’s magic power (力量) to tell who your real friends are.”

Mario took the strange invisible chair to school. At break time he asked everyone to form a circle, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair.

“Nobody move. You’re about to see something amazing,” said Mario. Then he tried sitting on the chair. However, he missed and fell to the ground. Everyone had a pretty good laugh. “Wait, wait,” said Mario, making another try. But again he missed the seat.

Mario didn’t give up. He kept trying to sit on the magic chair. Finally, he did it. This time he felt himself in mid-air.

Then he experienced (经历) the magic that his grandpa had been talking about. Looking around, Mario saw George, Lucas and Diana holding him up, so he wouldn’t fall. But the other schoolmates had done nothing but made fun of him. Mario was quite thankful to his grandpa, who helped him test who his true friends were.

My friend Bob has a large police dog named Jack. Every Sunday afternoon, Bob and Jack have a walk in the park. Jack likes these walks very much.

One Sunday afternoon, I paid a visit to my friend. I stayed there for a long time. My friend and I had much more talk with each other than ever before. Soon it was time for them to take a walk in the park. We forgot about that, so Jack became worried about it. He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of me and looked at me. But I still paid no attention(注意) to him. I went on talking with my friend. At last, Jack could not wait any longer. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down in front of me again. But this time, he held my hat in his mouth. Soon I understood what Jack meant and so did my friend.